The brand new eponymous instrumental album "Sit Down, Servant!!" follows their acclaimed debut "I Was Just Trying To Help".  Following successful North American tours with Joe Satriani and George Thorogood along with headlining shows across Canada and  in their hometown Austin, Texas, look for Sit Down, Servant!! on tour in support of Joe Satriani across Europe June 2014.﻿

Sit Down, Servant!! is Gordie Johnson's latest musical creation: a band comprising of him playing a triple neck steel guitar and Moog bass pedals accompanied by Brannen Temple on drums. Both accomplished musicians in their own rights, with a breadth of experience and knowledge between them the duo take listeners on a musical journey. The group began with more traditional elements of gospel and blues that evolved to incorporate flavors with roots in areas like dub and hip-hop. Performances will see them drop into a jazz standard before journeying through the sounds of Miles Davis, shifting into Dave Brubeck, to The Police and then Mulatu Astatke - all in one song. "We converse musically without needing words or even visual cues." Johnson states. "We're very agile."

The Purpose of these recordings is to show and give examples of the work I've previously done. 

I am a 32 year old Drummer who is always looking for the next project to work on for fun.

The Uncomfortable Project is my attempt to break out of my musical comfort zone. Instead of sitting at home with my guitar, creating nothing and playing for nobody but myself, I'm going to get myself growing, creating, and sharing my musical ventures as much as I possibly can.

Welcome to Souzatone Music, a home for Niko Sola's wayward music projects along with some sets by close friends and family. Most of the new tracks have some combination of myself and Tim Malone or Nate Murphy. James Sassano & Jim Healey lend a hand on a few tracks as well.  It's all over the map from folkish to rockish to punkish to even a little hiphoppish. All songs are originals written by some combination of the 3 of us. Most Mayall Road songs are Tim and Niko, while TRiPODs are usually Niko and Nate. The Fellowslip stuff is mostly solo but that may change in time. Ideally it will become an internet collaboration effort, but it's early on for that stuff. 

On these recordings, I use GarageBand & Logic as studio platforms and utilize plugins from Native Instruments, SoundToys, Anteres and a great many others. Microphones are from Shure and M-Audio. Amps are Fender, Roland or more often simulated. Vintage Boss Japan pedals used wherever possible along with the Electro Harmonix Holy Grail. Guitars used include Gibson (ES-135, ES-225, WM45), Epiphone (Riviera P-93, Zephyr Regent), Fender (Stratocasters, P-Bass), Michael Kelly (Hourglass Quilt, Phoenix JZ), Agile (2800DLX), Souza Guitars (Numbah 1), Yamaha (Acoustics), Martin (Acoustics).

Jeff Souza and George Souza (as part of the Frank Smoller Trio) appear because they're family and both have inspired me to play and collect guitars. I wouldn't be doing any of this without both of them treading this path before me. Please have a listen, both are incredible musicians. 

Jeff's acoustic sessions CD is actually quite a departure for him. I grew up listening to him play along with Iron Maiden and Van Halen. In later years he's played jazz or Spanish tinged originals while plugged in. He regularly plays out on Cape Cod with Donnie Wilson as part of the Portuguese Kennedeys. They combine hits from the Beetles, Elvis Costello and the Rolling Stones with blues classics. I've attached a link below, check them out!

George Souza passed away in June of 1999. Our entire family was blessed to be able to hear his guitar being played nearly every holiday, family event as well as at fairs and festivals. This album recorded at the Flying Bridge Restaurant on Cape Cod in the early 70's. George never learned how to read music, and his renditions of familiar tunes show a flair for originality as well as a flair for, well flair. Fast fingers and beautiful tone were his calling cards and I'm so thankful to Chris Souza for having this vinyl converted to digital audio. Our music and those close to us live on long after we do. 

Last but not least, check out Frank Heiss' SoundCloud area and website. Frank's a good friend and amazing electronic musician, composer and has ascended from paduan learner to Jedi Master. A drummer by training, he's found a way to play live electronica with drumsticks and the voodoo that is a DrumKat and Ableton or some other grey magic. Associated with Liquid Sky, Frank has performed worldwide and releases a great many CD's under the Tube, DJ Not, Donut Boy and Hardware Junkiez monikers. The Force is strong with him. 

Who is Niko Sola? I've lived in Quicksand, wondered When is Tomorrow, nearly drowned going Down the River but have finally found a little Peace of Mind. I still might be the Strangest Man I Never Knew, but I now know not to Walk Out That Door. Out of the studio and in street clothes, I go by N Parece. I'm an IT engineer by trade and live just outside of Boston with my amazing wife and daughter. In my ever shrinking free time, I also dabble in building guitars, either from scratch or with components.  Check out my website link below for my babbling about all that other fun!

All original works Copyright 2011 Souzatone Music, all rights reserved unless otherwise noted. Jeff Souza and the Frank Smoller Trio's works are Copyright their respective owners. 

You can try and find a gutsier, harder working, more determined bunch than Toronto’s Poor Young Things. But even if you succeed, it’s doubtful you’ll also find one as clearly positioned for greatness. 

Just two years after collectively relocating from Thunder Bay, the pop-rock quintet has issued a massive, sweat-soaked, insanely confident debut, The Heart. The Head. The End. Not only that, they’ve picked up a record deal, marquee management, a Sirius XM Emerging Artist of the Year nomination and a swelling fan base.  Few can make something as tough as pursuing a dream look so dang easy. 

“Oh man, we are so lucky,” confirms singer/guitarist Matt Fratpietro on behalf of his cohorts. “Touring across Canada is so hard. And there are lots of bands that do that for years and years and don’t get the breaks we’ve had. 

“We came here and were signed within a year to a small, very supportive label, Bumstead Productions. I mean, obviously we sold our souls to the devil,” Fratpietro howls. “But still. What a deal we got!”

Kidding aside, The Heart. The Head. The End. could not have emerged if Poor Young Things – high school pals Fratpietro, guitarists Michael Kondakow and Dave Grant, bassist Scott Burke and drummer Konrad Commisso - had elected to play it safe.
 
“It’s scary to leave your hometown,” Fratpietro admits of the big move south in November 2010. “We had been playing together for about three years at that point in some incarnation or another.  The five of us all agreed to move together, which made it a bit easier though we are all living in the same house now which is… cozy. I mean, we see each other every day.”

That friction is part of what drives the propulsive The Heart. The Head. The End. Equal parts grit and groove, fun and fury, the record is a crisply rendered snapshot of five guys who’ve crisscrossed the country playing anywhere they could to anyone who’d listen just for the privilege of being there, logging 100-plus shows last year alone.

“This record is a reflection of getting older and thinking about that. We are all going to be 27 this year,” Fratpietro says, adding that yes, they’re aware of the infamous 27 Club curse and no, they’re not planning to join though they have had some close calls on the highway.
Fratpietro continues: “’Sign of the Times’” (the album’s scorching first single) is based on what the world is like today. But the over-arching theme is experiences we’ve had – on the road, relationship-y things. There are also songs on there about having a good time and meeting people. ‘Revolver’ is one of those.”

‘Revolver’ is also an example of just how essential Toronto producer/engineer Jon Drew is to Poor Young Things’ lightning-in-a-bottle sound. 
“Originally, the chorus of that song just had me singing ‘revolver.’ Jon suggested we should get a gang of people and blow it up to the next level. So we got (East Coast singer/songwriter and Bumstead label-mate) Tim Chaisson’s cousin and bassist Koady Chaisson and drummer Nat Lamoureux into the studio one night, had a couple of drinks and just sang our hearts out.

“Plus Jon has an ear for percussion,” Fratpietro says of Drew, whose sterling production dossier includes albums by Fucked Up, Tokyo Police Club, Alexisonfire and Matt Mays as well as Poor Young Things’ 2012 EP, Let It Sleep. “And we happen to have a drummer who is as solid and hard-hitting as you can get.”

The new record’s spit-shine polish – it’s melodic but unfussy and clearly made by flesh-and-blood people playing actual instruments together - reflects the swift, organic manner in which it was written and recorded. 

“We toured until the end of summer 2012, then practiced for a while, wrote the songs, went in and did half the record, went on a month-long tour with Tim  Chaisson across Canada in late-fall of 2012, then came back and recorded the other half of the album,” Fratpietro explains.
“We had a chance to play those new songs across the country and that’s where you get to the meat of it. Also, that tour impacted the vocals because when I came back my voice was destroyed. But it sounds awesome on the album and much closer to how we are live.

“I write most of the lyrics,” Fratpietro says, “and usually we’ll get the songs down first and the lyrics will come later. We don’t really demo because we don’t have anything to demo with,” he laughs. “But that’s how we are; we just jam and jam and jam until the song is right. Let’s call it the natural way. But we do capture the vibe of togetherness.”

Asked to cite a song that seemed to write itself, Fratpietro name-checks ‘Black Lightning,’ one of several tracks on the record with a chorus so hooky it double-dog dares you not to holler along. Like ‘Revolver,’ it also features backing vocals by Koady Chaisson and Nat Lamoureux as does ‘Sign of the Times,’ ‘Dress It Up’ and ‘Transformer.’

“‘Black Lightning’ only took a couple of days. And that was typical of most songs on this album. We were actually very surprised how easily everything came out when we finally sat down together. Everything went where we wanted it to go. I honestly can’t think of a song we had to struggle with.”
With the obliging hand of fate pressed firmly on their backs, what now for Poor Young Things? “I really just hope the album does well, that we’re on the road for most of the year and get to go to the States a lot,” Fratpietro says. “I hope people can listen to it and see a little bit of themselves in it.  

“The thing is, we’re a hard-working, 24/7 rock-and-roll band. There are no gimmicks and there are no tricks. We go out there and we play. The shows are fun and they’re real. We’re real. There’s nothing fake about it.”

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