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The Graduate

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Albums6
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AboutFormed in the demise of two popular Central-Illinois bands, The Graduate is a collaboration between long time friends Tim Moore, Corey Warning, Matt Kennedy, Max Sauer, and Jared Wuestenberg. After several years of heavy touring in their previous efforts, the band has been able to stir quite a buzz, and has amassed a formidable following that feels more like a family than a fan-base. This quintet has developed their own formula, inspired by such bands as U2, Third Eye Blind, Mute Math, Coldplay, and Death Cab for Cutie.

In these troubled economic times it's hard not to notice the subtle irony in the tale of a young band called the Graduate, who are unemployed, without a record label, and looking for work. But the indie-pop-rock quintet, based out of Springfield, IL, isn't standing in a line waiting for a bailout. These guys are busy working on new songs, shopping for a record label, and making plans for the future,

The group came together in 2005 when two central Illinois bands, Best of Winter and J.A.C.K., dissolved into one and became the Graduate. (They) have been close friends as well as band mates from the beginning of the adventure. That's a good thing since they spend an immense amount of time doing most everything as a unit, including riding thousands of miles in a van, rehearsing for hours on end in a practice studio, and being truly connected professionally, socially, and artistically.

Immediately after getting together the guys started doing the time-honored, several-bands-on-a-bill, couch-surfing method of the traveling indie-emo-pop-punk bands, making fans and friends along the way while constantly working at crafting memorable songs and developing a killer live show.

The hard work and persistent touring paid dividends for the Graduate quite quickly as compared to the usual slow steps required in climbing the music industry ladder. In April of 2006 they independently released an EP called Horror Show, and stepped up the touring. Soon they signed with Icon MES a small, but aggressive record label, that gave the extra push needed to help the Graduate to rise to the next level. By late 2006 the band saw their picture on the cover of the prestigious college music magazine, CMJ New Music Report, as the most added band on college radio in early December.

The label then financed a studio effort with producer/engineer Brian McTernan that produced a full-length, radio-ready album, Anhedonia. After an April 2007 release the record received a fair amount of college radio airplay and the band become the buzz of the business. That summer they played the Warped Tour, Lollapalooza, and a major concert in Europe, then logged many miles across the USA, playing all kinds of venues in support of the record and seeing the accumulating sales results.

2008 seemed to be heading the same direction, with constant touring throughout the summer and label plans to release a deluxe edition of Anhedonia, including vinyl copies, set for early fall. Then rather suddenly on October 31, Icon MES folded and the Graduate was without a record label. The band members, all relatively young in their mid-twenties, took the loss in stride, holing up in the group's practice spot on Springfield's north side to write and develop another album's worth of material and take a break from the hectic touring schedule.

They take this business seriously while still having lots of fun with it. At the rehearsal house the practical tools of modern musicians—-I-phones, Macbooks, and digital recording hardware—-rest right along side acoustic instruments, wire cables, and music industry magazines. The band camaraderie is tight and after four years of successful togetherness the group exudes a confidence in the future and in the ability of the band to keep going and make a mark in the music business.

,If all goes well, and it seems to for this combo, they will be back in the studio by summer, on the road by fall, and supporting a new record by winter, putting the Graduate back on a path for career success.

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Young bands struggle – that's a given. Even young bands dubbed "the voice of a generation" after one album and who land on the some of the world's biggest festival stages will face some unexpected obstacles. It's how those bands handle adversity that truly defines their legacy. Meet, or re-meet, The Graduate. In 2005, the band formed out of the ashes of two defunct local bands in central Illinois.

By 2006 the new group had already garnered some serious label attention, and within the next year The Graduate had released their first record, Anhedonia. The album earned praise from the likes of Spin, CMJ (where they landed on the cover) and Absolutepunk.net (who coined the "voice of the generation" comment); on the strength of that one release, the group landed on the Warped Tour, Lollapalooza, The Bamboozle and the German music fest Rock am See with Nine Inch Nails, as well as tours with the likes of Jack's Mannequin, Secondhand Serenade, Simple Plan, and Ludo.

And then the bottom fell out. The band's label, folded in 2008, leaving the group back at square one, right as the work had started on album number two. "Let's put it this way – we had expected to work on our second record for two months, not two years," says guitarist Max Sauer. But even faced with an uncertain future, the band soldiered on, renting a house in their native Springfield, IL, and writing a new record entirely on their own dime. "In a way, it helped," says Warning. "For this second record, we feel like we delivered an album. The last record was sort of just everything we had written, including some songs from an old EP. This time, we had 30 demos ready by the time we tracked, we had to time to pick the best stuff and work on each individual song." (During this time, the group also signed a deal with the New York indie label Razor & Tie, home to the likes of The Summer Set, Norma Jean and Brand New.)

You can hear the result of all that extra time and attention to detail in the band's new album. It's certainly not a trendy release – there are no outside songwriters, pop producers, keytars or Top 40 collaborators here. Nor is the record purposely esoteric. Instead, The Graduate delivers a intricate, dynamic pop-rock record with equal parts aggression and atmosphere – you could fit the record comfortably between Jimmy Eat World, U2, Minus the Bear and even Arcade Fire in your playlist (Yes, we said Arcade Fire. Check out the choruses of "Pull Me In" and "For the Missing" for proof).

Most importantly, the album feels like a natural progression from Anhedonia. Despite the delays and upheaval of the last two years, the group still sounds incredibly comfortable working with each other. "It helps that we all like the same things in music," says Warning. "We all write and bring different things to the songs, but it's really easy when we come together. We take each other's opinions seriously."

The band credits producer Brian McTernan, best known for his work with Cave In, Circa Survive, Thrice and Hot Water Music (among dozens of other A-level bands), for helping the group progress. The band recorded both of their records in the producer's Salad Days studio in Baltimore, but felt a stronger presence from him this second time around. "The first record, he acted almost as a coach," says Warning. "With this record, he was almost like a member of the band." For now, the group plans to hit the road in the fall with Ludo, their tourmates from 2008, and keep the pedal to the floor. "That's really what our lives are about – this band," says Warning. "Even in our off-time, we write, rehearse and just get ready to play these songs on stage. Whatever happens to us, we just concentrate on making this band better."

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