May 29, 2015

Rock Workshop Where Are They Now: Distant Cuzins

We asked former Rock Workshop band Distant Cuzins to give us some information about their band--namely a brief history, what they have in store, and what role the Foundry has played for them. Guitarist Sam Miess sent us this via email.

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We’ve evolved a lot since the time we’ve been together. The band actually started out as an English project in 7th grade (three years ago). Three of us were in an English class together, and the final project was any type of communication. Since all of us could play instruments at some level, we thought it’d be fun to try the project musically.

We wrote some interesting songs (which are pretty iffy when we look at them today), and recorded them for the project. After that, we thought – hey – maybe we should try learning some covers.

Over the next year, we continued to learn more covers, develop as musicians, and then had an opportunity to play in front of an audience at the school, Brat Fest, and Monroe Cheese Days. Being out in front of a crowd gave us the confidence to keep growing musically, and to start writing our own songs.

Another thing happened, which really helped develop us. We saw the WSMA Launchpad competition while we were in 8th grade. We thought this is something we really want to try. In planning that, we knew we needed to mold our sound. That’s when we reached out to Madison Music Foundry and the Rock Workshop program.

With the help of Dustin Sisson, we were able to really fine-tune our sound and become much better musicians and a band. Thanks to that work, we’re in the Launchpad Finals for a second year in a row, and we were nominated for the Wisconsin Area Music Industry’s Rising Star award in 2015.

Madison Music Foundry also opened up new show venues for us, which has led to more shows and visibility. We are playing about 20 shows this year, including many paying gigs. We will be playing at SummerFest in Milwaukee this year, Oregon SummerFest, the Dane County Fair, and at other venues in southern Wisconsin (even one in the Chicago area).

It’s been a pretty crazy ride for us over the last three years, and we’re excited for what comes next – we know we’re still growing as musicians. Mostly though, it’s a blast being on stage. When the audience is in to the show, there’s nothing like it.

DISTANT CUZINS
Nic Tierman - Vocals/Bass
Sam Miess - Guitar
Nate Krause - Guitar
Ben Lokuta - Drums

www.distantcuzins.com
www.facebook.com/DistantCuzinsBand
twitter.com/DistantCuzins

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