Wiredrawn

Infobox musical artist
Name = Wiredrawn


Img_capt =
Img_size = 250
Landscape = Yes
Background = group_or_band
Origin = Ocean City, Maryland
Genre = Hard rock, alternative rockcite web|last=Sharpe-Young|first=Garry|title=MusicMight Biography|url=http://musicmight.com/artist/usa/springfield/staind|accessdate=2008-09-16] , post-grunge, alternative metal
Years_active = 1998 – 2008
Label = DogWar Records
Current_members = Nick Mikula
Mike Willett
Chuck Lenderking
Kevin Willett
JT Anton

Wiredrawn was a hard rock / metal band from Ocean City, Maryland.

Band Members

* Nick Mikula - Vocals
* Mike Willett - Lead Guitar
* Kevin Willett - Bass Guitar
* Chuck Lenderking - Rhythm Guitar
* JT Anton - Drums

History

Wiredrawn started out as a Metallica cover band in 1998 with members Chuck Lenderking (15), Mike Willett (14), Kevin Willett (16), and JT Anton (15). At the time Kevin Willett was the lead vocalist and the band was called Lotus. The four-some were all in high school, all good friends and liked to get together after school to play their favorite music. The band played a number of shows with friends and other bands throughout Ocean City and Ocean Pines, Maryland.Lotus began to expand their pallet of music by covering other bands such as Rage Against The Machine, Deftones, Korn, and Nirvana (band). In 1999, after encouragement from a steadily growing following, Lotus wrote 4 original songs and recorded them. This lead to the releasing their self promoted first album "Run To Ruins." When the band printed the cover art they mistakenly misspelled the word "Ruins" by spelling it "Ruiens." It took many months before anyone actually noticed. In mid 2000 Lotus embarked on a second recording. The album art (created by John Peters) was a landscape shot with lightning bolts spelling the band's name across the sky. This image was inspired by the first track which featured a 60 second recording of a violent thunderstorm leading into the first song. This recording was not as rough sounding as the first recording, and was a big hit among the local music scene. Mike Willett became very well known for his guitar solos. At the age of 16 he was playing at the level of a professional. Most of the songs on the album had long guitar solo breaks. It was around this time that the band began taking their music more seriously and started writing a lot of original material. Late in 2001 the band agreed that Kevin's vocals weren't fitting the new modern rock style the music had become. Lotus tried two other singers (both named Alex). Alex Harmen played with the band briefly, and Alex Hall (from the band Ever Since Radio) sang with the band for a few live shows, and then left to focus on another band, Art Of Mary.

The New Band

The four core members of Lotus decided to scrap the current band and start from scratch. Nick Mikula tried out for the role of front man in the spring of 2002. He sang two Staind songs ("Outside" and "Epiphany") . Nick was given a recording of music the bands had recorded with instructions to write lyrics. When he came back the group they saw that his vocals fit the band's music and Wiredrawn officially formed in mid 2002 with lead vocalist and song writer Nick Mikula. Immediately after Nick joined the band, Wiredrawn recorded 3 songs ("Get Up", "Empty", "Leave You All Behind"). Their song "Get Up" won a spot on a hard rock compilation disc which was widely circulated.

Wiredrawn (2002)

Later that year, Wiredrawn recorded their first album at Clay Creek Recording Studio in Newark, Delaware. This recording featured "Get Up", "Empty", "Stay With Me", and "Bleed." The album won the band a radio spot on local station WOSC 96-Rock.

JT Leaves The Band

In 2003, drummer JT Anton decided to leave Wiredrawn for personal reasons. Travis Orbin tried out and won the position. Travis brought a different vibe to the band and gave them an opportunity to try a few different styles incorporated with their own brand of rock.

Leaving Here Without You (2003)

2003 brought tremendous changed to the group. These changed are reflected in the more aggressive songs written for the next album. In the spring of 2003, the band rented space at Code Red Studios in Baltimore, Maryland to embark on their next album, "Leaving Here Without You." The recording of this album was very tense, and a lot of disagreements over arrangements and vocal mixing took place, mainly between bassist Kevin Willett and singer Nick Mikula. Mikula later stated, "There were many times I wanted to kill him." The hard work paid off when the album was released. "Leaving Here" sold more copies than any other album combined. Wiredrawn played on this album for the next two years. During this time, Travis Orbin had left the band and JT Anton returned. One of the more popular songs on the album was a parody of hip-hop and pop music called "Da Wrap," which poked fun at Eminem, Brittney Spears, and popular culture. The album got play on WOSC 96 Rock (Ocean City), WZBH 93.5 The Beach (Ocean City), Mix 106.5 (Ocean City) and 105.7 WHFS (Baltimore).
Mike, Chuck, and Kevin lended their voices to a Mix 106.5 radio spot, "Hi, this is Mike, Chuck, and Kevin from the band Wiredrawn, and you're listening to Ocean City's Best Mix. Mix 106.5." One radio appearance was an entire concert played live on 96-Rock in Ocean City. The album produced at least 3 hits, including a solo one-take recording of "A Place For Two," featuring Nick Mikula on vocals and guitar. During this time the band played with other rock acts such as Lennex and Saliva (band).Wiredrawn settled back down and began writing some new songs. Unfortunately the only recordings of these songs were from bootleg live performances. Wiredrawn came to an abrupt end in the summer of 2005 when internal feuding split them up. Months after the band split, Wiredrawn fans flooded their website (formally Wiredrawn.Net) with pleas for a new album. A group of Wiredrawn fans started a movement to pay for the band to produce a new album, however, Wiredrawn was not able to pull themselves together.

2007 Mini-Revival

In 2007, Mike Willett and Nick Mikula began playing acoustic sets once a week at The Recher Theatre in Towson, Maryland. The two were attracting a new following. Kevin Willett joined in for a live performance in November 2007. One song from the performance, "I Should Have Known" was released as a single on the Internet. The single was downloaded over 3,000 times on the first day alone. The three began recording a new album, which has been put off to a future date. One single from the album was released on the Internet, "After All," which also received multiple thousands of downloads.

Albums

* Wiredrawn - Self Titled (2002)
* Leaving Here Without You (2003)
* Unreleased album (2007)

Live Albums

* Live On 96 Rock (2004)
* Live @ The Recher Theater (2005)

Former Members

* Alex Hall - Vocals
* Alex Harmen - Vocals
* Ben Gottloeb - Keyboard
* Travis Orbin - Drums

Fun Facts

* Kevin and Mike Willett are nephews of former Dire Straits guitarist Hal Lindes
* JT Anton, Kevin Willett and Mike Willett all currently live in Baltimore, Maryland.