NIAYH : The Band

Wondering though the streets of Portland allows for a variety of circumstances. For instance, when one travels via bicycle and hears a soothing melody come blaring from an open basement window a simple dismount can transfrom an everyday commuter into an impromptu concert goer. As I listened, I became awe struck by the raw emotion vibrating from their instruments. Clearly, this group of extraordinary gentlemen have an clear passion for their art. Their bodies are merely vehicles as their hearts and souls spew forth an enchanting gospel of inexplicable truth. This is Niayh: the band.

TIME: 13:47
DATE: Oct 21, 2007
LOCATION: a stone's throw from Buckman Elementary School in SE Portland

THR3: You guys a band or just jamming?

D: Oh, we are definitely a band. We are in the preproduction process of our record.

THR3: First record?

D: Yes.

THR3: You have a name for the album?

K: “HOPE.”

THR3: What song did I hear as I was riding by?

D: That was the titled track… “HOPE.”

THR3: Oh, so that is what hope sounds like.

D: [laughs] Yes.

THR3: You guys have an gigs recently?

D: Actually, we are waiting to release it all simultaneously. So when we play we have the record in hand for fans.

THR3: You have any dates/venues lined up?

D: It is all on the hush, hush right now. Top secret. We can’t really talk too much about it.

THR3: I understand, you cats are looking to pounce and when you do you want to make sure it is ferocious.

K: Yeah, exactly.

From left to right: David, 22, Kenton, 19, Adolfo (aka Lydian), 22

THR3: So when did you guys form the band?

D: About two months ago we began playing as a full band but the whole operation started about five months ago, when the singer and I met. Since, we have been working to make it all happen. Adolfo, the bass player, moved all the way across the country from Miami.

THR3: Miami?

D: I am from Miami as well and somehow I ended up meeting Chris [lead singer, who was not present for the interview] here and I got Adolfo to come out too. We all just kind of swapped in and out of different bands and now we have ended up as one.

THR3: What are your respective instruments which you each play in this band? And how long have you been playing it? [The bass player Adolfo, whom some call Lydian, enters with a cup full of what looks like a rice and bean mixture and enters the interview.]

D: Mostly drums and I have been playing that for 18 years, it has been quite some time.

K: Mostly guitar. I have been playing for about 5 years.

A: I am the bass player. I have been playing for six.

THR3: Who is the lead singer?

D: Chris, who, unfortunately, just took off. He had to get a passport photo to his mother.

THR3: Do you guys doing anything else? Other jobs? Is there anything else going on in your life beside the music thing?

D: Our deadline is approaching so quickly that there is scarcely enough time to breath. We have pretty much resigned our lives for the next month to the album. All day, every day we are recording and working on the preproduction of the record.

K: We are working at least 12 hours a day on the record. It’s a full time job in itself, plus.

THR3: Yeah, you cats are working as much as Wall Street brokers. At least it is what ya’ll love.

ENTIRE GROUP: Yes!

D: It is what we have been working for all our lives. We finally have this great opportunity to make a real record. And we have to make the best out of it.

THR3: What label is this going through?

D: It is entirely independent. We have private investors. So there is no middle man interfering with the artistic process.

THR3: Do you have a website?

D: Not yet, but we are working on it. It should be up soon.

K: We have a programmer who is working on the website right as we speak so we are hoping it will be up next week. Currently, we are recording at Falcon Studios with our producer Sean.