Liquid Gang

Jose Maldonado Lead Vocals
Stinger Lead Guitar
Chris Holt Guitar & Backing Vocals
Eric Nagy Bass
Craig Smith Drums

From the start, Liquid Gang has proved to be a band that knows all about first impressions. Ask any fan and theyll fill you with details about their first Liquid Gang experience. Some of the most frequent first-time-tales come from those who witnessed the two sidestage sets the band played at Philadelphias FU Center in 1998 opening for Korn and Rob Zombie.

They ended up shutting us down because people were getting insane, says drummer Craig Smith, shaking his head. That was more than a year ago and I still get e-mails from people with stories about that show.

The Philly based Liquid Gang lead singer Jose Maldonado, guitarists Stinger and Chris Holt, bassist Eric Nagy, and Smith make yet another impactful impression with SUNSHINE, their Lava/Atlantic debut release.

The album began to take shape this spring when the band packed up and traveled to Memphis, Tennessee. There they took up communal residence in a small house around the corner from a 24-hour Piggly Wiggly. Joined in the studio by producer Malcolm Springer (Full Devil Jacket), the quintet soon began tracking the songs theyd brought along with them from Philly. However, as initial sessions progressed, the guys found themselves continually confronted with new songs and an over-arching inspiration to hone and re-work each track to its fullest potential. The entire landscape of the album, as it had originally been imagined, was thrown into deep flux.

There was this kitchen table at the house where we were living and wed all congregate there to work these ideas out, says Craig. I dont know if it was the air or the barbecue, but these flood gates opened the moment we got down there. Things were just clicking. We spent a lot of time around that table.

Operating with fully illuminated light bulbs over the head of each band member, Liquid Gang instituted a work schedule defined by double-overtime and made possible with the cooperation of Mr. Coffee and Juan Valdez. We were in Memphis to do a job, states Nagy. This is what wed been striving towards forever. To go down there and not work fifteen-hour days was out of the question. The truth is, we dont know any other way. Thats just how this band is. Were just fiends.

The resulting SUNSHINE thrives under the momentum of such striking rock tracks as the riff-and-rhythm driven Show Me, the heart-wrenching Blunt Force Trauma, and the high-flying first single, Closer. Multi-dimensional and unrelenting in its exploration of dynamic range, the album captures the quintet of life-long players in the full flower of a dramatic artistic realization and riding a raw, explosive edge. Thematically, the album finds Maldonado in the midst of an open-veined confessional and self-styled emotional purge.

For me, the pinnacle of the album is Closer, explains Maldonado. One of the first lines is self-starter since the age of ten/didnt know Id have to go down this road again/a white shirt, plaid tie-wearing child prodigy/two steps from sanity, one from the edge. Thats a kind of jumping off point for a lot of the things Im talking about here. Throughout the album, theres a lot of references to the ugly duckling thing and an overall sense of a person whos trying hard to fit it. The album moves into even darker territory with the raging, non-fiction

Blunt Force Trauma, a track that placed Jose in the direct path of some old psychic wounds. Blunt Force Trauma comes from my childhood and is about watching my dad getting beat up by the police, says Maldonado. I can hit rewind and be at that exact moment in my life the terrible sounds I was hearing, and how I felt with my mom and sisters seeing this all happen. As awful as that was, its a story I really wanted to tell on the album.

Would You was one of those songs that caught me off guard when I was having a bad day, he continues. It was a hard song to write and even harder to get through in the recording process. Im talking about a persons individual dignity and how thats something to hold on to when youre feeling cut from everything else in your life. Writing the songs for this album I found that once I got in the right frame of mind, the emotions would always overtake me. That was the big surprise that came out of all the soul-searching I embarked on when I started the writing process.

As the drummer, the guy whos taking it all in, I can see how Jose is getting really personal on this album, notes Craig. I dont know if I could have done what hes done here putting so much of himself into these songs. At the same time, I think thats what makes these songs work the way they do. Its probably one of the most personal things Ive ever gone through and one of the hardest things Ive ever worked for, says Maldonado. It was bittersweet. To put that much heart and soul into something really takes its toll. It was a very emotional time for all of us, says Stinger of the sessions. We were doing what weve always wanted to do. We were away from home, writing these songs, and musically, we were all pouring our hearts out. But it was a lot more painful than any of us thought it would be.

Its like a rollercoaster, listening to this album, says Maldonado. Some of it feels good, and some of it doesnt especially the corkscrew parts. But still its pretty damn exhilarating. While the history of Liquid Gang dates back to 1995, with Nagy being the only true original member, the bands SUNSHINE-era incarnation only traces its origins back as far as late 1998. It was during that formative period that Jose was sharing vocal duties with Chris, who alternated on guitar. It wasnt until December of 1999, after a years worth of creative evolution and songwriting, that the band solidified its lineup with Jose as the bands sole lead vocalist and Chris taking up rhythm guitar duties alongside Stingers lead guitar. A headlining club show that fall in nearby Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania officially introduced the redesigned Liquid Gang and, at the same time, launched the band into a whole new era of expression.

To arrive at this point, however, required an extended series of friend-of-a-friend introductions and recruiting from other area bands. Stinger and Maldonado met while playing together in a dark rock affair called Sri Lanka. Craig remembers seeing Chris on stage as a member of another local band, Jake Foot, and thinking he was too young to even get into the club: My reaction was, who is this guy? He was jumping all over the place. Stinger recalls one of his first gigs as a member of Sri Lanka and thinking that Jose was the best singer Id ever seen, much less shared a stage with.

Craig first saw Jose perform while the singer was a member of yet another group, Misfit Toys: I thought he was the biggest rock star Id ever seen. I said, That guys fucking amazing. From that moment, I wanted him to be in Liquid Gang, I wanted this to happen. To sum it up, weve all been circling around Nagy and Liquid Gang for years on end, says Jose with a laugh.

Having earned opening gigs over the past couple of years with the likes of Sevendust, Staind, and 2 Skinny Js in addition to self-releasing an album and EP Liquid Gang has brought a furious DIY ethic to their m.o. Whether promoting their activities via their website or lo-tech flyers, the guys are always on their game. To that end, the band has also solidified its regional fanbase with headlining shows out in the burbs whether at a local skate park, a high school gym, community center, or blacktop basketball court.

Those are the nights when the kids run outside after the show and get $10 from their parents who are there to pick them up, so they can buy a shirt, says Stinger. Theyre the best audiences.

For the people going to those shows, thats a concert, thats the Meadowlands, says Craig, who also oversees the bands liquidgang.com website. Theyre maybe 14-years-old, they pay their $3, and they get to see a rock band tearing it up. And we take those shows so seriously. Theyre about the most enthusiastic audiences you can imagine.

Of course, the guys didnt know what to expect last year when they embarked on an extensive slate of Midwestern dates opening for the nu-rock incarnation of Vanilla Ice.

The reaction was overwhelming, says Craig. Were still getting e-mails from people in Toledo, asking when were coming back.

Whether rocking across Ohio or playing their own back yard, working through a late night in the studio or loading up their van, Liquid Gang has always drawn its strength from the camaraderie and shared commitment that defines their attachment to each other. Through it all, it is the bands internal support-system and sense of purpose that has guided them on their creative journey. We really respect one another, says Maldonado. Theres a love, but its more than that. Yeah, we fight all the time, but theres a real brotherhood with this band. Its all those things that sound really corny, but its for real.