Audioholic Media

I can’t seem to remember how to type an umlaut using a standard U.S. keyboard, so I’ll admit freely that every time you read “Schröder” throughout this article, it will have been because I copy-and-pasted it directly from their MySpace page.
In fact, Schröder, as a whole, can be a difficult band to wrap your head around. Adam Ashe is the lead vocalist and can usually be found sitting behind a piano or keyboard. Aaron Trigg plays the bass. Nick Welsh is the resident percussionist, and the viola and violin are played by Keith Townsend and Justin Herigstad, respectively.
Noticeably absent from the band, though, is a a guitarist.
“When we went on tour with The Parson Redheads, some of the ‘indie scene’ didn’t accept us as well as we wished they would’ve,” Adam admits. “We don’t have the twangy guitar,” Aaron (whose nickname is Doughboy) adds. Rather than twangy guitar solos, their music relies heavily on genuinely beautiful melodies– which can also be a little surprising, considering the band is comprised of five guys in their early 20s. While their peers are keg-standing their way to frat party greatness, the guys from Schröder are locked in a studio, building an album around Adam’s poetic lyrics about life and love.

None of the members of Schröder seem tortured, or angry, or overly emotional. They’re funny and surprisingly open about how many times certain members have quit the band, only to come back shortly after. They don’t take themselves too seriously and are far from pretentious. After only twenty minutes, it becomes glaringly apparent that they aren’t the types to discuss how many cars they’ll buy once they make it big. In fact, they’ve yet to have a serious discussion about how they intend to release their upcoming album, Gallery Of Apples. “The only step that we’ve really thought about is that we just wanna get the record finished,” says Adam. Their only concrete plan seems to be to cross each bridge as they come to it. But despite their one-step-at-a-time approach, they’re all aware of how the music industry works, they’re cognizant of what they need to improve on, and they have a clear idea of what type of music they want to create.

After three years, Gallery Of Apples is nearly complete and is tentatively set for a summer release. “Villains”, one of the tracks from the record, was chosen to be featured on Fresh Cuts Vol. 2, a compilation CD made up of 13 tracks, all selected by Smashing Pumpkins members Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlain. It is becoming abundantly clear that Schröder is a band that is capable of creating a CD worth hearing– even if we’re still a little unclear about where or how to get it.*

*We’ll be sure to tell you how to get the CD once it’s released.

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MySpace: myspace.com/schroder