Artist description The finest in rock since 1996.

Music Style Indie/Emo Rock

Musical Influences Sunny Day Real Estate, Hum, Radiohead, Death Cab for Cutie, Superchunk, Karate, etc.

Similar Artists Radiohead, Sunny Day Real Estate, Karate, Hum, Death Cab For Cutie, Engine Down, The Shyness Clinic, Boys Life, Christie Front Drive, 400 Years, the Van Pelt, Built To Spill, the Get Up Kids, etc.

Artist History Speedwell began in the fall of 1996, when fellow James Madison University students Meredith Bragg (guitar, vocals) and Jonathan Roth (drums) first began playing together. After auditioning a number of bassists, they found a permanent member in Troy Farmer. The three-piece played their first show in February of 1997, with Sleepytime Trio, 400 Years, and the VSS. Many shows in their adopted hometown of Harrisonburg, VA followed, culminating in a recording session in May of 1997 at WGNS Studios in Washington, D.C., with Geoff Turner (Hoover, Regulator Watts) recording. The four songs recorded at this session were found on the band's first demo, and two of the songs were found on the band's only seven inch, released by Sport. The band was put on hiatus during the summer months of 1997, while Meredith and Jonathan furthered their academic careers overseas, but the band returned in force in August of 1997. At this time, they added Brian Minter on bass, which allowed Troy to return to his instrument of choice, guitar.The reformed quartet then took the indie rock world by storm for the next eight months, playing shows with such luminaries as the Van Pelt, Jimmy Eat World, the Get Up Kids, Mineral, the Wicked Farleys, Jejune, Blacktop Cadence, Milemarker, 400 Years, and 12 Hour Turn. In December of 1997, the band recorded a four track demo, It Could Be Helicopter. The following month, the band embarked on a southern tour with good friends Engine Down, that took them from Virginia to Florida. All in all, the band managed to cover most of the East Coast, playing shows from Pennsylvania to Florida. In May of 1998, due to the graduation of all the members from the same institution of higher learning, the band played their final show. However, due to the kindness of Deep Elm Records, Speedwell appeared for one last time on the Emo Diaries III: The Moment of Truth compilation.Or so we thought. In the fall of 2000 the band reunited for practices, regardless of the fact that one member lived four hours away from the rest of the band. So what's next for Speedwell? Stay tuned to find out...

Group Members Meredith Bragg, Troy Farmer, Cheryl Huber, Brian Minter, Jonathan Roth

Instruments Guitar, Keyboard, Bass, Drums

Albums The Emo Diaries III: The Moment of Truth (Deep Elm Records), Firework Anatomy (Ignition Records)

Press Reviews Jon Roth, despite writing nearly every review for the past few OC's, did not arrange or write this one. I swear. I LOVE Speedwell - and that?s much more than I can say for many (or any) other area bands. I don?t really have the 7?, but I have the demo cassette from the same WGNS sessions and I actually listen to it relatively often. Speedwell?s magic comes from playing minimalist indie-rock tinged with emo stuff reminiscent of a lot of what most probably OC readers listen to all the time, but they strip everything down and achieve a very tight balance between instruments. Vocals are somewhat buried on the recordings here, but the sung-screams cut through well and all the other engineering sounds great. But I know (and you probably do too) that Speedwell can pull it off live, too. And the addition of a second guitar after this recording adds new dimensions (though I also liked the distinctive vibe of the busy-bass + minimal-guitar trio). And I respect Jon as a tasteful drummer with a good ear and knowledge of the forms he?s working with?.-Andrew Willard, OC ??with other dandies following by ? Speedwell ??-Building Adam Zine ?Speedwell ? simple, catchy pop-emo (me likey)?-Summer*salts ?Honorable mentions go to ? Speedwell?-Splendid E-zine "The bands with tracks that stood out for me were ... Speedwell" - Andrew Chadwick, Ink19 "Elsewhere, Speedwell's "Pacifique," ... demonstrate just how gosh-darned pretty rock music can still be." - Brendan Kelley, New Times Broward-Palm Beach

Additional Info Sign up for our mailing list at http://www.topica.com/lists/speedwell

Location Washington, D.C. - USA

Copyright notice. All material on MP3.com is protected by copyright law and by international treaties. You may download this material and make reasonable number of copies of this material only for your own personal use. You may not otherwise reproduce, distribute, publicly perform, publicly display, or create derivative works of this material, unless authorized by the appropriate copyright owner(s).