User:Ibanezrg1570/Duplicity (band)

Duplicity is an American heavy metal band from Maple Valley, Washington, formed in 2006.

Formation (2005-2006)
Duplicity was born when friends, Kurt Binder and Joey Grachek, started having jam sessions together in early 2005. Kurt had convinced Joey to pick up the guitar. At the time, the two were in fifth grade, jamming mostly on Metallica songs. Soon after their jam sessions commenced, they started writing songs of their own. They realized they wanted to create a band. They started looking for a drummer and a bass player in 2006. Kurt contacted Vince Quaratiello and quickly began teaching him the songs. Kurt’s older brother, Bryan Binder ,had picked up playing the bass guitar while all of this was going on. Kurt approached Bryan about playing for his as of yet unnamed band. Bryan original declined the request as he was 2 years older than the rest of the band members and felt he would be uncomfortable. Kurt and Joey began searching for a bass player but to no avail. Kurt approached his brother a second time and Bryan reluctantly agreed to join the band. The complete line-up consisted of Kurt Binder on lead guitar, Joey Grachek on rhythm guitar, Bryan Binder on bass guitar, and Vince Quaratiello on drums.

High Voltage Era (2006-2007)
The band had everything they needed, except a singer. No one volunteered to do this task so Kurt reluctantly took the position as well as playing lead guitar. The band practiced on a regular basis and was quickly gaining momentum. The band still needed a name however. There were many proposed names including, Battery, Quadrivium, and High Voltage. After much deliberation, the band finally settled on “High Voltage”. The group made their debut at the Tahoma Middle School Talent Show, playing Metallica songs, Fade to Black, and Enter Sandman. The crowd response was majorly positive. Bryan had broken his finger the day before the show, so he had to play with a broken ring finger in a cast. Shortly after this performance, the band decided to change their name to “Black Medallion”, after receiving many references to AC/DC album “High Voltage”. The band continued to practice and develop their original songs into the summer of 2007. They were given an offer from the Maple Valley Arts Council to play a 30 minute set list at the Lake Wilderness Lodge during the festival known as Maple Valley Days. In the months prior to the show, Kurt had been uneasy about continuing his role as the vocalist, as he had received much harsh criticism for his vocals. He agreed to do the Maple Valley Days show and he would further assess his situation after the show. The show went rather well and Kurt agreed to continue with vocals. This show was the first to see original material by the band. The song was called W because it did not yet contain lyrics. The song received much enthusiastic response from the crowd. This however would also be the song’s last performance.

Black Medallion Era (2007-2008)
Over the months after the Maple Valley Days performance, growing tensions within the band resulted in Vince’s removal from the group. They band stated that he was overbooked and uninterested in continuing the band any further. The band was now seeking a new drummer. Bryan had suggested Mark Stevens, cousin of Kurt and Bryan’s neighbor Robert McLeod. Kurt was able to get into contact with Mark about joining the group. At the time, Mark had been trying to start a project of his own with former band mates of his. He told Kurt that if his other project did not work out, he would join the band. Less than a week later, Kurt received a call from Mark; he wanted in. Mark did not know what to expect on the first day of practice. The band members introduced themselves and began to jam on Metallica tunes all four members collectively knew. Kurt decided to show Mark some of their original material they had written over the summer. The first of which was called V. This song would be re-written several times until its current form of “Transparent You.” Kurt, Bryan, and Joey were amazed at how quickly Mark was able to pick up the song and add his own style. Over the course of the winter of 2007-2008, the band abandoned all covers and pursued only original works. Kurt was also becoming self-conscious again with his voice. The band had recorded rough demos through the winter and Kurt was un-satisfied with all of his vocal performances. Kurt brought the issue forward to his fellow band mates. However, Maple Valley Days was weeks away and they did not have time to find a singer. Kurt agreed to sing one last show until a new singer could be reached.

Name Change to Duplicity and Keep the Change Era (2008-2010)
Over the summer of 2008, the band had offered a friend of Bryan’s, Nathan Calivoso, to join the group. This mean that Kurt would focus on playing guitar, and by this time, both Kurt and Joey were sharing solo’s. Kurt had wanted to change the band name for some time. After reading across the word “duplicity” in a book in school, he knew that was to be it’s name. The band had signed up to play the Maple Valley Battle of the Bands as the first show to play with their new singer. Nathan had been able to make it to two practices the week before the show and was still relatively new to the music. Lyrics to only two of the four songs had been written at the time, “The Thrill of it All” (later re-written into “Transparent You”), and “B.O.L.” (later re-written into “A.O.H.”). Even so, the band placed second, to the surprise of all the band members. The band continued to practice and grow tighter as a unit and played show during the winter of 2008 at Seattle’s “Studio 7” club. Shortly after this performance, Nathan left the band. Nathan was having trouble making time to practice. Without a singer, Joey stepped up and agreed to sing. With this line-up, the band played Maple Valley Days once again. Bryan had talked to Kurt about Joey’s “lack of front man stage presence.” The band set out once again to find a new vocalist. They put in an ad on Craigslist for a metal vocalist. Andrew Hammons responded to the ad. The band quickly removed him as it was increasingly difficult to get him to practice as he had a suspended license at the time. The band then went to Bryan’s friend Derek Sabo. However, Derek’s style did not quite fit the sound that the band was going for. After much hesitation, Kurt agreed to then take the position of vocalist, with Joey on back-up vocals. Over the course of the next few months, Duplicity recorded tracks for its debut, full length, album “Keep the Change.” The album was recorded in Mark’s home make-shift studio known to the band members as “The Judio”. The tracks were then taken to Riff by Riff Studio’s, owned by Kurt’s former guitar teacher Brad Kale. “Keep the Change” was independently released by the band on June 4th, 2010. The album name comes directly from the first track on the album.

Sweb and the Departure of Bryan Binder and Joey Grachek
Shortly after, "Keep the Change", was released, the band quickly went right back into the studio in the summer of 2010. While Keep the Change was in production, Kurt and Joey had been continually writing new material. Once again, the band assumed production at The Judio. Bryan had taken a job in Havre, Montana and would soon be leaving for Washington State University in the fall. This would prevent him from tracking bass on the album and from continuing to be a member of the band. Kurt assumed bass guitar duty for the album. Tracking occurred over the summer and progress slowed as the band went back to school. Mark had gone to attend Central Washington University but was still able to come back periodically to record and inspect. Kurt did alot of tracking alone as the other band members had other commitments at the time. However tracking Joey's solos became increasingly difficult as he had trouble making time to come to studio. Kurt and Joey mutually agreed it would be best for the band if Joey left after his tracking was done as he simply could not make the time commitment anymore. After everything had been tracked, the band followed suit and sent the tracks over to Brad Kale for re-amping and mastering. The album was completed on June 14, 2011. The album had been referred to as was planned on being released with the title of Number Too. A play on words referring to it being the band's second album and directly from the second track on the album. The name change to Sweb occurred after Kurt had decided that the track Sweb was a better title song. The term Sweb itself is an inside joke between Kurt and Joey that refers to semen. After losing Joey who was a founding member and large contributor of music, the band was down to two members and future endeavors were in serious question.

Return to Live Performance and Going Still
After the completion of Going Still, the band did not remain inactive. Following the usual trend, music had been compiled for future use during the Sweb sessions. Much of the material written for the album was written by both Kurt and Joey. Joey gave permission to the band to use songs that he had co-wrote. Duplicity had been looking someone to replace Joey. At the time, Kurt had been playing drums in a band with Karlan Stouffer. Karlan, who played bass for the band, also happened to be a skilled guitar play and had been looking to play guitar in a band. Kurt came to him with the proposition of playing lead guitar and tracking bass for the new album. Karlan accepted and the band went into the studio to record their most ambitious album to date. In addition to a shift in a more mature musical direction, the album features a dead serious tone in terms of lyrics. In addition to these changes, Going Still became the band's first album to feature engineer and producer Mitch McGee, a close friend of Mark's. Unlike previous albums, the drums and some of the guitar tracks were tracked at Mitch's home rather than the band's own studio.

Notable Characteristics
Duplicity is known for having songs containing very politically anti-liberal lyrics and meanings. “Keep the Change”, the tile track for the album “Keep the Change”, is all about voting against about President Barack Obama and criticizing his political stances. The band is known for their adding of “subliminal messages” into their music. Throughout “Keep the Change”, the word “head” can be heard blatantly and even almost inaudible. The band credits this to inside jokes to keep the music interesting to the listener. The band is also known for their wacky stage antics. These antics become especially prevalent in the music video for “Keep the Change”.

Binder, Kurt. "Duplicity's Home page Home." Duplicity's home page. Duplicity, 10 November 2010. Web. 10 November 2010.