Issue date: 4/3/07 Section: Features

Media Credit: Photo courtesy of Traction Station

Media Credit: Photo courtesy of Traction Station

The band Traction Station has been around for awhile but they are just now beginning to make a name for themselves in the music scene locally and in their hometown.

"All of us have great musical background and have been playing for a long time before we actually formed the band," Josh Brown, a business administration major and bassist for Traction Station, said.

"Separately, we took a lot of private lessons and came in to our own with each instrument we play and became even better when we started to play together."

Traction Station was started in 1999 when Brown's older brother Zach got a bunch of his buddies together to start jamming and playing together. The members of the current Traction Station are Zach on lead vocals, Dan Sweeney on lead guitar, Chris Turner on rhythm guitar, Josh on bass guitar and Taylor Kane on drums. Four out of the five members attended Evergreen Park High School, located less than half a mile outside of Chicago on the southwest side.

"My brother and his buddies were seniors when I was a freshman in high school," Josh said. "We started playing together and things started to mesh."

When Traction Station first started out, Sweeney was on lead vocals but the band was looking for a better vocalist. The vocal situation was taken care of when Zach, who was originally on bass, took over. His voice sounded great and from there the band made some quick changes and never looked back.

"I was asked to join the band when my brother took over on lead vocals," Josh explained. "He had no desire to play bass anymore and so they asked me to join and take my brothers spot."

The band immediately started doing shows together and they began to make a name for themselves. Traction Station has been consistent in respect to its members and their musical instruments. The only problem they have had has dealt with drummers who have come and gone from the band.

"Through the eight to nine years we have been together, we have gone through four to five drummers," Josh said. "At the time, we were doing a lot of shows in Champaign at a bunch of bars and we asked Taylor if he wanted to be our steady drummer. That was two to three years ago and since then we haven't changed any positions."

Even though Kane did not go to high school with the others, Josh is the only one not to attend the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. When the band was in high school they played many house parties but since they entered college they have been playing at many bars in addition to house parties.

"The bars are usually very laid back and relaxed places to play at," Josh explained. "There is always a good crowd that is just hanging out, drinking and enjoying the music. Rarely does it get out of hand."

The typical bar crowd is always looking to hear cover songs from the band that is playing and Traction Station is very consistent with the music they cover but also likes to mix it up sometimes.

"We do a lot of covers because we have found that the people we play for like to hear them," Josh said.

"We are good at keeping the audience happy with the songs we play but we usually like to work in six to eight original songs, especially if we are doing a four hour set."

The music genre that Traction Station plays and got its influence from is mainly classic rock. They describe themselves as an updated version to the great rock bands of the past. Influences include bands like Led Zeppelin, The Allman Brothers, The Band, Cream, The Cure, Meat Puppets and Blind Melon.

"We take all the songs we play and do our best to emulate the original bands but also try to add a little something new with every song," Josh said.

"Our original music reflects our influences but at the same time is something that we have created by ourselves and it is something to be proud of. Playing what people want to hear is the key to having a successful band because if listeners do not like the music a particular band is playing, they will not listen to them."

Knowing this has helped Traction Station remain consistent with every aspect of the band and it is something that has helped the band schedule many gigs.

"We have been through many guys who aren't really managers but they will book you for places," Josh said. "Many times these self proclaimed managers will take a lot of our money, which would explain why we have been through so many of them. It's not cool but it gets the job done."

Josh went on to explain how Traction Station has kept going.

"If you want that other gig or that next gig, you have to put on a good show and have a good product," he explained. "When I'm playing up on stage it is a total rush and it is awesome for me, but at the end of the concert, I want the audience to leave wanting to come back."

Josh's girlfriend and a junior communication studies major Andrea Pocius says the band has made much progress since she first started dating him.

"It seems like since I've known Josh and since he has been at ISU, the band is gaining a bigger audience every show. They still play bars but recently they have been asked to play house parties here at school and the crowds are always bigger for those," Pocius said.

The band will be playing a house party at ISU on April 28. For more information and concert info on the band, check out their Web site at myspace.com/tractionstation.

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