Matt Moseman - Vocals | Justin Middleton - Guitar | Micah Creel - Guitar Ricky Wolking - Bass | Jeremy "Worm" Rees - Drums
“I love what I do,” says Edgewater vocalist Matt Moseman. “Not for the fame or the glory, but because I want to create music. My favorite songs are our songs, and my favorite band is Edgewater. And that's a great thing to have.”
Edgewater : a singer not in it for show. A drummer called Worm. Two guitarists who seek new socks in every town they visit. And a self proclaimed “outcast guy” for a bassist. Five pieces that don't fit the typical “rockstar” mold— especially when it comes to their innovative sound.
Needing no mystique to bolster their sound, Edgewater ' s “melodic rock” is poised to storm the modern music scene with its rich dueling guitars, heavy undertones, and vocals ranging from mellow to fierce and driven. “Our music is like our name,” explains drummer Jeremy Rees-“Worm” (a nickname referencing gummi, not live). “It's got that edge to it and it's crunchy and really thick in the hardest places, but the overlays and melodies flow like water over the top.”
This balance of hard rock riffs and sweet melodies prevails throughout their debut album South of Sideways , from the dreamy drift of “Break Me Out”, to the hammering pulse and Moseman's throaty wails of “Inhale”. “Eyes Wired Shut”, Edgewater ' s first single and also one of two lead singles on The Punisher soundtrack, straddles the fence between hard and soft, with its guitar charged chorus, and light, clean verse. Moseman extends this blend to his lyrics as well, with his merge of desperate and empowering words just vague enough to leave interpretation up to the listener. Although he does name “Eyes Wired Shut” as a “coming of age song,” he also comments that “I usually don't tell people what a song is about. Like a puzzle, it's how you view it—once you've finished the puzzle you get to see what it looks like.”
“We have such a wide range of emotions in our songs,” notes Worm. “We have the ones like “Quitter” where you want to put your fist through a brick wall, but we also have the ones like “Circles” where you just close your eyes, lay back and let it flow. Those blind, true, real emotions in the songs—that's how you get people to understand where you're coming from.”
When it comes to writing this music and summoning the emotion, members consider the process as full collaboration. Guitarist Justin Middleton offers, “Most of the songs originate with Micah—he's that eccentric genius type. But, by the time a song is done, everyone has a part in it.” Commended guitarist Creel agrees, “We're all giving our equal part. It's a creative effort by everybody.”
This creative coalition was a long time in the making though, with Edgewater just recently fetching its missing piece. Moseman formed the group 6 years ago; shortly thereafter, he and the original Edgewater cast met Worm and Creel, two high school friends who played cover tunes together, at a studio space in Wylie , TX . Worm remembers, “We were digging on Edgewater because we wanted to put a project together like them...then we all jammed one night and that's all it took. It was instant communication and chemistry that happened between all of us.” The following year, band fan and friend Justin Middleton joined as a second guitarist. Recalling Middleton's entrance, Worm claims, “Justin knew how to back Micah up really well. It was really inspiring to find another guitarist who was on the same wavelength as him.”
(That shared wavelength seems also to extend in the footwear direction: “The band has to stop at a Wal-Mart in every town that we go through so Micah and I can buy socks,” admits Middleton. “No better feeling than a brand new pair of socks.”)
It wasn't socks, though, that completed the Edgewater whole, but instead the adjunct in January ‘03 of former Nixons bassist Ricky Wolking , who is a favorite in the Dallas music scene. Moseman explains, “I just remembered his stage presence was awesome and that he was a great writer...when he joined it finally completed the whole circle of what we wanted to do.” Middleton seconds, “Ricky was the final piece that was lacking from the band.” And Wolking weighs in, “I'm a pretty big believer in fate…but I don't think the chocolate
fell into the peanut butter by accident, there was a lot of ‘want to' there and a lot of experimentation, sometimes you gotta figure out what you don't like to get to what you do like… at this stage, we know we got a good cookie.”
This amity within the band ultimately fuels their creative energy. To complete South of Sideways , Edgewater brought their solidified sound to a producer who they've known and teamed with for years, Eric Delegard (Bowling for Soup, Unloco). “We thought Eric could do something for our kind of music—for what we're trying to pull off,” explains Moseman. “He definitely helped us become what we knew we wanted to be. He grabbed all of the tones—he developed the songs in the right way...he knows what pleases us—knows what our vision is and what we want.”
The final outcome was a rich, eager, emotional album showcasing the integrated artistic force. And while the depth and precision of South of Sideways poses a hefty challenge to replicate live, Edgewater rises to the occasion. “We know that if we have to go out and win fans one by one at shows, we can,” states Moseman.
Wolking concurs, “The shows have been really intense. I don't know how Matt's keeping his voice ‘cause he's going full out. It's a bit chilling to look around and go ‘wow, the crowd's going nuts'. I think it's hard not to get a crowd reaction if the band is focused, even if there's 2 people or 200 or 2000.” Their live shows have already secured Edgewater a strong Dallas area following, and they've now embarked on spreading their fan base further.
But in the end, it's not about the crowds or the venues, the socks or the nicknames. “All that we care about,” says Moseman, “is writing good songs. We're not going after any certain genre...all we care about is the song and what we're doing for the song that day.”
They may not match your typecast rock image. But Edgewater needs no repute—their music speaks for itself.
