Randy J. Klodz - Earshot Releases Second Album, “Two”

July 1, 2004

Earshot Releases Second Album, “Two”

By Randy J. Klodz

Heavy-rocking Earshot can be easily heard by Chicago rock fans by simply tuning in to 94.7 The Zone, as the track “Wait,” from the band’s second album “Two,” released this week on June 29, is often part of the station’s daily “Top 20.”

Earshot--which includes Wil Martin (vocals, guitar), Mike Callahan and Scott Kohler (guitar), Johnny Sprague (bass) and Chas Stumbo (drums)--first made waves in the rock world with the 2002 debut album “Letting Go” which featured the hit singles “Get Away” and “Headstrong,” which also appeared on the popular “Queen of the Damned” movie soundtrack.

Entertainment writers often compare the Earshot sound to another hard-rocking act, Tool, which doesn’t paint an accurate portrait of the L.A.-based band, one of which relies on heavy melodies and bone-jarring, yet poetic lyrics. Though Wil Martin has great respect for Maynard James Keenan, Tool’s famed frontman, he isn’t in tune with the constant comparisons between he and the singer. “I don’t hear it, maybe I’m just deaf,” said Martin, Earshot’s singer and guitarist.

“I think some people just took a string of something and just made a bigger deal out of [the Tool comparisons] than it really was,” he said. “Some people were genuinely trying to go out of their way to dispel it because they really believed that they didn’t really agree with that whole line of thinking, but there were some people that just tried to be malicious with it.”

With “Two,” the cleverly-titled second album by Earshot, the band is sure to add to its already expansive fan base. “I just want to feel like I belong” Martin sings on “Fall Apart,” and his band does fit in by standing out in a rock world crowded with doom-rocking gimmicks. The grungy “Rotten Inside” rocks with the best of them, while the somber “Should’ve Been There” is the band’s lightest number to date. “Nice to Feel the Sun” could become this summer’s ode to sunshine, while rocking tracks “Down” and “Someone” should help fan the Tool-comparison fire. The single “Wait” starts off heavy and continues in the heavy-low pattern with the raucous chorus: “I can’t wait for someone to hear me / And wait for someone to touch me / And wait forever to be told / I’m forever alone.”

Martin said that though there weren’t immediate plans to tour behind “Two,” but the band is sure to make its rounds throughout the nation soon. Currently, the nearest Chicago area show is slated for July 8 at Rialto, in Joliet, Ill. in support of Saliva. For more information on Earshot log on to www.myearshot.com.