Artist description Currently hovering in a super-emotive stage of musical development simply referred to as the "Cadence" project, the music of Broken Ladder (via its only member, Clay Schoentrup) is an ambitious attempt to create aural "landscapes" whose consuming energy evoke stark images of pain and internal struggle. Yet, within the context of this (as yet) bandless acoustical lamentation one cannot help but make out an inkling of delight and suppressed optimism, distinct amidst a collage of resounding alternately-tuned open strings, agile transitions, and enticingly counterintutive bridges.

Music Style Alternative Acoustic Rock

Musical Influences Pearl Jam, Failure, Radiohead, Soundgarden (Chris Cornell), Tool, STP, Led Zeppelin, Bjork, Hooverphonic, Portishead

Similar Artists Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, Dave Mathews, Chris Cornell, Radiohead

Artist History Having faced the divorce of his parents at age 1, Clay was already on his way toward a rocky childhood; and his mother's financial ineptitude coupled with her affinity for animals, left him her reluctant companion on a life-long trip through poverty and insanitary living conditions, in an intellectually impoverished southeast Kansas town called Caney, nestled square in the Bible belt, just a stone's throw from the Oklahoma border. While his only alternative was occasional visitation with his physically and verbally abusive alcoholic father, whose 8th grade education left him ever the travelling Oklahoma ranch-hand, this was occasionally his unfortunate recourse. It was, as he puts it, "...sort of like taking off your gas mask in the middle of a serin attack for awhile to cool down.". A life which continued like this eventually lead to Clay's being put into a variety of state living arrangements. After eventually making it to the age of 18 and fleeing for college, Clay still felt himself grappling with life, and his inability to find anyone who would love or appreciate him. Together with his extremely low self-esteem, this left him fully immersed in animosity, and ready to unleash his rage upon the world each day. Within the music of Broken Ladder is a rich dichotomy--it presents itself to the world like like a battered spouse coming home with a gun in one hand and a boquet of flowers in the other. Utterly torn between the desire to move on and heal, and the ball-and-chain of relentless dread and past regrets, the lyrical style is at times enchanting, and at times suffocating. But the goal is clear--to make the listener feel *something*.

Group Members Clay Schoentrup

Instruments Acoustic guitar, electric guitar.

Albums sorted by "project" name: Cadence, Animosity

Location Tempe, AZ - USA

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