PHOTOS
PHOTOS
Eric Scicchitano
Awkward glances and truck stop fast-food joints are something the members of Motionless in White have grown accustomed to.
Having embarked on their third straight summer tour, the Wilkes-Barre-area six-piece are entirely used to the occasional gawking their emo-inspired looks garner from the “normal” folk they encounter at home and on the road. Even the cowardly taunts shouted from a passing motorist seem to do no more than mildly irritate their sensibilities. But such is the price of being oneself in an almost radically PC environment.
Huddled in the corner of an ever-classy Wendys/gas station-combo consumerist café, that an old man raised an eyebrow as he slurped the last of an extra-extra large Coke when a tattooed arm dared turn off a television blaring the opinioned dung of a talking head on FOX News is nothing new.
“A good portion of the tour when we’re walking around, if they’re not staring at us they’re yelling something out their window,” admitted drummer Angelo Parente, back turned to the burger-chompers scattered throughout the eatery.
“The fact is they’ll drive by, yell something, we’ll tell them to come back and they never come back,” added keyboardist Josh Balz. “That’s how it is.”
Fact is that’s not always how it is. Not at their shows, anyway, where their ever-growing fan base stares in admiration rather than admonishment, quick to offer praise than denouncing their goth-meets-punk appearance.
But don’t be fooled. That acceptance is less rooted in similar fashion taste than it is in the band’s penchant to melt their faces.
Having earned an ever increasing amount of attention and respect in no small part from two straight summers on the Vans Warped Tour as well as their debut EP The Whorror, Motionless In White landed professional management and a record deal with Fearless Records. They’ve since been tasked to trek throughout the summer with their label mates A Static Lullaby, as well as Vanna and Asking Alexandria, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, on a tour that will introduce them to markets and venues that were once foreign to the band.
“We’re super excited, because it’s like going from playing VFWs to playing the Knitting Factory in California, and Hollywood,” said Balz, whose last name is almost certainly more memorable than yours.
This time around, they’ll take the cuts recorded on their latest EP, When Love Met Destruction, on the road. And come 2010, chances are more doors will be opened for the group as they release their first full-length album, which is already under construction with studio sessions intended for the fall.
Yes, Motionless in White play loud. Really loud. But beneath the thrashing guitars, rasping screams, mind-tinging synths and thumping percussion — all surrounding a sometime sing-along melody that allow for a fleeting pop appeal — lies wit, intelligence and sensitivity far beyond what their ages — ranging from 18 to mid-20s — would indicate.
You now know Balz and Parente. The rest of the band consists of singer Chris Cerulli, bassist Frank Polumbo, guitarist Ryan Sitkowski and guitarist/vocalist T.J. Bell. Together they’ve been named among Alternative Press magazine’s “100 Bands You Need To Know.”
Earlier this month, the band’s music video for “Ghost in the Mirror” debuted on the seminal, if not slightly bastardized redux of Headbanger’s Ball on MTV2 — a thrill that was blatantly obvious in their endearing attempt at humble acknowledgement of the accomplishment.
The video was directed by Scott Hansen, who’s helmed the camera for both A Day to Remember and Willie Nelson, not to mention a video for Carnifex, which was nominated by Headbanger’s Ball last year for the show’s top clip. In it, Motionless In White is set in an abandoned school, bringing both life and death to the creepily blue-tinged classroom with their roaring rock.
What appears a basic spot — the band and the band alone — was anything but for the six newbies to the music video scene. Shot in North Carolina, the band was taken aback a bit at the sight of a professional crew.
“At that point, that was the most surreal experience our band has ever been through,” Cerulli said. “It was like, ‘Holy shit, we’re shooting a real music video.’ ”
Much like the song’s sound, the video was too violent for TV, with a cast getting totally gory. “Too much blood and cutting,” Parente said. That forced the actors to be nixed from the clip, but it hardly appeared to lessen the impact the marriage of song and sight had intended.
For as violent as the sound can be and as edgy as their image appears, their attitude and persona is almost wholly opposite. Polite, approachable and engaging, Motionless In White seem almost anti-emo, whatever that stereotype has come to represent anyway. But that doesn’t mean they’ll mellow out anytime soon. Instead, their upcoming record will prove to be an extreme of what they’ve already encompassed on their prior EPs.
“Every aspect of the band is going to be pushed harder on the next record,” Cerulli explained.
That means the heavy aspects will be heavier, the melodies will be catchier, and the lyrics way more personal. It’ll be a maturation of sound, style and professionalism, Parente said.
Pretentiousness, however, doesn’t seem a possibility with this group.
Beneath the tattoos, piercings and black T-shirts, they’re every bit as normal as anyone else. A group of young men, having fun and busting each other’s balls along the way, if ever so gently.
And if that’s emo, than most all of us are emo.
Take the short drive to Crocodile Rock in Allentown this Friday to catch Motionless In White before they’re out of the area for good for the foreseeable future. The show starts at 7 p.m. For more about the band, visit www.myspace.com/motionlessinwhite, where you can listen to their music, find out additional tour dates, check out their video and follow their Tweets.