What do you get when you take an emocore king and set him alongside the drummer of an avant-garde/metal group (and former skinsman for a New York City straight-edge band) and an incredibly gifted songsmith heavily influenced by the sounds of the United Kingdom? You get New Rising Sons, a short-lived, dynamic, poppy four-piece rock band whose soaring melodies, rock roll attitude, and throbbing rhythms owed more to the mod movement than the post-hardcore scene that the band's members cut their teeth in. A band who took their craft seriously, they lived by a motto they themselves penned: "All you know and love is written in these songs." When New York City's Texas Is the Reason imploded shortly before signing a major-label deal in 1997, vocalist/guitarist/frontman Garrett Klahn refused to rest on his laurels. Determined to have his creativity extend beyond Texas Is the Reason's singular, genre-defining album and undiluted by frustrated attempts at mainstream crossover, Klahn assembled New Rising Sons relatively quickly. Teaming up alongside him was former Into Another drummer Drew Thomas, who himself had recently watched his band dissolve, and whom Klahn had been aware of since the days when Thomas drummed for semi-legendary New York hardcore band Bold. Taking their mutual Beatles/Brit-pop fascination to its next logical step, the pair began writing songs with guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Kevin McGinnis and bassist Jim Kimball. Klahn's distinctive vocal style and McGinnis' adept songwriting doubled well, with each of them penning songs together and apart. New Rising Sons quickly signed a deal with Virgin Records. Their recorded debut came in the form of an eponymous indie EP through grapeOS, followed by subsequent touring with Indiana's Chamberlain, who as Split Lip had been great friends of Klahn's. The band continued to work on songs, eventually resurfacing (again on grapeOS) with the four-song Thieves and Angels. Though bassist Enzo was now a part of the band, engineer Ted Nicely performed bass duties on the EP. New Rising Sons continued to write and demo material for their major-label debut, yet never truly got off of the ground due to various lineup shifts and internal problems. The group decided to call it a day in 2000, having been dropped by Virgin the day before. ~ Ryan J. Downey, Rovi