Artist description Punk / metal band from Rochester, NY

Music Style punk/metal

Musical Influences Every single good band ever established...

Similar Artists AFI, Glassjaw, Incubus

Artist History Formed in 99'and have played out with other great rochester bands such as delusional spell and mindstrap

Group Members Andy Holley - percussion Brandon Previte - vocs Mike Billotti - guitar Phil Ferrara - Bass

Instruments All the essentials

Albums WELFARE demo cd due out mid March 01'

Press Reviews WELFARE- Unsigned and spontaneous“I want to be the band that makes some people wonderwhat inspired us to do that.”By Lizzy WilkinsWe sit down to ponder the thousands and thousandsof unsigned bands and individual artists all vying fora pedestal in today’s music world. And out of all ofthem, I came across Welfare. A batch of insanity.Truly. But they’re pretty damn cool guys. The bandconsists of Brandon, their lead singer; Andy, theirpercussion master; Phil, the bassist of whom was toobusy to grace my presence; and finally, Mike, theguitarist. Brandon and Andy took the time to actuallytell me about Welfare, being an unsigned musician, andthe current, unstable, state of the music industry.“Welfare, to me, in the beginning, was an excuse justto get out of the house and try new stuff. I neverthought we would ever actually improve like we have,individually and as a whole,” says Brandon.Perhaps the most striking thing about this band istheir genre-spectrum….they play everything.“Experimentation between genres has always been afascination with me, especially since major recordlabels dont condone it, concerned with the fact thatgenres can clash and make for a choppy recording.There is proof that it can happen, bands like Boy SetsFire, a prime example,” comments Brandon. “We find itis best to keep an open mind, ‘cause ya never knowwhat kind of crowd you will be playing for,” saysdrummer Andy. “Generally, the audience is starving fora mosh-pit,” adds Brandon. The band shows the sameview on the genre topic. And amazingly, they don’thave much of a problem with directions songs shouldgo. Compromise is key for the band. “Form a harmlesscompromise and 90% of the time the song will go theway you want it to go,” says Brandon.The music industry is corrupt. What else is new? Weall wish we had perfect images, because, news to theworld, popular music image is based on sex. That’s allit is, sexy image, you sell. “I truly believe we'll bethe last generation to enjoy a somewhat normal world,”says Brandon. It seemed to me that part of Welfare wascorrupting the world: a common mission of many a metalband. I can see a backlash in the future: a new erareborn, much similar to the backlash in the 80’s (nowthere’s punk). I can’t wait.Bragging rights come with being in a band. “[Drumming]is most definitely one of my passions. I love playing.I have had my drums for about 3 ½ years now, but Inever even touched them until this band got started(around summer of 1999). I am totally self-taught, I’mglad I never took lessons because I think most of thetime it limits your style, and doesn’t allow you toexpand as much as you might like to,” rambled Andy.Both agreed that it’s just cool to say that you’re ina band. Then again, who could disagree?And we move on to equipment. Equipment a band uses isthe epicenter of everything: the sound, the image, thegenre. Mike uses a Gibson Epiphone SGX and peavey amp,Phil has a Kawia bass and a Fender amp, Andy usesCB700 toms, a Gretch bass, Tama snare, Pearl Piccolosnare, and mostly Tama hardware. Brandon tops thetechnicality with a Sennheiser mic. Experimentation seems to be the biggest key point,genre-wise as well as lyrically. “Encased in the musicare my feelings, and because interpretation throughmusic is sometimes harder to come by, I feel morecomfortable expressing myself that way,” says Brandon.All too true: we can have fun for hours slamming ourradios, getting one too sick of fluffy, candy-coatedshit (see: Mandy Moore, “Candy”….. stalkers withcandy). Welfare is perfectly abnormal. Abnormallydelightful. “Our lyrics express our feelings on topicslike war, love, and expression of pure emotion... themore raw the better in my opinion. If you were toblindfold the audience, they could tell it was us, Ithink, by a handful of things the band does,” claimsBrandon. And guess what? Welfare is locally successful. Andytells me, “I’d have to say getting our CD recorded wasa rather large accomplishment, and then selling out ofthem was really cool too.” They sure are able to dowhat Brandon likes best- “The satisfaction of beingable to orchestrate my feelings to an acceptingaudience.” Apparently, their audiences accept them.“Cutting a CD, even though it isn’t a major labelrecording by any means, is something that every"normal" kid imagines. I’m not normal, so I did morethan image it all,” confesses Brandon. Unsigned bands are cool because they are stillunscathed by the music industry. They haven’t gotten achance to be fucked with by idiotic, corporate mindedrobots who wish to censor an art form. “It’s a trulypure form of music not yet raped by higher industry,”claims Brandon. To earn the title of a band, “onewould need to be fairly established in there area, andhave a few devoted fans is all ways good too,”explained Andy. Selling out of CDs sure makes Welfareestablished.“[Being an up-and-coming musician] makes you realizeresponsibility is hard to come by, sacrifice is justanother one of life's lessons, and as you discovermore and more the direction you're headed in life,sacrifices are more easily made,” says Brandon. Sotrue- as with anything, sacrifice to do what you loveis expected. Time, devotion, social life, and evenschool life can factor into becoming a successfulmusician. So we can all hope to become rockstars someday as wethink about the number of unsigned bands, just likeus, who wish to make music their careers for eternity.That’s just what music is- an addiction to somethingso moving, so powerful, that one is sure that they canforever be provided with everything by music and onlymusic. The prospect is one who walks in the hall withheadphones glued into his/her ears when their friendcomes up and says, “You listen to music at everypossible moment, don’t you?” The prospect is the onewho survives every day of their life just to go homeand jam on their guitar. The prospect is the oneperson who solely lives because there’s a concert nextweek that they’re hyped for. The prospect is theperson who wants to have people hang on their everyword, utter, and syllable through music. And therearen’t many prospects. “When people hear good music itmakes them homesick for something they don’t have andnever will have,” says a publisher. Well, Prospects,I’m damn sure we can prove him wrong.

Location Rochester, New York - USA

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