Powerspace

Over the last ten years, Fueled By Ramen has brought the world some of the decade's most exciting and imaginative young rock 'n' roll outfits, from Fall Out Boy and The Academy Is… to Paramore and Panic! At The Disco. Now the label has done it again. Meet Powerspace, your next favorite new band…

The Miami University of Ohio and Chicago, Illinois based combo's upcoming full length debut, "THE KICKS OF PASSION," sees Powerspace unleashing its own inimitable sound, a brightly colored mash-up of pure power pop and electronica-inspired invention. Tracks such as "Powerspace Snap Bracelet" and "Right On, Right Now" literally snap and crackle with the quartet's uncontainable charm and energy.

The Powerspace team started coming together in 2004 at Miami University, in Oxford Ohio, when guitarist Tom Schleiter spent his freshman year at Miami playing with Akron, Ohio native drummer Kevin Kane in another band. "The first time I heard Kevin's drumming, I knew I wanted to play with him," Schleiter says. "He's the best drummer I've ever worked with." The feeling was mutual. Says Kevin, "when I heard Tom play, I was amazed."

Schleiter and bassist Daniel McMahon already knew each other from high school, having played together in various bands and the high school jazz band and become friends, and McMahon decided to join Tom at Miami. After Tom spent the summer focusing on writing songs for an as-yet-undetermined new band, the bassist suggested the two join up for a new combo upon Dan's arrival at school in the fall.

"I had always wanted to play with Tom," McMahon says, "because he's such a great guitar player. He's really good at these interesting instrumental things, where I'm from more of a pop/rock background. We wanted to combine his instrumental strengths with what I'd been learning about arrangements and all those things that make a good pop song."

Once Tom, Kevin, and Dan began collaborating, the three musicians embarked on a search for a lead singer. While they were excited about this new musical outlet, they found that finding the right singer was a difficult task. The solution to their problem came on a car trip home from Miami, when Schleiter's mom suggested that their high school friend and fellow Miami U. student Alec Cyganowski might want to give it a shot. "We had Alec sing over this demo we'd been working on," McMahon recalls. "We looked at each other and said, 'Yeah. This could work.'"

With Cyganowski behind the mic, Powerspace was complete, and the band started playing shows around Miami University and Cincinnati. By the summer, they felt ready to do some recording, and they laid down five songs, resulting in the "HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PARTY" EP.

The EP quickly brought Powerspace to the attention of major label bigwigs, and Powerspace decided to sign with the label that most reflected their own aesthetic views and artistic goals – Fueled By Ramen.

"Of all the people we talked to, we felt that Fueled By Ramen was the best fit with us," Schleiter says. "We all really liked the label's attitude about how to get our music out there."

By December 2006, they were signed and ready to record, opting to work with Chicago's Dorisland Studios. Powerspace spent much of the winter in the studio, carefully crafting their debut album "THE KICKS OF PASSION." Taking off from such diverse influences as INXS, The Darkness, The Wrens, and Squarepusher, the album is bracingly creative, displaying Powerspace's multi-layered pop stance, a glamtastic sonic approach kissed with electro textures and metallic virtuosity.

"When we started the record, we were really focused on bringing a dance element to it," McMahon says. "But as we worked on it, it turned into more of a rock 'n' roll record. Some of those initial ideas are still present, but they've become part of the overall sound."

"THE KICKS OF PASSION" is alive with ingenious vigor, with soaring tracks like "It Smells Like Electricity In Here" evincing the band's artistic ambition. The skyscraping melodies and overall exuberance are counter-pointed by deeply personal lyricism, often touched with a melancholy and reflection that the band attributes to its time at college.

"It's funny, because we started out writing a concept record about this dream I'd had about the end of the world," McMahon says. "But we quickly lost track of that idea and started writing about our everyday lives, being the age we're at, all the good and bad things about being 20 years old." "A lot of the songs are about being homesick," Schleiter says. "I like Miami, but I missed Chicago, too.

With "THE KICKS OF PASSION" ready to go, Powerspace is turned its attention to playing out. Having spent much of the last year honing their craft, the band is full-on fired up about at last hitting the road and getting down with the kids.

"We spent a lot of time getting the record right," McMahon says. "Now we just want to get out there and have some fun." With an aggressive touring schedule, the band is playing venues from coast to coast, and back again. "We've got a lot of fantastic fans, and getting out with them is a great experience." says Cyganowski.

Check the Powerspace tour schedule, for a performance date near you, and look for "THE KICKS OF PASSION" to debut in stores nationally, on July 31, 2007.