Zach Santiago
Aaron Reece
Grady Rogers
Preston Hall
George Forman





The Harsh Truth hails from Columbia, South Carolina. After forming in Fall 2014 by Talon Vick (Keys) and Nate Walker (Vox/Rhythm), they added Colin O'Keefe (Bass) Joe Lansburg (Lead Guitar) and Andrew Lasseter (Drums) to the mix. Since then, they have taken the local scene by storm… performing to packed crowds at Jake’s, Carolina Ale House, Conundrum and New Brookland Tavern just to name a few. The band’s sound is reminiscent of the late 60’s and early 70’s and the band takes inspiration from musicians such as Tame Impala, Buddy Miles and Jimmy Hendrix. A show by The Harsh Truth consists of completely original material with a few covers thrown in. Since their inception, their mission has stayed the same: Make music that moves people. On April 8th they will be releasing The Stereo Dream EP. Ticket information can be found in the TicketLeap link below. 

Celebrating the best new music from emerging and established artists across the Southeast.

Matt Holmes and Randy Borawski of Charleston, SC based Youth Model, know a thing or two about South Carolina’s music scene and they’re ready to prove they belong in the front ranks. With a new single, “Outside Threat” released September 30, 2018 and performing shows around the Southeast, it’s only a matter of time before they make their way there.

Youth Model’s origin story may be rooted in a family tragedy, but the band stands as proof that tragedy can often fuel powerful, thoughtful endeavors. When Matt’s cousin passed away in 2011, Matt stepped out from behind his drum kit where he’d been loyal rhythm-maker for other bands, and ventured into his first solo project, My Beating Heart. The project was an effort dedicated to his cousin who had “always supported his [Holmes] songwriting”. When attention and care is thrown into any project, you want what’s best for it and sometimes what’s best requires making adjustments. My Beating Heart’s shiny, sleek pop feel shifted when Holmes recognized the difficulty in recreating perfect, glossy pop in live performances. As a result, he began writing grittier, pop-rock songs—tunes that felt like a fresh start, tunes that begged to be brought to new life with other like-minded musicians. In October of 2013, My Beating Heart became Youth Model.

This is where drummer Randy Borawski comes in. Borawski is a Columbia, SC music veteran and co-host of Unsigned on the local radio station WXRY. Unsigned showcases local, regional and undiscovered talent. It was here that Holmes and Borawski met. If only all decisions could be made as easily as Randy’s decision to accept Matt’s offer to join the band. “He accepted on the spot,” Holmes said of the moment. Youth Model has consistently been playing shows and laying down tracks ever since.

The road is family—the disciplining father, the nurturing mother; exist as shadows at each stop to any band betrothed to relentless touring without a safety net. With miles behind and miles ahead, life in a van will change a band; and All Get Out are no exception. From the wasted days stranded, to the desolate moments of doubt, to the nights where immortality stretches through bended notes, two-hundred and fifty shows a year has shaped the band known for their attitude and angst on display through high woven volume into a refined framework fusing gambled moments and glossy catchiness.

“We sound like we’ve been on tour for three years. We’ve been smoking and driving, and we don’t smell too good,” Nathan Hussey, singer and guitarist, defining the coming of age sound on their full-length debut, The Season.

In 2007 the foursome from Charleston, SC found themselves with two EPs, stumbling into regular weekend tours of the South. Soon three days became a month and a month became six. A play-anywhere-for-anyone ethic kept All Get Out on tour for three years. A loyal fan base that has been equally enamored and entertained with their big ditch, bigger valley sound has grown with them, anticipating when the band would enter the studio again.

Acting as a centerpiece to an album with running themes, the title track for The Season puts all the moments that have shaped the members square into the light. “While touring is fun and a dream, there were times where all of us wanted a wall to punch and cry and wished we were home, or had a home.” Hussey explains. Writing in the moment, truly unfiltered, each verse displays specific moments of disarray the band found themselves in: broken friendships, fights, and empty wallets. In the end The Season is about moving past it all so you can keep on driving.

Just as All Get Out accidentally ended up spending the formidable part of their ‘20s counting mile markers, so did The Season unintentionally transform itself into a pop record when the band began tracking with producer Matt Malpass (Lydia, Copeland). Still visceral and soul-bearing as before, The Season stretches All Get Out into the frequencies beyond reactionary abrasions.

Rather than discard older material that dated back to 2007, when a much younger All Get Out wore relationship dirt all over each melody, the songs were kept for nostalgia, giving everyone a chance to hear how the band grew. Songs like My Friends, Son of Mine, Don’t Let Me Go and Girl Gun display an innocence, but the rest of the album shows a band aware that the horizon holds more than can be comprehended. Even Hussey has taken himself out as the protagonist of each song, changing his voice into a character that meanders in, saying “hello”, as the much bigger story unfolds.

“It’s a book on the history of our band,” Hussey says of album. “Now we start another Season.”

culture crush™ is available now ↓
alarmdrum.bandcamp.com//////////////

DempseyMusic is following