Music Style Melodic Hard Rock

Musical Influences Bad Religion, face to face, led zeppelin, unwritten law, tool, deep purple, lynrd skynard, incubus, pink floyd, system of a down, a tribe called quest, moby, dream theatre, boston

Similar Artists Bad Religion, Incubus, A Perfect Circle, The Strokes, Staind

Artist History Tom Capossela and Ryan Murphy went to Kindergarten, and every other grade for that matter, together, and have always been good friends. Their creative relationship, however, didn't begin until the age of 12, when Tom began listening to music not found on 102.7. Tom stumbled onto some interesting things pretty early in his life, things Ryan found a bit noisy. Ryan assured Tom that the new Boyz II Men track was much better than this "punk rock" he was becoming so fond of, but Tom was persistent in persuading Ryan, and finally planted the convincing seed while the two drove in Tom's father's Mark VII on the way to Universal Studios for Tom's birthday. Bad Religion's brilliant album, "Stranger Than Fiction," played through the speakers, and Ryan finally began to see the light. __The band can pretty much attribute it's existence to two finite events: 1) Tom getting into Bad Religion and proceeding to get Ryan into Bad Religion and 2) Tom learning to play bass because all the people he wanted to be friends with in junior high played something else, therefore giving himself an in. Fortunately, Bass alone could not assuage Tom's musical desires, and perhaps more fortunately, Ryan had an acoustic guitar....which Tom took. Original songs ensued. __Tom and Ryan burned out multiple song beginnings, and Ryan was always interested in making the duo an entire outfit, but Tom was busy in what Ryan refers to as "the Galapagos Grunge Gays," a band Tom played bass in with Chris Hoke and Scott Gee. His interests seemed diverted back to the Tom & Ryan project however, when Tom got to show his stuff off to Becca White, a senior Tom was absolutely sprung on. When she praised the songs him and Ryan had fashioned, Tom's passion seemed renewed and his focus shifted primarily to writing songs with Ryan. __Ryan didn't sit and wait patiently for Tom to come around, however. Ryan practiced a couple times during his 9th grade year with a few friends, covering Bad Religion, face to face, and Screeching Weasel songs. Among this group was Josh Manville and Ryan Huber. You can now see, if you know the current line up of "if all else fails," how things came together. Ryan, Josh, Tom, and Scott began jamming together during their sophomore year of high school. Their first gig was at a party in the ghettos of Upland. They were slated to play "Come with Me," "Greatest Friend," Unwritten Law's "Superman," Bad Religion's "Inner Logic," and, though it pains me to say it, Blink 182's "Dammit." The show fell through, but the foursome continued to practice. 4 months later they recruited Ryan Huber to play rhythm guitar on "Come with me" for the talent show, and 6 months later "Fool's Gold," as they were first called, played their first show at Espresso Yourself for Lindsay Schneider's 16th birthday party. A week later "Fool's Gold" made their first recording, 2 minutes from where they practiced, at a church on 11th and San Antonio in Upland, under the capable engineering skills of freshman Justin Sykes. They recorded "Come with Me," "A Wish" and "More than a Friend," and made about....oh....17 copies. The number didn't matter though, the dream had been emblazoned in their minds and the passion lived on...that is, until the end of their senior year. __"If all else fails," a name which they adopted at the end of their 10th grade year...thank God...seemed doomed. Both Ryan's were on their way to demanding colleges and practicing seemed impossible. It appeared "if all else fails" had made their run, and were turning in for more respectable, reliable futures. __They went out to John Dolmayan's house that fateful day in Northridge for the seeming hell of it, to let him know, perhaps, that, despite his high hopes for them, despite his walking into the Roxy to pee and instead watching their set and loving them, despite him being the drummer of burgeoning rock powerhouse "System of the Down" and having a multitude of industry hook-ups, that they were throwing in the towel. But John wouldn't hear of it. He single handedly kept the band together, pumping the group so full of confidence that both the Ryan's went home that day and announced their decision to alter their schooling in order to keep the band alive...and they did just that..."If all else fails" lived. They now have a practice studio in San Dimas, and are plugging away at new songs all the time. To hear more recent things about the band, subscribe to the mailing list, or check out the postings in the News section.

Group Members Tom Capossels - Bass Ryan Murphy - Vocals Ruan Huber - Guitar Josh Manville - Guitar Scott Gee - Drums

Instruments Bass, Drums, Guitar, Voice

Albums The EP

Press Reviews WOW! They are Fucking Great!

Location Upland, CA - USA

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