For concert-goers seeking a ground-shaking experience to celebrate the Fourth of July at Summerfest, look no further than Milwaukee's own Invade Rome, which plays on the Cascio Interstate Groove Garage stage.
"We're the band that likes to push it to the limit with volume," says drummer Justin Krol. "Our sound's between that fine line between where it's awesome and painful. We want to explode out of the PA."
Joined onstage by brothers Chris and Brian Vos, Krol and Invade Rome have made a name for themselves with a flair for big sounding moments. Big guitars and drum sounds are the norm with this band.
"Our sound is definitely gritty and big," says Krol of the power trio's psychedelic tinged music. "We have our quiet moments also but we like our big moments to be very, very big."
Inspired by '90s-era Flaming Lips music mentality where the drums are as big as possible, the band takes every detail into account and are true experimenters with what they can do with drum and guitar sounds.
"We do a lot of studio tricks with that kind of stuff where we try to maximize how big and how fuzzy we can get these tones," says Krol. "Lots of saturation and we carry that all the way through. We like really fuzzy, really big and very crazy types of tones."
Add to that a unique singer in Chris who helps puts the band in a league of their own. For Ryan Matteson, editor of the popular Muzzle of Bees blog, Chris's voice put him under its spell the first time he saw him a number of years ago.
"I first saw Chris play the slide guitar while I was in college at UWM sometime around 2000-2001," says Matteson. "He was using a cigarette lighter as a slide and his voice sounded as if it could forge the signature of the sun."
At that time, Chris and his brother fronted a band started in the late '90s called Freshwater Collins, a band known also for making their own impression on the music scene. After Krol joined their band in 2002, they released an album three years later and then nothing new came out for some time.
Even with the album in 2005 they notice their sound was changing. Slowly, they drifted away from the original Freshwater Collins sound. When it came to record a new album recently, which ended up entitled "Light Eyed and Villainous," their music had taken a new shape. One day, they decided it was time for a new name. Invade Rome won out.
"We hadn't been Freshwater Collins mentally for quite a while," says Krol. "We decided that it would be smarter for us at this point, if we're really in this for the long haul, to change that now and kind of be able to start over."
He added that any time you have a band as big as Freshwater Collins "it's really hard to persuade anyone that you're capable of doing anything differently." With the name change, Krol says it gives the band more of an opportunity to do something different.
The band has flourished with their new moniker with audiences latching onto their unique sound on their album. These people include fellow Milwaukee musicians who couldn't see the local scene without them. For Maritime's Dan Hinz, Invade Rome is "truly inspiring to me a musician" and described them the "love child between ACDC and The Strokes."
"What really draws you in are these huge, driving, almost hypnotic rock riffs that make you want to grab anything around you that resembles a guitar and pretend you're Chris Vos for a few minutes," says Hinz.
These sounds have attracted a wide range of music listeners. Matteson notices whenever he's at a Invade Rome's show there's quite a diverse selection of music tastes.
"They're truly a musical chameleon that appeals to a large range of musical fans," says Matteson. "You can be standing next to a long-time fan of The Who, a fan of Widespread Panic, a heavy metal fan, a couple bikers, college guys and gals, as well as people who are into all the latest indie bands."
Krol says that the band's work ethic has led the band to continually write new songs, many of which found their way on their latest album. Knowing a good song comes as pretty intuitive for them. Typically those written quickly are the keepers.
"When you hit that lottery ticket when everyone's into it right away, I think it's the universe telling you that this song is worthy of the album," says Krol.
The band doesn't stop there - they work closely from start to finish to make sure their album is exactly how they want.
"We're in on every step of the process," says Krol. "I feel that's the best way we can put out our products."
Working with people in tune with their vision for their sound, the album saw the band having a blast and turning on all cylinders. Likely working at storied Smart Studios in Madison rubbed off as they worked producer Beau Sorenson (known for his work with Death Cab for Cutie). Sorenson understood with the band's desire to record on analog tapes and get the best sound.
Once they completed what they could do, the sent the album for remastering to Roger Seibel at SAE Mastering in Arizona. Seibel is known for remastering the Hendrix tapes. As Krol says, he's "well versed in big sounds" and able to further maximize their sound.
Invade Rome, without wasting much time, have taken their music to the road with fiery force. They've shared tour dates with bands such as the Secret Machines, Dead Confederate, as well as invitations to major festival performances alongside The Flaming Lips, My Morning Jacket, and Kings of Leon.
"We play a lot of dates in the past and we've have years where we've had 150 plus shows in one year," says Krol. "We just don't turn it down. If there's an opportunity to play more we'll take it because it's part of our work ethic."
This barrage of performances includes their recent performance at South by Southwest in Texas where in a 24-hour period they played three shows. Matteson says that every show the band gives it their all.
"They leave every drop of themselves on that stage," says Matteson. "Their live shows are almost like revivals, I always leave inspired and wishing other bands put the same energy into their live performances."
The band hopes to spread their music around the world and get some albums released there. Regardless if they have a show or not, the band members enjoy every time they have to practice.
Hinz says everyone in the band is really easy to get along with and all know what they want in their music.
"They're all straight shooters," says Hinz. "When you know them well enough they treat you like family. It's a beautiful thing."
The band is likely using some of their practice time on fine tuning an EP that will likely be out this fall. It likely will continue the sound of their first album but as Krol says it'll be a little darker this time. Not wanting to fall into past habits, they don't want to leave a big gap in albums again.
"We don't want to leave any space between albums any more because we tend to leave too much space and it's hard for any connection to be made," says Krol.
So far, they've certainly made a loud and big connection to the Milwaukee music scene.
"They're woven into the musical fabric and community," says Matteson. "They're musical risk takers, who move in the direction they want and that's really respectable to me."
