Written by Whitter

Whittier is currently a four-piece band from Las Vegas that includes members of a few former local bands. The band started out back in April 2005 with our original members; nineteen-year-old Emmanuel Garibay on vocals and guitar, eighteen-year-old Kurtis Grier on drums, sixteen-year-old Jeremy Hicks on bass, and nineteen-year-old Jesse Valles also on guitar. We were all in high school and some of us working as well when we first initiated the band. Emmanuel, Alejandro, and Jesse are all currently attending college courses while Kurtis is in his senior year in high school. We came together with our minds set on creating music that people could enjoy and relate to and we left out the cliché dream of becoming famous. Our unique style of music is shaped from each members liking of mixed genres. Our inspiration is drawn from genres like brit-pop, emo, hardcore, hip-hop, punk and Spanish rock. We are striving to achieve a new sound of music. We have collected numerous inspirations from many artists and bands but maintaining our unique style as our top priority. Due to restricting schedules the band has a limited amount of time to practice as a whole. Although the band practices at least once a week it helps that each of us continues to improve our musical skills individually at home in our spare time.

The first show we ever played was a battle of the bands show at Gameworks in May of this year. At that time we did not have a permanent singer so Emmy (Emmanuel) temporarily filled in. The show received mixed reviews but we only used the criticism to continue to improve. We have played alongside many other Las Vegas local bands including Iscariot, Holding On To Sounds, and Six Shooters to the Sky. Different types of audiences have attended our shows and are starting to support the band in our creative endeavors. We have played many shows including house shows and other venues such as our latest show at Zia Records.

In June, after playing a show, our bassist left the band. A new search started for a bassist while the band was still missing a permanent vocalist. The search for a vocalist was long but a girl who had attended one of our shows told us about her older brother who could sing. We arranged for an audition with Alejandro Gomez at one of our practices. Impressed by nineteen-year-old Alejandro’s voice we asked him to join the band as our permanent vocalist. But a search for a bassist still continues. We have allowed Alejandro the freedom to come up with new lyrics for their music or keep the lyrics we already had. Bringing in his own personal style he altered some of the lyrics and maintained the same meaning the band was originally trying to portray. Our first show with our new vocalist  showed much promise for Whittier’s future. We recorded a quick demo, including three songs, at Emmy’s house back in May. That was before we had a permanent vocalist. The demo was very rough and only served to give potential listeners a taste of what we sounded like. We posted it on myspace.com. In August we recorded a new demo in California with producer K-Dence. We were anxious for people to hear our new sound with our new singer. We hope to continue to make original music that is different but still appealing. We are looking forward to finding our permanent bass player. We are building our fan base and having a great time making music and playing to our music. Look for our new demo that will soon be available for listening online.

www.myspace.com/whittier