Final sound checks with The Apprehended

“Check, check, one two, one two…check!” 

The crowd gets pumped, the opening chords blast through the speakers, the beat from the drums echo through the venue and the show begins. It’s little things like a sound check that bring back memories from a previous time. Where everything is carefree and it’s all about the music.

If you are a music scene local to either Beaufort, Bluffton and even maybe Charleston the name  The Apprehended may ring some bells for you. The band consists of five awesome guys who I actually have the privilege to call friends.

It saddens me to say that last month on July 6th and 7th the band hung up their instruments and ended a major chapter in their lives that opened in 2009.

The final shows were preformed at El Rocko Lounge in Savannah, Georgia. Followed by a performance in Augusta, Georgia at The Epicenter. However, it brings me great pleasure to be able to say that for the last seven plus years I’ve known them they have not only grown as artists but as men and I was proud to be there for their final moments. I know they all will look back on the years spent as “The App” and remember all of the amazing moments they shared on many different stages.

The first time I had met the guys it was April 2011 and they were opening for Mayday Parade at the Music Farm here in Charleston, SC. It was the second show I had ever been to in my life and I walked out with five goofy life friends and family. (Joshua and I bonded over Cheetos at the merch table.) I remember seeing them on that stage for the first time. Michael and Preston screaming “check check” as loud as they could during the sound check. Back then, they used to open their set with “An oak tree is just an acorn that held it’s ground”. The heavy guitar riffs along with some major head banging and jumping on stage hyped you up and grabbed your attention. The intense“we’ll set this place on fire!”  lyrics followed by a cheerful “Hey guys! We’re The Apprehended” from Michael opened up the night.

From that point on I watched this group of guys mix and create songs that I can honestly say may not leave my memory. I think Commission and Safe in Beecher’s Hope from their EP Defining Home will go down as my favorites. This also could be from hearing them at the minimum of a thousand times while they were creating them. Everyone who’s had the chance to know them has a fond memory with them and the band house.

You can find their music on iTunes and Spotify

Now…meet the guys

Austin Ramey- Guitar/Vocals

Jade Williamson – Guitar/Vocals Matt Snow- Bass Josh Dooley- Drums

The weekend was full of love, emotions and of course loud music but over all it was a weekend I think everyone will look back on and remember fondly. Fan favorites were played. One being “The Great Commission”, which if you have ever seen them play it live you’ll understand when I say that it is definitely a crowd’s song. The second the first chords are played you can hear the out cry of voices shouting “I’m so sorry…I mislead you.” One of the original members, Kevin Gornichec stood in on guitar and vocals for Jade Williamson for two songs each night to play Commission and also “I dream of the past, I dream of the future”. See below for a clip from the performance at the Epicenter.

Click here for full video.

“I dream of the past, I dream of the future” starts off as another one you can feel the crowd give into. Austin Ramey‘s intense growl at the beginning sets the tone of the song and it’s always crazy to hear it come out when he lets it go.

After that weekend I followed up with current and past members about their time as a band.

Michael Pitt and Matthew Snow- Savannah, GA

Q: which song did you enjoy playing the most?

Matt: “I dream of the past, I dream of the future. The bridge/ breakdown part lends itself to me just letting go and having fun. Always my most erratic moments on stage.”
Michael: “It’s hard to pin down which was my favorite song to play live. I have specific incredible moments tied to almost every single song we’ve played. Specific nights when the crowd really just gave it all back to us during The Great Commission, times when I NAILED the high note in Can We Just Speak?, the night after the massive bombing in Paris when we dedicated Wisteria to the victims and all the emotions that came out because of that, the meltdown I had at the end of Passenger during Kevin’s last set with us, and every time I injured myself on stage because it was all just too much haha. I straight up don’t have an answer for this one.”
Kevin: “I always had the best time playing The Great Commission. The eerie introduction to our set quickly turned into one of our first experiences involving our crowds singing our lyrics back to us, which gave me the heebie jeebiez in the best way. Fuckin’ neat. Plus it’s just bouncy and sing-along-ey and really set the tone for the rest of our set.”
Josh: “Still Flyin’ was always a blast on drums.”
Austin: “Can We Just Speak?”
Jade: “Commission. I didn’t have anything to do with writing it so it has some cool things I wouldn’t think to play.”
Preston: “It’s a tough one but to avoid story time we’ll say By the way Mr. Hero…”

Josh Dooley and Matthew Snow- Savannah, GA

Q: what was your craziest onstage experience?

Matt: “I’ve fallen a couple of times on stage. It’s always embarrassing but most of the time it was from doing something crazy that I shouldn’t have.”
Michael: “I got food poisoning right before a battle of the bands. I showed up late and weak right before our set. The boys played a killer show, and I tried my gosh darndest, but I couldn’t give it everything for fear of explosions bursting out of…well yknow. Our friends there mic crowded, Matt sang several of my parts, and just…they carried me. That’s the most vivid. And the time I broke my foot before our set. Wtf.“
Kevin: “There’s a couple. Setting foot on the Ernie Ball Stage at Warped Tour 2010 with the boys is a big one. My 13 year old self thought something like that was super unattainable, I may or may not have peed a little up there. I was electrocuted more than once. I got sticky hands. There aren’t as many go-to “onstage experiences” that mean as much to me as just the adventure of touring, playing new cities, and making lasting friendships with people from other bands and folks from all over the place. (Quick shouts outs to From Ashes to Empires, Come What May, Me and The Trinity, Any Otherwise, Us, Ghosts, Vices & Vessels, Sent By Ravens, and Set Apart.) I’ve never/will likely never laugh as hard as I did in and out of the van with these guys.”
Josh: “I’d have to give it to the last show we had in Savannah. With family, friends, and even new faces singing our songs, having a good time and just being there for us that last time gave such a crazy feeling that it took its place as my favorite show.”
Austin: “Right before we played a show, in Rincon, GA, I had just won a hot sauce eating contest. Probably the dumbest thing I’ve done right before a show. Not only was I on the verge of puking the whole show but I got dizzy many times and almost knocked over stacks of people’s equipment throughout the whole show.”
Jade: “Every App show was totally bonkers on stage. A blur of fret-boards and unfamiliar faces and ceiling-mounted LEDs is all that I tend to remember. But I remember the first time we played Speak at a sold out New Brookland Tavern. Never had i hard or have I since heard such a roar from a crowd. It turns out it’s a lot louder when people face you as they roar.”
Preston: “With the Apprehended, there’s lots of great memories to choose from, But, my favorite memory still is the first Tour we all did together with FATE. Just 10 guys traveling the coast together. I’d never give up those memories. Also, probably be any time we played it’s dangerous business walking out your front door. Kids would swallow me whole during that song.”

Q: Where did the origin of your band name come from?
Michael: I think a Adam suggested the name as a joke to poke fun of various members’ past incarcerations. We were just a cover band back then. I think they settled on it while I was away one weekend and came back like “oh. Okay haha” it was nbd back then. Then it stuck haha”

Michael Pitt, Josh Dooley and Matthew Snow- Savannah, GA

Q: Were there any names that were also in the running?
Michael: “I don’t remember what other names we were considering. The only ones I remember were the ones I liked haha. “We Were Lions” was one. When we were considering a name change when we were in talks with Imminence to sign, we thought of a few good ones but the only one I can remember is “Because The Carpenter” but that had a little too much of a Christian center to use.

All the guys beginning their final set ever in Augusta, GA

Q: How long have you all known each other and how did you meet? What Inspired you to make music together?
Michael: “Matt is really the keystone in The Apprehended relationships. Matt and Preston got me in the band, Matt’s brother Christian was a member for the formation, later Matt’s childhood best friend Austin joined in, and I’m sure Matt was the first one to reach out to Jade when we were in search of an new member. If we don’t know each other through Matt, it’s because of the music scenes we’ve been involved with. The inspiration to play is different in every heart. And different in all five of us. We have loved being on the road, the catharsis of a live performance, the accomplishment of writing, the struggle of pushing ourselves to be better, and the journey of self discovery as people and artists. What drove The Apprehended to be a band was to connect with every fan, turn them into a friend and then family over something as deep and personal as our shared passions.

Q: What was the process of creating a song for you? Did someone write the lyrics and then the melody falls into place/vice versa.
Michael: “The songwriting process changed a bit over the years as we grew or changed members, but the central pillars largely remained the same. Usually the guitars would exchange riffs or ideas until they could start to form a central movement to a song. I would sit in for as long as someone who knows so little about music theory and try to help them navigate the riff soup. It was mainly for me to learn the mood or voice of the song and to put me in the right head space to write for that specific song. After that the boys would start to work on it in the room with drums, letting Joshua really transform the song. After that would come tweaking both in the room and on the computer where the songs were always demo’d in a bootlegged copy of Protools. This process could and definitely did take months. Meanwhile, I was working out melodies or refining lyrics. I can’t truly work out a melody until I’ve sung to the song in the room with the loud ass amps, half busted PA, and most importantly for me, the drums. After that, it’s just learning parts, adding sexy little touches of character, and figuring out if I even wrote vocal parts that were possible in a live setting haha.

Jade Williamson – Savannah, GA

Q: Did you have a definite set list or do you switch it up for different shows?
Michael: “As far as set list goes, we tend to work one out and stick with it for a couple dozen shows. We’ve changed the set list up to fit a certain crowd that for sure, but that’s the bonus we’ve always had musically; there’s a little bit of something for everyone in our music.

Austin Ramey – Savannah, GA

Q: What are/is the main theme behind your songs?
Michael: “So. The central theme for my lyrics, and it really reverberates into the rest of our music due to the aforementioned writing process, but anywho. The central theme is basically frustration with oneself. Most of my lyrics are voicing a frustration or expressing the pain behind a certain struggle. Wisteria is about experiencing the death of a loved one, Dream is about the changing of band members, Speak is about how fucking hard it can be be open and honest in my everyday life and art, and Quick Hands, like a few others, is about my guilt over past infidelities and people I’ve hurt or wronged. Every song…well excluding Quick Hands actually haha, ends with a resolve. Through writing the song I often find a way to cope with a pain or move passed a current block in my life. So…I guess the central theme to our lyrics is “coping through expression” and we really built a small little community from that. An incredible family with roots that extend waaaaaaaay out.”

Then of course had to ask the fun stuff.

Josh Dooley – Augusta, GA

Q: What’s the first show you went to go see?

Matt: “I believe the first show I SAW was like… O -Town at Wild Adventures but the first show I SOUGHT OUT to see was My Chem with Flyleaf in Orlando at the Nokia Live taping they did. We didn’t pre-purchase tickets and the show sold out so we had to buy $20 tickets for $50 each.”
Michael: “My first concert ever was Weird Al Yankovich. Yupp.”
Kevin: “Fucking MUSE. And U2..they were alright too!“
Josh: ” I had the honor of being able to see Avenged Sevenfold a few months before The Rev passed away.”
Austin: “Trivium, Machine Head and Lamb of God at the House of Blues.”
Jade: “Winter Jam 2006.”
Preston: “idk… ummm I think it was a Sevendust concert in Hilton Head! Haha they played with a band called Karnivool.”

Michael Pitt during the beginning of Commission in Savannah, GA

Q: song currently paused in your Spotify or iPhone?

Matt: “The whole UnderoathErase Me album.”
Michael: “Well it’s not paused but I’m listening to Eden by TesseracT from their album One.”
Kevin: “Always Focused by Tiny Moving Parts.”
Josh: “Oxygen by With Friends Like These.”
Austin: “Burn Nice and Slow by Hail the Sun.”
Jade: “Mess by Get Scared.”
Preston: “It’s actually a band Kevin just showed me…Wavelengths By Deadlights.”

Jade Williamson- Augusta, GA

Q: favorite T-shirt from a concert?

Matt: The Ongoing Concept with a pick axe cross on the back. It was a big “festival” we played in Savannah with them and quite a few other bands naturally. I mean, it was a festival.
Michael: “I went to a Maylene and the Sons of Disaster show a while back with Preston. We both bought shirts and the first thing we did was cut the sleeves off.”
Kevin: “I have a pretty sweet I The Mighty Tee. It’s gray and has a blue circle on it.”
Josh: “My dance gavin dance shirt I got on their Mothership tour. It has a cat with a bow tie on it so it was hard to turn down.”
Austin: “My Coheed and Cambria GAIBSIV tour.”
Jade: “A Day to Remember’s “Fuck You From Florida” shirt is awesome.”
Preston: “I’m bending the rules here but I have a windbreaker from a Thrice show that’s just so sweet. “Together We’ll fight the long defeat”

Q: biggie or Tupac?

Matt: “I plead the 5th.”
Michael: “Ain’t nobody flow like Pac.”
Kevin: ” The Degrassi Soundtrack.”
Josh: “R.I.P to both. They were both talented men who were taken from this earth way too soon. If I had to choose though, I would give it to Tupac.”
Austin: “I plead the biggest 5th.”
Jade: “OutKast?”
Preston: “Biggie.”

Matthew Snow- Augusta, GA

Q:First album you owned?

Matt: “Backstreet Boys – Black and Blue.”
Michael: “That I bought myself? River of Dreams by Billy Joel. Metal af.”
Kevin: “Who Let The Dogs Out LP – Baha Men.”
Josh: “Disturbed – Ten Thousand Fists.”
Austin: “Nirvana – Nevermind.”
Jade: “Switchfoot’s The Beautiful Letdown.”
Preston: “I actually bought Hybrid Theroy by Linkin Park and Chocolate Starfish and the hotdog flavored Water (Atrocious album title) by Limp Bizkit on the on my 10th Birthday on November of 2000! ”

After their final song the emotions ran high and we all ran to the nearest bar.

The overflow of support that these guys have received is beyond words. As individuals and as a whole they gained millions of life memories that no amount of time can erase.

Stay awesome my friends. Don’t ever change. 🖤