For my first entry on this blog, I selected the rock band Hurt to be featured in my Spotlight Artist of the Week. Hurt is something of an unconventional rock band in the radio rock world. Instead of taking the easy route and writing bonehead songs about girls, drugs and other modern rock cliches, the band decided to branch out and write musically complex songs with lyrics dealing with depression, existential crisis, and allusions to references to Bell's Theorem and Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principal. So this is definitely not your average rock band. Hurt hails from Virginia but has since relocated to Los Angeles. The band was originally a four piece consisting of J. Loren Wince (vocals, guitar, violin), Paul Spatola (guitar, piano), Joshua Anseley (bass) and Evan Johns (drums, piano) but have since upgraded to a five piece band after the departures of Josh and Evan left the band due to personal issues. Rek Mohr and Victor Ribas have respectively filled their positions. Michael Roberts also joined the band to play rhythm guitar. The band was originally signed to Capitol Records from 2005 to 2007 to release their first two albums, simply titled Vol. I and Vol. II. Despite scoring hit songs on rock radio with tracks like Ten Ton Brick, they were dropped by Capitol in 2008 due to budget cuts but that didn't stop Hurt. They returned in 2009 with their newest album, aptly titled Goodbye to The Machine. Each Hurt album is a real journey. Vols I & II is a good place to start if you wish to get into Hurt. Both albums can be thought of as a double album, the last track on Vol. I is a seamless transition into the first track on Vol. II. The highly emotional songs mixed with strong vocals and thought provoking lyrics makes for a highly enjoyable experience that you can go back to and listen to for basically eternity. Give this band a listen and give them the support they deserve!
Songs to check out: Pills, Rapture, Alone With The Sea, Unkind, Forever, Dreams Away, Flowers, Aftermath,Overdose.
http://www.hurtband.com/
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