Future brightens for locally-based band

Tuesday, May 1, 2007

The future keeps getting brighter and brighter for TGL.

But for now, the band will just have to wait.

The local band, composed of four Greencastle High School graduates recently entered Epic Record's Artist of the Year contest.

The band was selected as an Artist of the Week in March on "The Freshman" show on mtvU, MTV's college spinoff.

TGL entered the contest with a bit of hestitation but after being selected as an Artist of the Week, the band moved into one of 50 finalists in the competition.

TGL managed to stay alive in the contest as artists were dropped from the contest. The artists were chosen through online voting, which ended Friday.

The top five picks advanced to a final round and the winner will sign a record deal with Epic, which includes promotion and video. The winning artist will also perform on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien."

The band is composed of GHS graduates Zach Stewart (bass), John Sibbitt (guitar), Will Cath (drums) and Quinn Fenlon (guitar).

Sibbitt and Cath are both students at DePauw University and Fenlon attends school at Brown University. Stewart is a student at Capri College in Iowa.

Despite online voting ending already, the top five have not been announced yet. Still, Stewart said being in the contest has made things easier for the group.

"The publicity we've gotten from all of this has just been amazing," Stewart said. "Our summer tour has been a lot easier to book since it's all happened. Bands want to play with us, venues want to book us, and it's working out fairly smoothly.

"Believe it or not, we want this more than anything. I don't think a lot of people understand the magnitude of this whole contest, and the exposure we've received."

The band has been together for nearly six years although Fenlon is a recent addition. TGL was recently known as The Good Life and has released a couple of albums.

"After six year, we've finally made a real name for ourselves and people are quickly starting to hear what we've been working hard on," Stewart said.

Since entering the contest, Stewart said the band has received more than 40,000 hits on the contest website.

"That's more hits than our myspace page has had in five years," he said.

Stewart said several of the contestants are in the rap genre and that two of the top 15 artists were bands, the other of which was a rap group.

"We're the second most viewed band in the top 15," Stewart said.

Stewart said the band's sound has changed significantly with the addition of Fenlon and that fans will be able to hear that change on record soon as TGL plans to release another album this summer before taking off on a tour.

"It will be our first CD with (Fenlon) as lead guitarist," Stewart said. "He's brought a whole new aspect to the band. Our songs are far more complex, yet still catchy and poppy. The songs are darker.

"We're older and have been through some hard times regarding the band and relationships. I think everything that has happened to TGL in the past year is reflected in the new music."

TGL will tour with the new album beginning with a show at the Attic in Plainfield on May 31. The tour will last through July and will cover stops in Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, New York, Massaschusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, Missouri and Canada.

The band will take part in the Hype Energy 2007 Tour through July, which will include artists Asteria and Bear Hug Jersey, among other bands.

"I think we can see the light at the end of the tunnel," Stewart said.

Stewart said the band would hopefully find out the results of the contest within a few days.

Respond to this story

Posting a comment requires free registration: