Under Mass

family moved to another house far enough to make the rehearsals as serious as what we were aiming for. Me and Vadim kept rehearsing regardless of the absence of Stevo. We openly played and sang newborn songs outside by garage occasionally catching attention of neighbors who always left with the big smile. We played at community swimming pool areas any time of the day we chose to and even played at some of the neighboring musicians' houses accepting their thoughtful gester of Supporting Local Musicians. We never could find a drummer with the same musical interests and certain drive that we looked for. Somewhat of a mixture of Nirvana and Akira Yamaoka (Silent Hill soundtracks composer). After months of rehearsals we made a few home style video recordings of our practices, takes of different songs and tunes and also random MTV Jackass type shoots. In October of 2004 we went to our first punk rock show at the infamous club in Dallas called Red Blood Club. That was the day we met Lower Class Brats and the Casualties both of which were incredibly amazing in a most sincere way the music comes, as what I thought. It set an official start of self liberation from things that held us back such as personal doubts. First rehearsal after that show was very meaningful because then we had a sense of direction which felt natural and still does. Few months passed by during which I decided to move to Washington state with my uncle as soon as I turned 18 to pursue the everlasting dream of setting history in the so called "Seattle Sound". Vadim and I discussed that it's not over and that I'll find us a drummer and other band related useful people while he goes through a couple of years of college courses. Washington gifted me with some very interesting and unique friends. Loegan Miller was the first friend I obtained there. Introduced him to grunge rock and other genres it evolved from and showed him the basics of playing guitar and his passion and imagination took off and over time he became a completely self- guiding guitarist. A little prior this point of story, along came another good friend: Mitchell Johnson. He was always entertaining and naturally very silly in everything he did. After he saw the passion for music from my side, he asked me to join the band as the bassist and I gladly accepted even though he never tried it before. It would have been a while for Vadim to be able to relocate and join me on the other part of the country. Mitchell was gifted a beautiful, rare razor style bass by his musically inclined neighbor. That was an obvious sign that Mitchell was set and ready to explore the vastness of possibilities. Rehearsals began which unraveled that he picked the heaviest, mind piercing sounds and it always worked out. Loegan's guitar progress drove us to experiment with him as well and we often came out with things we really enjoyed, even switched instruments to mix things around. There came a time when one of our friends asked us to watch his drum set for him while he has to leave the state for few months. I got obsessed with teaching myself to work with them and often took the drum parts in our rehearsals. They set me in such a trance where everything else moves around the beat, where time tends to be non existent because the vibrations of sounds we made were the forces of nature. Mitchell and I played a couple of gigs in the town called Morton and that unfortunately concludes the further development of the band with the current lineup. On July 26th, 2008 I received a call from my mother. She had some life changing news for me revealing that my brother, dearest of all my friends, Vadim, had died from internal injuries in a motorcycle accident the day before on the 25th. I instantly went numb and no longer processed what she kept telling me. The funeral was held the next day and there was no chance for me to travel from WA to TX on such a short notice. It was beyond devastation, especially the fact that he bought the plane ticket to come visit me and plan out his future relocation, but instead he got buried on the day of his flight. After such a tragic event things seemed to become more gloomy with the band. Loegan and Mitchell eventually grew tired of rehearsals until they came to a complete stop leaving me take the further steps. I often played the drums until I busted every one of them and with that luck I fixed them the best I knew how and left them alone for the owner to get them eventually. It wasn't too long until I realized that I had no possible progress, so I moved back to the family house in Plano, Texas. Enrolled in community college and kept practicing. With Vadim's music equipment at my service, I experienced an enormous amount of incoming inspiration which permanently sealed an oath of dedication to this project until there will be no one to carry it on further. Few years have passed and now I live in Los Angeles, CA gradually polishing and reinventing that which was recorded out of the pure curiosity and guess what...still looking for a drummer :D

Joshua Shaffer have joined the band after about 6-7 years of it's existence. He showed his dedication to this way of making music which is limitless without any boundaries. He is a like minded individual who is dedicated to our success in our message which we always try to transmit. Both of them are collaborating remotely because of their location. Unity will set us free!