Louden Swain
Rob Benedict - Lead Vocals & Guitar
Michael Borja - Bass & Vocals
Billy Moran - Guitars & Vocals
Stephen Norton - Drums & Vocals
Prior to their newest album Sky Alive, Louden Swain’s 2012 album Eskimo had solidified their reign as indie darlings in the Los Angeles music scene. The release of Eskimo - the band’s 4th studio record - yielded a year marked by an American and European tour, and included instant classic shows in New York, London, Chicago and Berlin. While videos for the singles “Eskimo” and “Gamma Ray” posted impressive numbers on YouTube, the song “Worlds Collide” was featured in the CW series “Supernatural”. Indie Rock Café said about the album “With that kind of talent helping them out, it’s nearly impossible not to end up with some great tracks”.
The four friends and longtime bandmates had a lot to be excited about. Lead singer Rob Benedict,
bass player Mike Borja and drummer Stephen Norton started the band in 1997. Early on the music catered to the time - they were a Green Day-esque garage rock band. The new millennium added
influences from Wilco and My Morning Jacket. But their core purpose never changed—make music that you enjoy. With the addition of lead guitar player Billy Moran in 2005, they were finally able to
not only make the music the wanted to, but with a new layer of sound that matched the epic visions they were hearing in their head. Those epic visions manifested themselves in A Brand New Hurt
(2007) and Eskimo.
But 2013 brought a new challenge that they would have to overcome. In October, lead singer Benedict (also an actor with an impressive resume including “Waiting...”,
“Kicking and Screaming”, “Supernatural”, and “Felicity” to name a few) unexpectedly suffered an ischemic stroke, caused by a tear in his carotid artery. This unlikely occurrence put not only
Rob’s future, but also the band’s, in question. But Rob started making a surprisingly quick recovery, fueled by practices with the band. At first he could play but had a hard time enunciating
lyrics, but they kept on. “It was the one thing I could do that felt good, and was good for me.” said Benedict. By January 2014, he was back to full health, much to the amazement of the doctors.
His “therapy” had produced 16 new Louden Swain songs that were ready to record.
The result is Sky Alive - Louden Swain’s 5th full length album – a 12 song symphony of pain and triumph. It is an album about not only surviving but also re-connecting with life. The band has never sounded so full and passionate. The album is the closest yet to capturing the energy and pulse of their live shows. As always, the lyrics have that biting wit, catchy choruses, and instantly memorable melodies which have become the Louden Swain signature. The band produced Sky Alive themselves, and the finishing touches were added by mixer Jon Kaplan (Parachute, Augustana, Gavin DeGraw) and mastering by Gavin Lurssen (Bruno Mars, Queens of the Stone Age, Sheryl Crow).
Their music is available on Itunes and Amazon.
Rob Benedict
Rob Benedict is an actor best known for his roles in TV and films including "Felicity", "Supernatural"
and the movie Waiting...
Born and raised in Columbia, Missouri, Benedict received a degree in Performance Studies from Northwestern University. After graduating, his passion for theater lead him to performing in regional
theaters across the country, including the critically acclaimed South Coast Repertory Theater in Costa Mesa, California. In addition he developed a one-man show based on the life of James Dean
which he performed in Chicago and Los Angeles.
In Los Angeles he began performing in improv and sketch comedy shows. Soon he ventured into the world of stand-up comedy and hosted a monthly show called "Die Laughing" in which he performed with
the likes of Tig Navaro, Paul F. Tompkins and Zach Galifiankis.
After a handful of guest star roles in tv, he was cast as "Richard Coad" in the critically acclaimed series "Felicity", which ran for 4 years on the WB. Since then, Rob has acted in more than 50
episodes of television over his near 20 year career. He is known as the prophet "Chuck Shurley" in the CW series, "Supernatural" and the irreverent power agent "Jeremy Berger" in the buzz worthy
Starz comedy series "Head Case". Other regular roles include "Lucas Pegg" in the CBS sci-fi drama "Threshold", Sydney Bristow's partner "Brodien" in "Alias", and "Judah" in the NBC sit-com "Come
To Papa". Additional television credits include guest appearances on "The Mentalist", "NCIS: Los Angeles", "Shameless", "Psych", "Cold Case", "Law and Order: LA", "CSI: Crime Scene
Investigation", "Burn Notice", "House", "NCIS", "Medium", "Monk", "NYPD Blue", as well as recurring roles on "Touch", "Franklin and Bash", "Chicago Hope", "Birds of Prey" and "Buffy the Vampire
Slayer".
Film credits include starring opposite Jenna Fischer in A Little Help. Also Still Waiting, where he reprised his role as Calvin, the loveably insecure waiter in the sequel to the comedy Waiting.
Other notable film roles include State of Play with Russell Crowe, Kicking and Screaming with Will Ferrell, Sex and Death 101 with Winona Ryder, The First 20 Million is Always the Hardest with
Rosario Dawson, as well as Not Another Teen Movie, and Two Days with Paul Rudd.
He wrote, produced and starred in the independent short film The Sidekick, which made its debut at the 2013 Comic-Con in San Diego. He also wrote the shorts Lifetripper and the "Unauthorized
Hangover 2 Documentary", which was featured on the DVD of the Hangover 2.
When not acting, Benedict can be seen and heard as the front man of the LA based rock band Louden Swain.
Briana Buckmaster
Briana Buckmaster is an actor, singer and voice over performer originally hailing from Moose Jaw Saskatchewan. She attended the prestigious Grant MacEwan University where she received her diploma in Theatre Arts. Continuing to perform on stages across North America she also began cutting her teeth in the improv world working with renowned theatre companies including the Canadian Comedy Award winning Die Nasty. Briana is an Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Award winner for numerous productions she has performed with Teatro La Quindicina (with whom she is currently a core company member). Her writing credits include the sell-out hit play Tunnels of Little Chicago which toured across Western Canada, and Lady Fartlek Productions- a series of comedic shorts written, directed, and starring fellow comedic actresses. Briana resides in Vancouver Canada with her husband and daughter where she continues to study her craft and regularly appear on stage and in television. She can be seen as the recurring character Sheriff Donna on the CW Network's long running series Supernatural.
Lisa Berry
(Picture by Tara Noelle)
Lisa Berry is an accomplished Canadian stage and screen actor who has worked extensively across North America.
A fan favourite, Lisa is a constant presence in the film and television landscape with major recurring roles in popular television series Bad Blood as “Nellie Bullock”; Supernatural as “Billie”
(a.k.a “Death”); Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments as “Cleophas Garroway”; and Continuum as “Nolan”. Her TV credits also include Mr. D, Lost Girl, XXIII: The Series, 19-2, Against the
Wall, The Firm and Combat Hospital.
Lisa starred opposite Laurence Fishburne in the 2013 sci-fi thriller The Colony and as “Candace Cranston”, in Lionsgate’s 2017 reboot of The Power Rangers.
On stage, Lisa has performed in Soulpepper Theatre Company’s Father Comes Home from the Wars which earned her a 2017 Dora nomination, Chicago Shakespeare
Theatre’s Pericles (’14), and most recently in The Shaw Festival’s critically acclaimed production of An Octoroon.
She will next appear in the upcoming television thriller The Sisterhood.
Lisa was born and raised in Richmond Hill and trained at The Randolph Academy for the Performing Arts in Toronto. She is a strong advocate for self-care and is dedicated to using her platform to
promote conversations about mental health.
Emily Swallow
Emily Swallow was born in Washington, DC and grew up in Sterling, VA and Jacksonville, FL. Intending to pursue a career as a Foreign Service Officer, she earned a BA in Middle Eastern Studies
at the University of Virginia. An audition for NYU's Graduate Acting Program caused her to change course, and she moved to New York to work towards her MFA.
On television, Emily is best known for Supernatural , The Mentalist, How to Get Away with Murder, Monday Mornings and Southland.
Emily continues to act on stage whenever she can, starring in world premieres of Donald Margulies play The Country House at LA's Geffen Playhouse, opposite Mark Rylance in Louis Jenkins' play
Nice Fish at the Guthrie Theatre, in John Patrick Shanley's musical Romantic Poetry at Manhattan Theater Club and in High Fidelity on Broadway. She was part of the LA Drama Critics' Circle
Award-Winning 2016 production of Disgraced at the Mark Taper Forum in LA and she won the Falstaff Award for best Female Performer in 2010 for her performance as Kate in The Taming of the Shrew at
the Old Globe in San Diego
In 2012, Emily and fellow singer/comedienne Jac Huberman created a stage show called Jac N Swallow, which they perform in New York at the Laurie Beechman Theater and Joe's Pub. The show
centers on the comic misadventures of the duo and has played to sold-out crowds.
Emily devotes much of her spare time to volunteer work for the West LA/Malibu Chapter of The Surfrider Foundation, an environmental non-profit dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of our
oceans, waves and beaches.
Gil McKinney
Gil McKinney was born on February 5, 1979 in Houston, Texas, USA as Mark Gilbert McKinney. He is an actor and writer, known for Once Upon a Time, Supernatural and Friday Night Lights.
Left on Laurel featuring Michael Rosenbaum
I’ve had a guitar since I graduated from college. My grandparents bought me one when I stayed with them in the summers in the Catskill Mountains for like $20 and I started playing. In
college, my friend Tom, who is also in the band, he had a guitar and was taking lessons so I started asking him to show me chords. I’d flip the guitar over because I’m left handed and he said I
couldn’t do it that way, but I just had him show me anyway and I’d play it backwards. I should have gotten my hands on a left handed guitar, but I didn’t, so I play the guitar backwards. It’s
really confusing to a lot of people, amazing to some people, and it’s just because I’m lazy as fuck and never chose to learn differently.
I love music. I have always loved music. When it comes to 70s and 80s music I don’t think many people, besides Jimmy Kimmel, have the knowledge that I do. I like a lot of cheesy – some call
it yacht rock – 80s music, but that’s the way it goes!
Ultimately I would write songs and play them for my friends occasionally but I was always really nervous about it. The stand up comedy and music things happened at the same time. I always
fear playing in front of a bunch of people because I’m not a trained musician or singer and I’ve never done stand up comedy, well I did both of those things in December of 2016 and it was a very
stressful time in my life. And it still is! My close friends Rob Danson, Tom Lally, Kent Irwin, Carl McDowell are in the band. Carl had never played bass until we started playing together. Kent
had really never played drums, and I never really sang except for my own shit to myself or for a couple of people like my grandparents. Lally was scared shitless of playing in front of anyone
except me! Then there is Rob Danson who is the musician of the group. He is a great lead guitarist, he’s musically competent, he was in many bands, so having him is the glue that really keeps us
together. He still tunes Carl’s guitar for gods sake…and he’ll tune mine when we are on tour in Germany this summer.
We started playing covers but they just didn’t sound good. Kent, our drummer, was stoned one night (which is not uncommon) said, “Dude, lets just play our own shit. Lets jam!” The one thing I
think I’m good at, I’m not good at many things, but I am good at coming up with songs. I’ll play chords, tell everyone what the changes are and I’ll start making up lyrics on the spot and then go
back and write a song and come back together and we will have a song. That’s ultimately how we do it. We’ve been playing that way for about a year.
Jason Manns, a great musician (look him up), who is a good friend of mine said “Hey, I’m playing at the Troubadour…would you guys play 3 songs and open for me?” Scared shitless, I fought it,
didn’t want to do it, we were a jam band calling ourselves Shit Sandwich who played in my basement! Finally agreed to it and the band learned 3 songs that I’d written and we worked on them and
all came together and rehearsed the shit out of it, and….we KILLED it! We had a great night. My assistant Jess actually sang back up and she killed it. It was just a great night! So then asshole
Jason Manns says, “Hey, come to Germany and go on tour with me.” Fuck!!!! He asked us to learn 8-10 songs and he’ll open for us and we will all play in Germany in 3 cities in July and thats what
we did. We are now The Sandwich, not Shit Sandwich, and The Sandwich keeps on keeping on. The goal is to keep playing and share our music by recording some songs, place them in shows or movies,
and keep on.
Jason Manns and Band
As a singer/songwriter Jason has released his debut album in 2006 and not only plays in the US but has toured Europe multiple times. His original songs are placed in TV Shows in the US, one of those being theTV Hit-Series Supernatural.
As an actor he had leading roles in Indiefilms like "Cake" and character roles in films like "Rock Slyde". As a producer Jason has worked on various short films.
Jason resides in Los Angeles.
He released his second album "Soul", which he describes like that: "I am really excited about this album, there are some definite experiments on there that I'm curious to see how they go over. There are, of course,plenty of songs that sound like what most people would think of as "JasonManns songs" but there are a couple, maybe a few, that don't really sound like that... and I really like them! It's not a crazy departure. It's not electronic, no vocal, dance music or anything, but there is one rock song on there that is pretty fun, and kinda dark, and there's one with kind of an R&B influence... like I said, experimental!”
His next album "Move" was released in 2013 and is also a great success!
In December 2014, Jason released a Christmas Album with wonderful guest appearances of actors from Supernatural like Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, Misha Collins, Rob Benedict and Richard Speight jr.. The associated release party for this album was held at the King King in Hollywood and was live streamed on Stageit with over 5000 viewers. The proceeds went to Random Acts, a charity organization of Misha Collins.
His music is available on Itunes, Amazon and cdbaby.
The Station Breaks
The Station Breaks was formed in early 2016 and is comprised of Rob Benedict, Jason Manns, Billy Moran, Rob Humphreys and Cooper Appelt.
Their first self-titled album was released in late 2016.
Emma Fitzpatrick
Emma Fitzpatrick was born on March 20, 1985 in Marion, Ohio, USA. She is an actress, known for The Social Network (2010), The Collection (2012) and In Time - Deine Zeit läuft ab (2011)
Tyler James Geertsma
(born March 31, 1982) is an American singer/songwriter based in Nashville, Tennessee. He is best known for his work as a solo recording artist and as keyboardist in Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros.
Early life
James was born Tyler James Geertsma just north of Seattle in Mount Vernon, Washington, in 1982. His father is a teacher and his mother an adoption social worker. They raised Tyler and three siblings in the small Midwest town of Orange City, Iowa. He began studying piano and trumpet at a young age and later picked up the guitar from his mom. He spent his last year of high school in Holland, Michigan, before moving to Nashville in 2000 to study and pursue music.Tyler enrolled at Belmont University as a music business major and worked part-time jobs like meter-reading, pizza delivery, valet, landscaping, and in a retirement home. He used the school's recording studios to make demos and interned at record labels and artist management firms before graduating in 2004.
Career
In 2005, Tyler teamed with producer Jason Lehning (Guster, David Mead) and released his first EP aptly entitled "An EP". Tyler followed that release with his first national tour, traveling solo in an old Volkswagen Golf. That same year, he joined nine other Nashville singer/songwriters in forming "Ten Out of Tenn", an artist collective aimed at bringing attention to Nashville's non-country music scene. The group consists of Griffin House, Matthew Perryman Jones, Tyler James, Butterfly Boucher, K.S. Rhoads, Trent Dabbs, Katie Herzig, Jeremy Lister, Andy Davis, and Erin McCarley. Ten Out of Tenn. Vol. 1 was released in 2005 and featured Tyler's song "Stay Humble". Ten Out of Tenn partnered with Myspace and Paste magazine for an extensive national tour which began in April 2005. In March 2006, Tyler was recognized by Paste as "Artist of the Week". In the article, Tyler cites his move to Nashville as "the best thing that could have happened to me, musically and spiritually." He goes on to say, "I'm supposed to be here."
In 2007, Tyler and Leigh Nash sang a duet for the Bridge to Terabithia soundtrack; the song was entitled "A Place for Us". In August 2007, Tyler released his second EP, titled Sweet Relief. The release contained four tracks described as "a more complex sound, indicating grander ambitions (and resources)."Also in 2007, Tyler's music was featured on MTV's hit show The Hills, and ABC's Brothers and Sisters. In 2008, Ten Out of Tenn. released their second compilation album, Ten Out of Tenn. Vol. 2. featuring Tyler's song "Down to the Garden". The group embarked on four national tours between the summer of 2008 and winter of 2009.
In 2008, breaking from his usual style of music, Tyler collaborated with Los Angeles-based DJ Morgan Page on the song "Call My Name". According to Page, "It's a bit of a sentimental song, but
I think it does a good job of straddling the lines of pop and electronic music." The single hit number 1 on Billboard's Heatseekers charts in September 2008.
On March 2, 2010, Tyler released his first full-length album, It Took the Fire, on his own Son of Geert Records. The album contains twelve tracks and was recorded at House of David Studios on Music Row in Nashville.
In early 2010, Tyler began touring as a member of the Los Angeles-based band Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros while continuing to venture out as a solo artist. The band recently completed an Australian tour as well as an extensive summer tour that included festival performances at Coachella, Bonnaroo, Sasquatch!, Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Newport Folk Festival, and Lollapalooza.Their first full-length recording, Up from Below, was released July 7, 2009, digitally and July 14, 2009, physically on Vagrant Records.
In November 2011, Tyler went into the studio with Jessica Maros, a fashion designer from Tennessee.They recorded their first album, The Ghost of Escondido, in a single day, under the name
Escondido.They debuted later that month at the Mercy Lounge in Nashville. Their album was released in February 2013.
Tyler has toured with several artists, including Denison Witmer, Diane Birch, The Autumn Defense, Mat Kearney, Pico vs. Island Trees, Paper Route, and Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
Aaron Beaumont & Amanda Wallace
Aaron Beaumont is a Brooklyn-based composer, producer, and artist. As a writer and performer, he's shared his work in wide-ranging venues from the Sziget Festival in Budapest to KCRW Santa Monica to Theatre 80 in the East Village to the main stage of the West Hollywood Carnaval. L.A. Weekly wrote that Aaron's music brings "a new life to the ancient music-hall/pop piano-man tradition, with clear-headed songs of genuinely witty lyrical oomph and, most of all, a historically informed musical depth - all delivered with style, grace, wit and elan, of course." Recently, Aaron was a finalist as a composer and lyricist for the Roundabout Theatre / Fred Ebb Award for his work on the original musical Behind Closed Doors, co-wrote and arranged songs for the forthcoming feature Permission (Rebecca Hall, Dan Stevens, Jason Sudeikis, Tribeca Film Festival), contributed the original song "17" and several arrangements to Gil McKinney's debut album (#1 iTunes jazz, #8 Billboard jazz), and premiered a new song cycle, Midtown Antoinette, with Parisian soprano Lorelei Zarifian for Florida Tech / Foosaner Museum / WFIT. Aaron has composed original music for films and theatrical productions including Where Hope Grows; Permission; Alex & Jaime; Cedar Cove; Dan is Dead; All the Lovely Wayside Things; Tall, Dark, and Handsome; Heart; Until We Have Faces; Shrew; The Fire Room; the Breakfast Show with Adam O; Companion; and Beyond Imagination, winning best score and sound design at the Hollywood Fringe Festival for his work on Fugitive Kind's production of The Fire Room by Ovation Award-winning playwright Meghan Brown. Aaron served as Artist in Residence for the Spark & Echo Arts project (2017), also serving as a curator (2017), and completing additional Spark & Echo commissions (2016, 2018). Aaron works as in-house composer and producer for the Gregory Brothers / Schmoyoho, whose original music has earned them a gold and platinum record and nearly one billion views on YouTube. He co-founded the SongLab workshop and serves as co-chair of the Carnegie Hill concert series in New York, featuring leading interpreters of classical and New Music from around the globe. In his spare time, Aaron enjoys playing the piano, eating, making coffee, drinking coffee, going for brisk walks, being near coffee, and writing brief autobiographical sketches in the third person.
Paul Carella
Paul is a Scottish singer/songwriter. Self taught, Paul learned his trade as a musician playing in the pubs and clubs of Glasgow before moving to London in 2009 to further his music career. Since then Paul has released a second studio album, which was followed by a 10 date tour in Nashville, Tennessee. That was followed by a UK tour in which Paul supported Alan Price (The Animals) and award winning L.A singer/songwriter Steve Carlson. Paul has also worked with Alabama 3 and The Steve Cradock Band. Over the last 4 years, Paul's music has been played on independent radio stations in the UK and the US.
Since a young age, Paul has shown a hunger for music. Finding his first idol at the age of 4
in Elvis Presley, singing along and following Elvis, move for move in his parents living room. That hunger was stifled for many years by a crippling shyness, that Paul eventually broke through
and became the outgoing person he is today. Finding other influence in artists such as Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen and most recently Glen Hansard, Paul has matured into an artist of
the people, writing songs about day to day life, relationships, hardships, topics that the people can really relate to.
Paul signed with music management, Downtown Artists in
2013.
He’s playing shows in UK, Scotland and Germany since he joined The Final Wish and Hayden Lee at their gig in Germany in November 2014.
You can buy his album “Carella” and the new EP “Dead Town” on Itunes and Amazon.
Hayden Lee
Hayden Lee is a Charlotte-based singer/songwriter whose edgy guitars and beguiling melodies create a sound different than any other alternative rock/pop artists currently out there. He has played at various venues in the Charlotte and Washington, D.C. areas over the last 8 years playing a mix of cover music and original songs both as a solo artist and with bands.
Starting in early high school watching his band, Bottom's Dream, play guitar and sing while he played drums, Hayden Lee began learning guitar and writing music. He played acoustic at several college events and was in Stairwells, an all-male a capella singing group, which helped hone his confidence as a singer and a performer.
Hayden began playing with Teaser, a cover band in Washington D.C, after college, where they introduced many of their original works into the sets. After moving to the Charlotte, NC area, Hayden began playing at several venues acoustically and continued to write music in pursuit of eventually releasing an album. In 2007 he teamed up with producer and guitarist, Ron B. Smoov, and drummer, Clayton “ClayFunk” Turnage, to produce his debut album, “House of the Lonely Souls”. This album combines driving guitars and head-bopping beats with melodic harmonies and thought-provoking lyrics. This mixture produces a sound that traverses the different music genres from alternative rock/pop to some funk and R&B.
Recently he has been to Germany with The Final Wish for a gig in November 2014 and he is playing in Charlotte, NC now and then.
You can buy his album “House of the Lonely Souls” and the new EP “Unplugged and Unaltered(ish)” on Itunes, Amazon and cdbaby.