Josh Hagquist - Vocals, Guitar Shawn Grover - Vocals, Guitar Jon Berndtson - Bass Armin Chami - Drums
For Riverside, California's THE BEAUTIFUL MISTAKE, it's the beauty of their intentional decisions that have ushered the quartet from an upstart garage band project to a seriously-committed combination of artists in just over a two-year time span.
Coming to an end with their previous project Ember in January 2001, vocalists/guitarists Josh Hagquist and Shawn Grover decided to re-group and restart their musical careers. THE BEAUTIFUL MISTAKE was born out of such an idea, recording their first release, a self-released EP titled "December" in July 2001. After their original drummer and bassist left, Hagquist and Grover enlisted Minnesota transplant Jon Berndtson to handle bass duties while drummer Armin Chami rounded out the act in October 2001.
After signing with up and coming indie label The Militia Group in late 2001, the edgy, yet skillfully dynamic ensemble has assembled their debut full-length, to be released in September.
Opting to sign aboard veteran producer Ed Rose (The Get Up Kids, Coalesce) to man the console at his famous Red House studio in Kansas, THE BEAUTIFUL MISTAKE laid all 10 of the album's tracks in a swift two-week session. Their choice for producer/engineer/mixer appeared to be a "no-brainer," according to Hagquist.
"We love his drum sounds, they always sound great," Hagquist says. "We've never been to a big studio before or worked with a producer like that, so we wanted to go and really have him bring the best performance out of us and make a record that we really liked. He really made us work hard and pushed us to get the best performance out of each take."
THE BEAUTIFUL MISTAKE has the luxury of sharing bills and audiences from a wide range of genres, including hardcore, emo, metal and pop punk. "We've pretty much played with every kind of band," Hagquist says, "and the response has always been really good."
For those familiar with THE BEAUTIFUL MISTAKE's signature sonics, which feature meticulously crafted melodic lulls pinned against straightforward charging guitars and drums, this latest installment plans to augment the band's already diverse musical course.
"We've always been U2 and Cure fans, and we started to use delay and effects," Hagquist says. "[Ed Rose] kind of nurtured that [idea] along, so the mellow parts are still pretty and the harder parts really hit hard."
THE BEAUTIFUL MISTAKE's future includes rigorous tour plans ("eight months out of the year," Hagquist says) in support of their Militia Group full-length release and the re-release of their December EP on SideCho.
Although THE BEAUTIFUL MISTAKE haven't shed their day jobs when the act is home, Hagquist admits "Ideally, we'd like to just do this [full time]. We just want to work really hard because we really feel good about what we're doing. I think that's the key to getting out music out there." And for the fans, a constant presence from THE BEAUTIFUL MISTAKE isn't such a bad mistake to make at all.
