AMRITA

The very beginning of Amrita’s existence is a situation that is not often discussed; quite a bit of time has passed and many changes have been made since Patrick Riley, Mike Del Principe and Matt Robinson started jamming together. At that time, Del Principe had somewhat recently parted ways with his high school band, The Academy Is…, and the three found themselves at the same fork in the road that, really, any of us face during that pivotal point in our lives; uncertainties about what kind of life to pursue only pointed straight toward getting their sound together. The inspiration to do so, can’t be retraced back to a single group—each member takes their own influences from different sources—but at the time, independent musicians had plenty to be inspired by; “Incubus, As Tall As Lions, and The Mars Volta,” says Del Principe, “that was who we wanted to sound like at the time.” As a three piece, Amrita’s sound was mostly the brain child of Patrick—he was the driving force behind the sound with his guitar as well has his voice. Soon, he would decide that even though the music (melodically and lyrically) was his creation, ultimately singing and playing guitar was too limiting. They tried out guitarist until settling on a keyboard player and a lead singer to get closer to the sound that they had envisioned. Their first EP, Innertides, was released in late July of 08. Just a couple days before the release date, Amrita ousted their key player and hooked up with another: Jason Kearney. Jason would not only learn the band’s existing tunes in less than a week, but would introduce styles from some of his more sophisticated influences: Phish, The String Cheese Incident, and Widespread Panic. More than anything, Innertides marks a point of transition.