Final Gravity, a progressive hard rock band based in Los Angeles has just released their new offering. An album entitled Surviving Humanity. Perfect title for this collection of tunes that was actually written over 10 years ago. The band members originally came together in 2010 and wrote the songs, performed one show opening for one of their favorite bands Fate’s Warning and then life got in the way. The members found themselves focusing on other things like work, school, survival and self-transformation. The seeds though were firmly planted and a vison created, but back then just wasn’t time the right time to move forward. The members all kept in touch, knowing that one day they would come back to this.
This four piece unit is comprised of Melissa Jane Dichiera Vocals, Michael Clark, guitar, Charles Mumford, Bass and John Choinsky, Drums. Progressive Rock with loud and clear vocals, deep lyrics, tasteful guitar solos and tight rhythm section. The band’s message is when we fuel the journey with positivity, there is no need for struggle, there is harmony and we can all soar effortlessly.
While this is the band’s 2nd album, it is the first one to feature Melissa Jane on vocals, original singer Bill Moore, left for career reasons after the original 2007 release.
I met vocalist Melissa Jane last July when we interviewed her for her tribute band Lady Zep who were guests on the Alert the Globe concert series livestreamed around the world from The Coach House in San Juan Capistrano, CA. At that time, she told me about her band Final Gravity and how they had an album coming. We kept in touch and the band had a record release party planned for January, but with strict social distancing restrictions in place, the party had to be postponed. The good news is that means you still have a chance to attend.
The CD Release Party will now take place on Saturday, July 17th 2021 at Transplants Brewing in Palmdale, CA www.transplantsbrewing.com where the band will perform live (9pm) and live stream their show worldwide. The event will double as a birthday celebration for Melissa Jane who was born on the 18th of July.
The CD is available on their website and downloadable on all major music platforms. This epic eight track album showcases a developing theme of self-awareness and growth. Free tickets to the event are available to anyone who makes a purchase at Final Gravity’s merch store. Additionally, you will be entered into a contest to win a free night’s stay in the Palmdale area for the night of the party and a framed autograph picture of you with the band. Go to www.finalgravitytheband.com
Melissa Jane and guitarist Mike Clark recently came by the Backstage360 studio to talk about the new album which was mixed by John Kurweg (Creed, Godsmack, Puddle of Mudd). The music has a RUSH vibe to it and guitarist Mike Clark notes that Rush is a major influence, as is Dream Theater, Kings X and Queensryche. The band definitely has awesome technical ability and add their own sound to the music that they are influenced by. The strong, yet feminine vocals give the sound even further uniqueness. It takes classic sounds from the past that we love and gives them a modern, futuristic flavor. These songs have an element of darkness that take you to a place we all can relate to and show you, your opportunity to grow is in your hands and your hearts.
The CD opens with the song “New Day” This song meets you at a place of it’s your choice to stay where you’re at or you can keep moving forward.
“Beyond the horizon the Sun soon will be rising, The hour of most promise is on its way. It’s time for the dawn of a new day.
“Look to the light inside and let it guide you through, or every day will be about how your dreams died.”
The 2nd song is called “Sincerely Satan”, what a great ironic title, a song about temptation and it’s also the name of the band’s private label beer released by Transplants Brewing. It’s a strong powerful IPA, 9.5 with a blood orange flavor and perfectly pairs with band’s music which is also strong and powerful.
Other stand out songs on the CD are ”Hollow Days”, lyrics by bassist Charles Mumford about becoming aware and realizing you are surrounded by opportunities that can change your reality.
“Bleeding Sadness”, a song with piano and strong vocals and deep lyrics converted from a poem written by Melissa Jane.
This is a collection of songs that are deep both the music and the lyrics come together to take you on an emotional musical journey of transformation. Transformation begins with awareness and a spark of hope mixed with dreams.
To choose a favorite song on the album would be difficult, since they are have something unique and worthy to offer. If pressed for a favorite, I’d have to say “No Love” a song that Mike Clark sings parts of and plays some cool guitar on too. The song lyrics ask “What do you find is a world without love? An evil fueled by great ambition.” They also ask “Where is the joy in a world without love? When Success is always measured by the dollar?” These are all great questions and remind us of the importance of love.
The songs are lengthy some as long as 7,8 almost 9 minutes long. I don’t mind the length because the music is good, but if they are going to get radio air play, they will most likely need to make some shorter versions of some of the tunes. I do think that they have the ability to get airplay and the band plans to do live shows as soon as things open back up.
CD Track Listing
New Day
Sincerely Satan
Hollow Days
Hello, Hello (Bleeding Sadness)
Leaving
No Love
My Eternity
Phoenix
Their mission as a band is to bring this album story to life, to inspire and awaken awareness of the true potential everyone has inside of them. To showcase this story they have created a Look-book with each song being paired with the captured imagery from paintings created by the lead singer that visually evoke the feeling and story of each song along this journey. These eight large paintings will be on display at the CD Release Party. The idea is to speak to all of the senses to create true understanding of the meaningfulness of each song. The music and imagery is paired with the words and the poetry of the song lyrics in a printed timeless book of imagery and poetic stories. This way the message of this album can be absorbed in a deeper way as you are listening to music that moves your soul to new heights and opens your mind and captures the human spirit. It tells the story of the band’s and downs along the journey of life toward their true selves.
So how do we survive humanity? It starts with keeping a positive mindset, and ends a whole lot of love, self-love. Self love is the key! If we can’t love ourselves, how can we love anyone else? How can we expect anyone else to love us, if we don’t love ourselves?
So what is self love? Self love isn’t narcissism, it’s quite the opposite, the stripping of the ego. It isn’t about instant gratification, buying yourself things or over indulging. Those things might make you feel good in the moment, but that doesn’t last and could be damaging in the long run. Self love means nourishing and accepting yourself. It’s about having the same compassion for yourself as you would for someone else that you deeply care about. Self love is appreciating yourself, taking care of your own needs and not sacrificing yourself to please others. When you take care of yourself first, you are better able to be there for others. It starts with self awareness and becoming a friend to yourself.
Final Gravity is also a beer term for how much sugar is left over when fermentation is done. It goes to show that this is a band who began brewing as this version back in 2010. They wrote these songs, played the one live show with Fate’s Warning and now more than ten years later the timing is right to move forward like a fine wine or in this case a matured craft beer the timing is right to crack open this powerful 8 pack of tunes. Transformation Rocks!
Social Media Links:FaceBook:https://www.facebook.com/finalgravitytheband/YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/c/FinalGravity/featuredInstagram:https://www.instagram.com/final.gravity/?hl=en
www.finalgravitytheband.com
Brenda Starr / BackStage360.com
Watch our Interview with Melissa and Mike:
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