St. Paul - We the Living

There is more than one artist with this name:

1. We The Living embodies everything great that rock bands strive for. With honest and heartfelt lyric, 24-year-old lead troubadour John Paul Roney's unique and somewhat haunting vocal soars above the rock-solid musical foundation created by bandmates Benjamin Schaefer and Matt Holmen. With a name that arises from the band's shared interest in philosophy, We The Living's sound originates from their many influences, ranging from U2 to Coldplay to David Gray.

WTL was founded in Madison, WI in the fall of 2006 by Roney and Schaefer, former members of established Northeast touring act The Profits, an act who received both critical and commercial success in the ever-important college market. With a new sound and musical direction, Roney and Schaefer sought out the missing pieces they needed and added guitarist Holmen and bassist Benkowski. After touring for a short time without any new recorded music to release to their fans, the group set out to find a producer for their new material.

It was through a mutual industry contact that the band was introduced to producer and former Maverick/Warner Bros A & R Exec Scott Austin (Tyler Hilton, MoZella, The Shore). Though Austin did not have all of the new material to review, as some of it had not yet been fully written, both parties felt a personal and creative chemistry and decided almost immediately that working with each other was a must. Initially commissioned to produce 6 songs, Austin recognized that John Paul had more to say and, as Austin puts it, "he was on a roll with his writing." Everyone agreed that this new sound needed more than a 6-song EP to call home, so the decision was made to track additional material, ultimately creating the 10-song debut album "Heights Of The Heavens." With finished record in hand, Austin, who advises many music industry clients as CEO of artist development company Authentik Music Group, quickly realized that this young group needed solid career guidance and signed the band for management.

We The Living is currently on a national club/college tour in support of their new LP "Heights Of The Heavens," with a national album release slated for Fall '07.

Jasper (Smith) Austin left the band in late 2008, and We The Living has continued on without a replacement.

2. We The Living was a hardcore punk band from Florida. They released an EP called CARNIVAL OF VICE on Subversive Records in 1985. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.