The Sparta Philharmonic profile picture

The Sparta Philharmonic

New Energy Music

About Me


Click the link above to read the BlogCritics review of Paper Mache Mountains!
The Sparta Philharmonic was formed in 1998 in Sparta, NJ by brothers Greg and Alex Bortnichak. We played a lot of shows, went through a lot of gear, released one e.p. ("Snapshots of A Life Lived on Weekends") and one very rare single ("Polaroid Negatives"), and started recording a full-length in early 2004 with our brilliant buddy Jon. That August we decided to take a two year hiatus from performing to figure ourselves out and think, think, think about just how to finish the goddamn cd.
Greg did a record with The Metal Hearts, and two with Richard Cortez, and some short tours with each... Alex became a pilot and a mighty-fine place-kicker.
In December of ’05 we began piecing together our ’04 sessions and then worked ceaselessly through July of ’06 on all final overdubs, edits, and mixes. We titled the record "Paper-Mache Mountains" and released it on our own on July 21st 2006.
Since then, Greg moved to Baltimore and Alex has resettled in NJ, but we have remained busy doing all of our own duplication, distribution, and promotion. We are currently in the process of booking as many shows as possible between college and jobs... which is frieckin’ tough, but hey, we love it...UPDATE: Fall 2007 = Alex moved to Philadelphia, PA. The brothers Bortnichak continue to rock.
RECORD SHOPS THAT CARRY OUR MUSIC:
Other Music (NYC -phone: 212.477.8150)
Tunes (NJ -Hoboken)
Princeton Record Exchange (NJ -Princeton)
Celebrated Summer Records (MD -Towson)
Goucher College Bookshop (MD-Towson)
.. -- -- -- -- -- CDBABY LINK for THE SPARTAPHILHARMONIC: Paper-Maché Mountains --
I-Tunes store: Link
For video of us in Boston on Dead Air Live click: Link Or watch video below
Enchante LIVE @ Mohawk Place - Buffalo NY

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 6/21/2006
Band Members: Alex Bortnichak (Drums, percussion, effects)Greg Bortnichak (Guitar, Cello, Vocals)
Influences: Diabologum, Dirty Three, Blonde Redhead, Fugazi, Unwound, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Coco-Rosie, Sonic Youth, Mission of Burma, Dinosaur Jr, John Coltrane, Richard Wagner, Harry Partch, Smashing Pumpkins, Hum, Deerhoof, 1950's Doo-Wop, Cat Power, TV on the Radio, Spiritualized, Jawbox, BlackEyes, Sunny Day Real-Estate, The Pixies, My Bloody Valentine, Nirvana, Modest Mouse, At The Drive-In, Joy Division, Joni Mitchell, Sleater-Kinney, Le Tigre, Gang of Four, Yo La Tengo, Fiona Apple, Kronos Quartet, Erase Errata, Ornette Coleman, John Denver, The Gossip, Steve Reich, Shellac, The Velvet Underground, Sigur Ros, French Toast, The Arcade Fire, The Contortions, Euphone, DNA, Liars, Nels Cline, Tim Barnes, Zeena Parkins, Jacqueline DuPre, Jeffrey Chappel, The Rosario Focus, The Jesus Lizard, Pilot To Gunner, Jeff Buckley and so, so many more...
Sounds Like: Driving yourself crazy.
Type of Label: None

My Blog

How sweet it is

Hello folks! Check out the new live footage from the January 10th 2008 show in Buffalo NY on myspace videos or Youtube! Your valentine, Vas D.
Posted by The Sparta Philharmonic on Sun, 27 Jan 2008 08:50:00 PST

Day off 2 in Columbus Ohio

Day off 2 was spent at Ohio State University with my old buddy I graduated high school with  Tyler. He was kind enough to host a couple traveling musicians for a night. I also met up with my good fri...
Posted by The Sparta Philharmonic on Mon, 14 Jan 2008 10:33:00 PST

Buffalo: An all America city

Hello dearest of friends,   (It is really called an all America city - not an all American city)   Pure and simple Greg and I Love Buffalo/Jamestown. More specifically we love the people  J...
Posted by The Sparta Philharmonic on Fri, 11 Jan 2008 09:28:00 PST

North Tonawanda Rocks

Dear Sparta Philharmonic patrons, First and foremost the city and the people of Jamestown NY are amazing! Who would have ever thought little old Sparta Phil would find a home away from home in wester...
Posted by The Sparta Philharmonic on Thu, 10 Jan 2008 09:14:00 PST

On the Road Baby

Drove 360 miles North West from base camp (Sparta NJ) in balmy 60 degree temperatures to the open arms of Buffalo NY promoter/musician/friend Jason Braley. Tonawanda NY (where Jason lives) will be our...
Posted by The Sparta Philharmonic on Wed, 09 Jan 2008 08:29:00 PST

We are the real

Hello everyone. Greg and i just saw the mighty light and rocked our little feet off to the sounds of the smashing pumpkins this weekend.New winter TOUR information coming very very soon. Thats right T...
Posted by The Sparta Philharmonic on Thu, 25 Oct 2007 09:29:00 PST

Lets have one beer, than well go

&It was like sitting around a camp fire singing poems, prayers and promises to old and new friends alike. It was like dancing in the moonlight and drinking to better days. It was teddy bear love and g...
Posted by The Sparta Philharmonic on Mon, 17 Sep 2007 09:01:00 PST

Blue sundays

Greg and I are currently working on a few thoughts that will hopefully materialize soon. First we are looking at another 1-2 week winter tour. Possible cities would include ..:namespace prefix = st1 n...
Posted by The Sparta Philharmonic on Fri, 07 Sep 2007 07:21:00 PST

On the road with TSP

On the road with TSP: ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Annapolis Maryland ..:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />  ...
Posted by The Sparta Philharmonic on Tue, 12 Jun 2007 10:25:00 PST

Reviews of Paper-Mache Mountains

Hey everyone,      I just wanted to let you all know that reviews of our record, Paper-Mache Mountains, are starting to slowly materialize in various blogs, newspapers, and other ...
Posted by The Sparta Philharmonic on Fri, 16 Mar 2007 07:08:00 PST