The Promise Hero Enters The Studio
The Promise Hero is back with a new album to be released in the near future, but this time, it is just Bobby Vaughn.
The Promise Hero is a band from Cleveland, Ohio who originated with members Bobby Vaughn (vocals), Daniel Weiss (guitar), Kevin Buchnan (bass), and Dan Evans (drums) in 2006. With that line up, they released their debut self titled EP. Their bassist and drummer was soon replaced by Jeff DiLorenzo (bass) and Frank Fini (drums).
In 2008 The Promise Hero released their first full length album, “Wait For The Sun” on TDR Records. Since the release, the band toured in its support, as well as put out an acoustic EP, “Okay, Cool.” Since then band members, Frank Fini, Daniel Weiss, and Jeff DiLorenzo left the band to peruse personal endeavors; however that did not stop Vaughn from furthering his own music career.
This past February Vaughn entered the studio with producer Jaime Wolldord to record his second full length album, which is currently untitled. He spent ten, twelve hour days recording the twelve songs that the album consists of. All of the song names are currently still tentative.
Before entering the studio Vaughn recorded 20 songs on Garageband witch had acoustic and vocal harmonies. “After I recorded the songs, I sent the guitar and vocal samples to Jaime and he added sub samples and then sent it back to me,” he said
After getting the songs back, it was time to enter the studio. “When we entered the studio we first talked about the song structures and then hit the record button all over again,” said Vaughn
With the loss of band members, the question that remains is how did Vaughn make this record all on his own? “I already had the song ideas and instrumentation written on my own,” he said. “Performing, I had Jaime on drums and sometimes he’d pick up the bass in the middle of a song to play a part, and it would sound awesome so we’d keep it.” He also had a couple of friends come into the studio to play the cello and violin.
Recording this album was also the first time that Vaughn actually played an instrument on one of his albums. “I only sang on “Wait For The Sun.” Dan played all of the guitar parts” he said. .
The lack of band members was not the only change on the new album, but the process of making it was a very different experience for Vaughn. “This album started the same way as the first,” he said. “The Ideas came out of my head.”
What was different was the fact that after they came out of his head, they would have to go through band members where those ideas would be reshaped before the songs even got to the producer. “I went through multiple producers the first time (band members),” Vaughn said. “This time it was just my ideas.”
On “Wait For The Sun” Vaughn took a backseat approach in the production and creativity portion of making the album. “This time it was all just me and the producer working on the album,” he said. “It’s new, it’s cool, it’s fun.”
As far as musical influences go, Vaughn did not have just one or even a few. He said that everything that he could have even thought of that felt right had an influence on his music. “I tried not to discriminate against any artist and picked both old and new artists,” he said. “When you’re writing a song and all the sudden it’s like man, this would sound cool if I sang a big harmony like Queen does.”
At some point after the album is released fans can also expect a new music video and a tour from The Promise Hero. Steve Tsenserensky, who filmed the videos for “Wait For The Sun,” “Winning Or Losing,” and the band’s other videos, was in the studio with Vaughn the whole time. “He recorded what we did in the studio and outside of the studio,” he said. “I plan to make the recording process into a story line and make the video of the acoustic track that is on the new album.”
As far as touring goes, Vaughn said he will definitely be touring to support the new album. “Why do bands tour? Do they tour to make music or make music to tour?” he said. “I feel that there is a bigger thing, but when I think about my future with music, touring is definitely involved in that.”
So what can fans expect this new album to sound like? “Every song is like a different genre. I had no idea it would turn out that way,” said Vaughn.