Artist description Call it what you will, rock, power pop, alternative, second coming or total crap, this band’s music is a fresh relief in the rock world dominated by falsely angry whiteboy B.S. Original yet derivative of good bands, Hanging James is based in Morehead, KY and is widely recognized as MSU’s hottest ambassadors of ROCK. With great materiel, great players, an entertaining stage show, and a growing army of converts, Hanging James is now one of KY’s most exciting all original bands.

Music Style Intelligent, honest, melodic songwriting that also happens to ROCK

Musical Influences Beatles, Zeppelin, Traffic, Ben Folds, Early Bowie, Beach Boys, Ealry Elton John, Billy Joel, Radiohead, Blur, Queen, Ozzy, Hendrix, Clapton, Van Halen, Stevie Wonder, Orson Welles, Miles Davis, Jimmy McGriff, Keith Emerson, collective works of Shakespeare, SNL, Bernstien, Gershwin

Similar Artists Matthew Sweet with better guitars, more keyboards and less annoying vocals. Or old Radiohead as played by Night Ranger.

Artist History In late 1997, Scott and Sean shared a failed attempt at a “ten piece rock band”. Despite the questionable nature of this first musical meeting, the pair established a mutual admiration and friendship. After this “rock experiment” dissolved, Sean went on to help establish the group Ambition’s Ladder as one of the area’s top original bands, while Scott continued his already successful music theatre career. After a stint conducting theatre in Philadelphia, Scott returned to Kentucky just in time for Ambition’s Ladder to break up. With A.L. alum Greg Sutherland handling guitar chores, Scott and Sean starting writing together at last - while putting the finishing touches on a rehearsal and recording studio in Louisa, KY. After several months of musical exploration, the trio settled on a vibe that would shape the new band: a commitment to all-original intelligent, melodic songs that rock. The only thing missing was a full time drummer. In December 2000, Paintsville High School student Levi Castle sat in with the group at a Saturday evening rehearsal. Excited by finally hearing the songs with drums, Levi was asked to continue on with the group temporarily. In April 2001, with Levi behind the skins, Hanging James made its debut at the Earth Day concert at MSU. In the audience that day, watching intently, was not only Scott’s guitar playin’ optometrist friend of 15 years Darren Patrick, but noted percussionist Todd Simpson. More on them later. The quartet played one more gig, the infamous “HeadStock” festival, and despite three power outages during their opening song, the band delivered quite a memorable performance. Later that summer, Greg decided to leave the group to pursue “other interests”. Enter stage left Darren Patrick and Todd Simpson (mentioned earlier) to round out the current lineup. Fall 2001, the lineup solidified, Hanging James is hitting the scene hard on a mission to reach the throngs of fans looking to fill the musical void that currently exists in the industry with some honest, catchy, fun, driving tunes.

Group Members Scott Bradley - keyboards and vocals Sean Harris - bass and vocals Darren Patrick - guitar Todd Simpson - percussion

Instruments Guitar, bass, keyboards, percussion, vocals

Location Morehead, Kentucky - USA

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