it's hard to say if the members of Bodisartha
even care about "being successful" in the music industry
anymore. they just float from one thing to the next, occasionally
pulling themselves together for long enough to throw everything
into a car and play a show.
the joke's on them. it's true. in a fast food culture that
suggests anyone can be a rock star and everyone is special, josh
thomas and justin piatt have woken up, six years and two bands
deep, into a world where you can no longer sell music. music is
free now, haven't you heard?
this is a little story about a few kids that didn't have anything
to do:
one day, josh, after bouncing around a few continents and a handful
of states of the american variety, ended up in the lovely, oceanside
property of springtown, missouri. there he met a young man from
texas named piatt and within a few hours, josh was throwing up
from over consumption. the meeting was a success.
a band called grasscanon followed, with josh on bass (but writing
a majority of the guitar parts) and piatt on drums. there were
comparisons made to such bands as the deftones and radiohead,
but i'm with you, i don't believe the hype.
parties, broken things, arrests, and other fun stuff ensued.
then, almost two years invested, as grasscanon was preparing to
record its first full length album, the band fell apart on stage
at the Burgundy Room in Springfield, Missouri. by the end of the
evening, several guitars, a few glasses, and a band were irreparably
broken.
josh drove around the country for a few months attending hippie
festivals and indian pow wows, piatt hung out in springtown doing
whatever it is he does. so what's next? why not move to kansas
city? okay, let's do it.
josh holed up and wrote a bunch of new songs. piatt came up when
he could. a friend, bret steil, was tricked into playing bass.
recently, trevis hutchens, a good friend of piatt's from "back
in the day", has taken over bass playing duties for the overworked
and overly sexy bret steil. he'll be missed, but it was his choice.
a year into its formal existence, bodisartha has played shows
in several states and released an album, 'find yourself getting
lost', recorded in equal parts at Chapman Recording in Kansas
City and at the band's home studio. as far as i can tell, the
band is most often compared to the pixies, nirvana, and queens
of the stone age.
album number two is almost completely written. bodisartha has
traded in the power chords and screaming for weird jazz chords
and moaning. a concept evolved around the songs. the album seems
to be based around a revolutionary character that thinks it's
possible for one person to change everything. the songs are equal
parts philosophy and narrative: the philosophy of this character
and the reaction he gets from the general public, more specifically,
the authoritarian government of the united states. reactions include:
stalking, wiretapping, crucifixion, you know... the classics.
the addition of a second guitar player, another short tour of
Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Missouri, and a quick
trip to Austin, Texas are in the works are well.
as with all adventures, there's no ending in sight and no way
of knowing what might happen next.