About a month ago, I was catching some live music at Cuchulainn's Irish Pub's Jam Night on a Tuesday night, when this one particular band caught my ear towards the end of the night- I turn around to see this group of talented young musicians rockin' the hell out. At that moment, I really wanted to meet them.
Jersey Girl: Wow- sounds like the stars seriously aligned for you guys that night! How and when did you form the band?
Uforia: The Uforia project started back in January 2011 when singer Michael Ursini met producer Tony Malone. The two were brought together through mutual friends Steve D'Angelo (Composer at The Egg Plant) and Joao Carvalho (Best Mastering Engineer in Canada). Tony recorded one of Michael's songs and saw great potential in him. He asked Michael to write new songs and and to find a band of musicians as good or better than himself.
Jersey Girl: Who are your musical influences?
Jersey Girl: Your story is inspiring to me, and I'm sure to whoever's reading this. How did you get to where you are in such a short period of time? How much time do you put into the band every week?
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| Uforia L-R: Julien Bigras, Michael Ursini, Adam Brik, Sam Morton. |
I had the opportunity to let them know how much I dig their sound, then they hooked this Jersey Girl up with their EP entitled "Imagining". Me, having "Demo-itis" as someome once told me (meaning, I totally dig having a copy of the music in its truest form, the way the artist originally intended for it to sound), I had a listen the next day and I was musically smitten! The band hooked Jamsterdam up with some tunes and now the band is a rockin' and a rollin' on the Jamsterdam Top 10!
So... what's the name of this band I'm going on about? They're called Uforia. This quartet representing Mississauga/Toronto/Scarborough consists of Michael Ursini - Lead Vocals/guitar, Sam Morton - Bass/vocals, Adam Brik - Guitar/ vocals, Julien Bigras - Drums/vocals.
Here's my interview via email with the band:
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Jersey Girl: Thanks for taking the time for this interview! You guys just won the contest at the Hard Rock- congrats on that! Got any interesting stories about that experience?
Uforia: Our win at Hard Rock Cafe was determined by fate and hard work. The initial stage of the contest was an online voting competition through Facebook where people would download our song "Empty Head" to cast a vote. There were over 350 artists in the contest. The top 10 artists and 2 wild cards chosen by Hard Rock would then play a series of performance battles. We finished 12th and were lucky enough to be chosen as a wild card. We'd like to think our recording got the attention of the hosts. Our first show was on March 6th. The set times were to be decided randomly at 6pm on the night of. 7:15, 8:00, 8:45 and 9:30 were the set times. Our drummer had a recital at Humber College that night at 8:30pm so we were scrambling to find a way to play the show. We contacted the other bands playing on that night asking if they were willing to give us the 7:15 slot. They were all nice enough to give it to us. We played a great show and won!
The judges gave us some very useful advice for the finals on March 14th which we took very seriously and worked our asses off to master. At the final show we drew the first set again and played our best show ever. The other bands were great but we ended up winning! Now we're representing Toronto and Canada in an international competition! (Hard Rock Rising) The next stage will be another online voting phase April 22 to May 1st.
Uforia: Our win at Hard Rock Cafe was determined by fate and hard work. The initial stage of the contest was an online voting competition through Facebook where people would download our song "Empty Head" to cast a vote. There were over 350 artists in the contest. The top 10 artists and 2 wild cards chosen by Hard Rock would then play a series of performance battles. We finished 12th and were lucky enough to be chosen as a wild card. We'd like to think our recording got the attention of the hosts. Our first show was on March 6th. The set times were to be decided randomly at 6pm on the night of. 7:15, 8:00, 8:45 and 9:30 were the set times. Our drummer had a recital at Humber College that night at 8:30pm so we were scrambling to find a way to play the show. We contacted the other bands playing on that night asking if they were willing to give us the 7:15 slot. They were all nice enough to give it to us. We played a great show and won!
The judges gave us some very useful advice for the finals on March 14th which we took very seriously and worked our asses off to master. At the final show we drew the first set again and played our best show ever. The other bands were great but we ended up winning! Now we're representing Toronto and Canada in an international competition! (Hard Rock Rising) The next stage will be another online voting phase April 22 to May 1st.
Jersey Girl: Wow- sounds like the stars seriously aligned for you guys that night! How and when did you form the band?
Uforia: The Uforia project started back in January 2011 when singer Michael Ursini met producer Tony Malone. The two were brought together through mutual friends Steve D'Angelo (Composer at The Egg Plant) and Joao Carvalho (Best Mastering Engineer in Canada). Tony recorded one of Michael's songs and saw great potential in him. He asked Michael to write new songs and and to find a band of musicians as good or better than himself.
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| The cover of Uforia's EP "Imagining" |
Within a few months Michael wrote Give it Up, Imagining, Empty Head and found two incredible talents. Lorenzo Castelli (Award winning drummer and composer from Berkley) and Sam Morton (Humber Bass prodigy). The creation of "Imagining" was almost under way. We brought in Alex Pulec (formerly of The Ruby Spirit) to play lead guitar and the band was complete for the recording.
With the completion of "Imagining" we found our two permanent members in May 2012. Drummer Julien Bigras and Guitarist Adam Brik are both Humber students and are incredibly talented musicians. The name Uforia was chosen at the end of May 2012 after hundreds of attempts to name the band. Our current line up is Michael Ursini (lead singer/guitarist), Sam Morton (Bass/vocals), Adam Brik (Guitar/Vocals), Julien Bigras (Drums).
Jersey Girl: Who are your musical influences?
Uforia: Billy Talent, Greenday, Sum 41, Chili Peppers, Rush, Wolfmother, Tool, MF Doom, Pink Floyd, Boston, Rage Against the Machine, Primus, Jimi Hendrix, Incubus, Jimmy Page, Mike Einziger, Slash, Porcupine Tree, Periphery; Intervals, and many more. We like all hard rock done tastefully. And we like good melodies. All of this is in Uforia's music.
Jersey Girl: Your story is inspiring to me, and I'm sure to whoever's reading this. How did you get to where you are in such a short period of time? How much time do you put into the band every week?
Uforia: We got to where we are today in such a short time because of the caliber of musicians in the band. All of us are trained and exceptionally talented at our instruments. We also put in a lot of time every week rehearsing and arranging our material. Our producer Tony Malone is also our manager and artistic director. He has shaped the band into what it is today sonically and visually.
We've got 3 new recordings on the way, and a few video's in the works. Big things are coming and our momentum is through the roof right now. The world will soon know Uforia!
Jersey Girl: Definitely! I'm also a firm believer in hopping on the momentum wagon while it's a hot ride! Sounds like you've got a great team and a solid foundation to make the big time! Thanks again for making awesome tunes and taking time for this interview. We look forward to hearing more from you!
We've got 3 new recordings on the way, and a few video's in the works. Big things are coming and our momentum is through the roof right now. The world will soon know Uforia!
Jersey Girl: Definitely! I'm also a firm believer in hopping on the momentum wagon while it's a hot ride! Sounds like you've got a great team and a solid foundation to make the big time! Thanks again for making awesome tunes and taking time for this interview. We look forward to hearing more from you!
Uforia: Thanks for taking the time to interview us!
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| Jam Night's 2nd Anniversary party at Cuchulainn's. L-R: Adam Brik, Michael Ursini |
Other than this written interview, I had the opportunity to sit down with 1/2 of Uforia, Adam and Michael at the successful 2nd Anniversary party of Jam Night at Cuchulainn's Irish Pub this past Tuesday and interview them for the listeners! To find out when this will air, follow Jamsterdam Radio on Twitter or "Like" us on Facebook!
Below is a video I shot as part of their acoustic set where they played "Give It Up" live! To hear Uforia's single "Give it Up", tune in to the Jamsterdam Top 10 every day at 10am EST and midnight EST! Keep it locked, my sexies!
@JerZGrlinCanada
Below is a video I shot as part of their acoustic set where they played "Give It Up" live! To hear Uforia's single "Give it Up", tune in to the Jamsterdam Top 10 every day at 10am EST and midnight EST! Keep it locked, my sexies!
@JerZGrlinCanada
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