The White Octave

I met Stephen Pedersen in the fall of 1998 — I'd just moved to Chapel Hill and had every intention of starting a rock band. Steph was an Omaha transplant, living in Durham while he worked on a law degree at Duke. He'd played in a band called Cursive, but I didn't know who they were. Steph sent me a tape with some new demos and I loved his approach and thought I could help make the songs what they needed to be. I talked with my friend Robert Biggers (who'd just graduated with me from Guilford College — we were both Philosophy majors), and lured him into trying out on drums. We wrote a bunch of songs really quickly and made an ambitious record at Mitch Easter's fancy new Fidelitorium in 1999. We hired Bob Weston to help.

After the record came out, we decided to add another guitar player, and looked to our buddy Finn Cohen (who'd been a huge fan and supporter of TWO). Thus began the second phase of songwriting, and a whole lotta touring. We gained footholds in many cities and met a lot of awesome people. We played with some great bands, but often felt promoters couldn't figure us out — so many hardcore and emo bills. We made another record in Athens, GA at Chase Park. Bob came down again. He likes the south. Things sounded far more ruthless this time.

We toured more. Things were on the up. Regular shows with bands like Cursive, The Faint, and Bright Eyes… big help in Chicago and New York from The French Kicks, 90 Day Men, Atombombpocketknife. But in the van there was a ton of stress because Steph's departure seemed imminent. I think nobody wanted the band to end, but Steph had made the call to move away. So we played a couple of sold-out shows at the old GO! Room 4 in Carrboro and called it a day.

The White Octave/Sorry About Dresden (1999, Moment Before Impact)
Style No. 6312 (1999, Deep Elm Records)
Weight b/w Ebb and Flow (2001, Moment Before Impact)
Menergy (2001, Initial Records)

Some things still live on the web.