User:Godsy/Apes of the State

Apes of the State is an American Folk Punk band from Lancaster, PA. Their music explores themes relating to drug and alcohol recovery, social media, student debt, and interpersonal relationships. "Their sound is very lyrical and melody driven, influenced by storyteller singer/songwriters such as Paul Baribeau and Everyone Except Me. Apes of the State takes the simplicity and straightforward, emotional writing style of these influences and combines it with the drive and power of a full acoustic band, made up of Dan Ebersole on the mandolin/guitar, Mollie Swartz on the violin, and April Hartman on the guitar/lead vocals" The band has a strong DIY ethic They play in many small venues including house venues, and they founded Second Chance to Play, "[A] do-it-yourself non-profit that we started doing based on a lot of my experience and talking to other musicians that are in recovery from drugs and alcohol...A lot of people when they go through those kinds of experiences they end up pawning or getting rid, they just lose things they love. And music being one of those things, so we reach out to those people. We put guitars in rehab centers. We get them to individuals that reach out to us. Mostly through donation...With Second Chance to Play we try to reach out to people that might use music also as their avenue to see into themselves and be more introspective and figure out the reasons why in the first place they ended up where they were."