An indie rock band. Ian Asbjornsen - drums Steven Chow - vocals, bass guitar, keyboard Andy California - guitar Mark Williams - vocals, guitar Sculpted Static is an indie rock band from South Pasadena, California. Their music reflects a wide range of influences, including Radiohead, The Beatles, Pixies, The Smiths and newer indie rock groups such as Guided By Voices and The Strokes. Although this quartet has a tendency to experiment with instrumental textures and explore different musical and lyrical styles, their finished product is always pleasingly melodic and accessible. "Apart" and "Telegraph Avenue" are two unique approaches to the dreamy, meditative theme. "Curb Crawling" is more playful, both lyrically and musically. The heavier "Not Enough" and "Distance" pay tribute to the indie groups of the past and present. "Mad Men" is a solid rocker and the band’s response to recent world events. "Neanderthal," which features a sound collage and an extended guitar solo, is their overtly progressive, Floydish track, but they still manage to pull it off with a distinctly Sculpted Static flavor. Full biography Actually, they don't really want to make a career out of music. To begin with, they're not really musicians. They're more like dog breeders. "We like to mix and match our favorite bands. That's what we did on [the song] 'Nothing.' Morrissey meets Nirvana with a bit of The Pixies. Now we think it sounds more like Sonic Youth." Sculpted Static actually started out by combining Joseph Conrad's imitation of Henry James with The Who's imitation of The Pretty Things. The resulting explosion was the agonizingly long rock operetta called "Heart of Darkness: The Rock Opera." Undaunted by their inability to produce radio-friendly music, the creative duo, trio and quartet went on to produce "Einsamkeit," a fusion of the rock and rap genres, and "The Lorax," which contains a glorious six-minute exposition of Andy's soloing skills. Mark Williams auditioned for the role of guitarist by playing a metal solo about 32 times faster than Andy could at the time. Quoth the bearded fellow, "When I heard Andy's incredible rendition of the B minor and E minor chords [on 'Human Adventure'], I knew I had to join the band." He added, "One day, I too will write a song with only B minor and E minor." The day came a few weeks later, when the trio recorded their first good song, "Lost Child." Amazingly, it's still available on mp3.com, averaging about 5 plays per season. The band started feeling the pressure to perform and pulled a few more tricks out of their sleeves. "Yeah, [Lost Child] was great, but it was time to write a song about drugs," said Steven, the studio engineer. "Rock is dead," said Andy California. "You killed it." So, the band turned to space aliens for help. Their next song was called "UFO" and it became an instant hit on Andy's friends' playlists. But, at 6:21, the song was too long to be played on the radio. It was time for a change. Andy and Steven came back from college and the reunified quartet played a concert to their friends. The lucky 15 people who came will forever remember it as the turning point in the band's career. Roger, who was so impressed that he started playing them on his college radio station, said of that concert, "I didn't go to that one." On May something, 2002, Sculpted Static was heard loud-and-clear on the FM airwaves thanks to 90.7 KALX of Berkeley. Steven denies bribing their DJs for that undeserved honor. The following month, the band was revitalized with the addition of the drummer, Ian Asbjornsen. To celebrate the news, they produced their first album, Sound Check, with no contribution from Ian. Seriously, though, Sound Check represented their best material at the time. The original photos on the album cover and the back of the CD case were first-rate. Immediately after the release of Sound Check, the band got serious. Steven said, "I don't know what happened to us. I mean, holy shit. One minute we were writing about convenient stores, and the next minute, we wrote 'Neanderthal,' which had a lot of chords and was about the end of humanity." "Beginning of humanity? Whatever." That fall, Mark wrote a song called "Apart," and the full band recorded it despite being a few thousand miles away from each other. "That's definitely a breakthrough. Having real drums and real harmonies on that record is just mind-blowing. It's almost blasphemy. What happened to our old Sculpted Static 'sound' of synthesized drums? Fortunately, we still have fake bass." Unfortunately for Steven the keyboardist, the synthesized bass was soon forced out of commission when Steven the bassist acquired his Dean bass guitar from Musician's Friend. After a disastrous winter break, which saw the failed recording attempt of the song "Radio" and an over-ambitious and mistake-ridden concert inside Steven's garage, Sculpted Static bounced back like a zombie in 2003. In July, they played their first public gig at the No Future Cafe. The following month, Sculpted Static released their breakthrough album, Sunny Ash, a fascinating compilation that covers many subgenres of alternative rock. Momentum's definitely on their side. Can they overcome their rock-and-roll laziness and their commitment to their academic careers to become the next indie-rock stars?