Remember the good old days when you could turn on the radio and hear the upbeat chords of power pop on almost every station? The days when Third Eye Blind and Counting Crows were pervading the air waves? The 1990s had its own style of music, but it seems to be fading – giving way to emo or screamo or hardcore-heavy-death-metal. Who wants to be accosted or depressed when tuning into radio?
Thankfully, there’s an up-and-coming band that is sure to quell the ’90s nostalgia. Stronghold in Siam, the Massachusetts-based band, is bringing music back to the days of fun, sing-able tunes with their first official album release, “Anticipation Heightens the Pleasure.”
Named from the four friends’ realization that the only way to win the popular board game Risk is to have a stronghold in Siam, the band consists of University of Massachusetts sophomore Nick Mathews (percussion and band manager), Andrew Gregory of Boston University (lead vocals and rhythm guitar), Peter Hunt of Cornell (lead guitar and harmony vocals), and Adam Fisher (bass guitar), also of UMass.
Since grade six, Mathews and Hunt have been playing music together. “We’ve been jamming for a long time,” said Mathews. In eighth grade, jam sessions turned to band practice with the birth of Pointless, their first band, which lasted about a year and a half. The 20 shows they played as Pointless, including a Battle of the Bands at the Worcester, Mass., Palladium, “just got us really familiar with each other,” Mathews said.
In the 10th grade, Mathews and Hunt opened auditions up to the surrounding area in an attempt to form a new band. This brought them Fisher and bassist Barry Grove – the original Stronghold in Siam lineup. The fall 2007 semester shook up the band when Grove left, but was replaced with longtime friend Gregory, moving Fisher to the bass guitar.
According to Mathews, the members of Stronghold “didn’t even know [Gregory] could sing.” After overhearing him singing a Dave Matthews Band song, they “forced” him to join.
Despite the distance between them, modern technology has helped Stronghold produce new material. Writing new songs can be done via the Internet; Mathews will “send a little riff to Pete
