For Jeremiah and Stephen of The Sophomore Attempt, what started out as a simple past time has developed into something life-altering.
Just a year and a half after finalizing the band’s current line-up, the Jacksonville-based rock quintet has acquired a devoted following,capturing the attention of the north Florida music scene. The story starts in the summer of 2004, when Jeremiah Dunlap and Stephen Massicotte began getting together to write acoustic songs as a side project from their individual bands.
After Stephen’s band broke up, Jeremiah decided that the time had come to depart from his original band and pursue another musical venture: the acoustic side project he had started with Stephen earlier that summer. Of course, it was necessary to take the project to the next level, so they recruited Logan Stennett on bass and Donnie Webb on drums.
After playing for several months as a four-piece band, the boys recorded their very first demo in a church auditorium and began burning copies of this self-produced album to hand out wherever they could. Though the songs were good and the band seemed to have an excess of potential, something was not quite right.
The dynamic was off and it didn’t take long to realize exactly what was missing: Kenneth Heise, a member of Stephen and Donnie’s first band. Kenneth agreed to play bass for the band and Logan began playing guitar, leaving Jeremiah to the piano and lead vocals.
The band was finally complete, months after its official conception. After playing a few local shows throughout the Jacksonville area, The Sophomore Attempt developed a friendship with another band in the area, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. Playing sold out shows with the older, more established band provided the members of The Sophomore Attempt with valuable information about the music industry as well as an expanded fan base in their hometown. With their fan base increasing exponentially and a few solid songs under their belt, The Sophomore Attempt started saving money to record again, this time at Vision Sound Recording Studio in Orange Park,Florida.
After three days in the studio, the final result was a five song EP called Embrace the Impact; this EP has sent them hurtling into the music industry head-first. In February of 2006, The Sophomore Attempt headed back into Vision Sound to demo the single for their next EP. Having only spent a few hours recording the song, they had no real intentions of releasing it to the public. Their minds were soon changed after American Eagle showed interest in putting a music video in their store’s rotation.
The song was mixed/mastered, and a video was shot within two weeks. Soon after, The Sophomore Attempt was informed they had won a spot on the Ernie Ball Local Heroes Stage, and drew a crowd of over 500 fans to the stage for their 30 minutes set. It was at this point that Stephen decided it was time for him leave the band with all the friendships still intact and pursue other options for his life.
While looking for a replacement guitarist in the summer of 2006 The Sophomore Attempt went back into the studio to record their follow up to “Embrace the Impact”. This next EP really showcased the bands musicianship and abilities in writing intelligent lyrics and catchy hooks. It was entitled “So Much For Second Chances” and is currently in being pressed for an October release date.
The Sophomore Attempt is clearly a band on the verge of changing the music scene, not only in Jacksonville, but across the country. One of Jacksonville’s best-kept secrets, they won’t be a secret for long.
