The First Rule takes a Chance with New Album and Makes Plans for 2017 By: Coren E. McLeod

The First Rule takes a Chance with New Album and Makes Plans for 2017

By:  Coren E. McLeod

I love being exposed to new music.  And on August 6th, 2016, that is exactly what happened.  I was able to meet a new local band that goes by the name of The First Rule.  Yes...  Interesting name right?

Well, anyway I was approached by some of the guys from the band and I scored a free Cd...  (Some of the perks of writing for a magazine...  #Loveit...)

After taking a good, hard listen to the album, I wanted to get to know The First Rule a little better...  So, I had the chance to ask bass player, Chris Shanahan , some questions regarding the band's theme, how they come together to write and what their plans are for the rest of the year.

Here is what Chris had to say:







UnRated Coren:  Ok so, lets get to know each other....  Who plays what?

Chris:  Nick O'Malley is the lead singer, Chris Urso plays lead guitar, Chelsey Corrin plays rhythm guitar, "Money Mike" Wynn Jr. plays drums and sings back-up vocals.

UnRated Coren:  You all are a pretty young band....  How did you all get together as a band?

Chris:  It all really started in 2014... Nick aproached ‎me (Shanahan) about writing music to lyrics he had written. He sent me about 4 or 5 songs, and over the course of 7 or 8 months.

 I recorded some demos of the songs. We asked our friend Mike (who also plays in Rainy Day Crush) to play drums and keyboards on some demos. We didn't really have any direction for the band at the time, we just thought we'd try recording a few demos and see what happened.

Then in early 2015‎, we entered WIIL Rock's Bandemonium contest. When we realized we were going to be in the top 12, and might have the possibility of playing in the live rounds, Chris Urso joined up, and we worked on the songs we had already written. We didn't end up making it to the top 6 live rounds, but we did play a show for some friends, since we did end up learning 4 songs.
Over the summer, we worked on new songs, added Chelsey as a second guitarist, and played our first show in our current form in August of 2015.

UnRated Coren:  Ok, there is a for sure a theme with your songs?  How do you come together to write?

Chris:  For most of our songs, Nick will write lyrics first, and either me or Urso will write music for it, record a short demo, and then bring it to the rest of the band to work on. The lyrics are usually very personal (whether for a song by Nick, or written by someone else).

UnRated Coren:  Ok...  So, of course I think of Fight Club with your band name....  How did you come up with that?

Chris:  You got it right there. Before we had added any other members, Nick and I had agreed we wanted a band name that come from a movie that was influential to us. It took us about a month of going back and forth on ideas before we settled on The First Rule... it was hard hitting, and seemed to perfectly fit the identity of what we wanted for the band.

UnRated Coren:  What songs are you favorite to perform?

Chris:  Of course, it varies from person to person. Nick and Chelsey's favorite song to perform is "The Minute Light", Mike's is "Life Lessons in the Key of Self Righteousness", Urso's is "Warning", and mine is "One Man Revolution"

UnRated Coren:  Ok, summer is done.  What are the plans for the rest of the year?

Chris:  It's hard to beat what we accomplished this summer (especially releasing a cd and playing at Summerfest), but we've got 3 huge shows left to close the year out.‎ We're playing Fridayween, on Friday, October 28th, at The Brat Stop in Kenosha. It's 40 bands on 4 stages all night long. 

We're playing our first Chicagoland show in West Chicago at Cairo Ale House on Saturday, November 12th. And we'll be playing one of our biggest shows of the year at Miramar Theater in Milwaukee on Sunday, November 20th, opening up for Project 86 on their 20 year anniversary tour. We have Facebook events for all three shows, as well as discounted tickets for them, on our facebook page (facebook.com/thefirstrulemusic).

It is nice to see The First Rule do so well and I cannot wait to hear what else will happen in 2017!!!

#Cheers ‎







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