OK, so “tragedy” might be too strong of a word, but there was certainly some bad luck flowing.
We’ve all been the butt of an April Fool’s joke here or there, but what happens when the joke isn’t a joke? Pull yourself up by the bootstraps and make things happen!
On April 1st, the guitarist and bassist for the Wire Riots decided to quit the band over the phone. The next day, the drummer quit, leaving singer/songwriter Adam Koisor all alone with his vision and his songs.
No big deal – bands break up all the time! Adam had always been the sole song writer of The Wire Riots with revolving members. Except this was a paltry 2 weeks before a show. Adam had to replace his entire band, get them to learn an entire setlist and be stage ready in two weeks.
Maybe it was the Military instinct ingrained in his mind from his time in service, or maybe it was his drive to constantly move forward, but he pulled it off. In less than a week, he managed to snag the talents of Shaun Sears (guitar), Nico Ricci (bass) and Eric Scavincky (drums).
The band put together a full setlist and rehearsed on a nearly daily basis for the next twelve days. Not only did they pick out a mix of covers and originals to perform, they had rearranged almost all of the songs from start to finish. With 2 weeks before the show, that was a risky undertaking.
And now there was a second show added, the day before the first. Day 13 saw the Wire Riots take the stage on the first of two shows.
Playing at The Goodtime Bar in Millvale, the band proved to be extremely tight and sounded like they’d been playing together for a long time. The rhythm section laid down really tight grooves to serve as a base for Adam’s emotionally charged vocals.
Just one night playing live together seemed to do wonders for the band. The next night, two weeks after their first tentative rehearsal, they played live at Excuses in Southside.
As hard as it might be to believe, they were even tighter and more energetic the second night.
Look for the new full length album entitled “You’ll be OK” this summer.
Go check them out on Facebook or the band’s website – www.thewireriots.com.
April Fools indeed