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Eightfold Path is an American rock band formed in Sioux Falls, South Dakota in 2021. Founded by childhood friends John Dark and Matt Turner, Eightfold Path established a unique and diverse sound early on in their career.

History and formation
In 2011, Matt Turner and John Dark met on an elementary school bus ride and became friends. Having been interested in music from an early age, Turner had tried several times to start bands with Dark, none to any avail, due to their young age. However, with the success of the single Stressed Out in 2016, Turner became familiar and attracted to Twenty One Pilots's music. With new found inspiration, he returned to Dark with ideas for a band, although none came to the point of recording music. With new musical goals in mind and new inspirations, including hip hop, alternative, and pop, Turner began producing music using an app on his phone, eventually showing the same app to Dark. After several months of releases, Dark discovered FL Studio, a digital audio workstation, and the two began producing on it, still separately.

After several years, in 2020 Dark began listening to American grunge band Nirvana. With a new love for rock music, Dark began producing rock music, using distorted guitars and instrumentals, and running his vocals through a guitar distortion effect, something he would later revive in Eightfold Path's music. In early 2021, Turner began listening to Nirvana as well and agreed to start a rock band and work on an album. Eventually, the duo decided on the name Eightfold Path, as it was similar to Nirvana.

Cranium
In March 2021, the duo began work on an album with the name Olympian. Dark had already conceived of several riffs beforehand, and he and Turner had several disagreements about the sound of the album. Eventually, they reworked the band idea into Eightfold Path, working on their debut, Ode To Crania, which eventually became Cranium. Much of the music was produced separately from each other, with the only collaborative songs that were worked on together being the songs "Dog Milk" and "NV", the first songs to be started and the last to be finished. The album features heavy Nirvana influence, using extremely distorted guitars, and unmixed sound, rough vocals, and odd structure. The song "Aisle Of Pigs" was created entirely by Turner, with little to no input from Dark. Since it's release, both Dark and Turner have expressed regret at the lack of collaboration, and have since been much more communicative. The album was produced, mixed, written, and mastered entirely by Dark and Turner. Dark had purchased a Fender Stratocaster guitar, along with an amplifier and audio interface, and so could record guitars directly into the DAW. Some songs - "Rock Is Dead", "Dog Milk", and "Aisle Of Pigs", use acoustic guitars along with distorted electric, and all of the songs use a programmed bass, as the two found it easier to work with digital bass instead of recording it live. Many of the songs are built around inside jokes between the friends, "Goon Squad" being the primary example.

Songs overview
The album's guitar riffs use power chords and little fingerpicking, with several songs featuring a guitar solo. "Rock Is Dead" was a song previously made by Dark, being slightly reimagined for Cranium. It's acoustic guitar sound is derived from the aesthetic of the Fallout game series, also referenced in the lyric video for the song. The lyrics describe a nuclear family-esque world, switching between calm acoustic performance and loud, distorted choruses. "Connection Interrupted" is an instrumental song, with the only vocals being screaming by Dark. The song was conceived when the two were playing video games and would often disconnect. "Placeholder" can be described as one of Cranium's cleaner and catchier works, although featuring scratching sounds at the end of the song. "Lying Manipulating and Alcohol, Pt. 1," also known simply as "LMA," is the shortest song on the album, at under one minute, and is meant to be an inside joke between the band, as the song cuts off abruptly, and leaving listeners on a cliffhanger. "Dog Milk" and "NV" were among the first songs formally started for the album. "Dog Milk" uses acoustic guitar for about half of the song, before switching to a distorted sound for the rest. The latter is a Ramones-inspired song. "Son On The Run" is a fairly simple song, having only 1 set of lyrics that repeats and a simple structure. The vocals are layered several times by Dark and Turner, some using a chorus effect,l before leading into a chorused guitar solo. "Turmoil" is a slower song than the rest of the album, not getting to the louder peaks of previous songs, but still maintaining energy. The ending of the song uses lyrics from Nirvana's Rape Me. "Goon Squad" is a slow, joyous sounding song, using a ukulele and pop sounds. The song was meant to sound as happy as possible, but use lyrics that were about the worst thing the pair could think of. The only guitar in the song is in the guitar solo. "Not Eye To Eye" is sonically similar to "Turmoil," although features a synth solo, replacing a standard guitar solo. "Aisle Of Pigs" is the only song featuring Turner's voice, save for the chorus in "Goon Squad." It features an acoustic guitar that was run through a virtual distortion effect, creating the sound of an electric guitar.

The album's artwork was done by Turner and Dark and features an ALS patient model head over a yellow background, the former being drawn over by Dark, although the art is only featured on the streaming releases of the album, as the YouTube audio videos use black and white text, and the roughly 10 CDs burned by the band simply feature the word "Cranium" written on sharpie. The album was released July 4th, 2021

Praying For Grandpa and style changes
Upon releasing Cranium, the band decided to make as different an album as possible, saying they didn't see a point making an album similar to the last one, and didn't see why the wouldn't just have put the new songs on Cranium. Most of Praying For Grandpa was conceived on the drive to Wal-Mart in order to purchase CDs to burn their previous album, Cranium, onto. The name was the spawn of a man walking along a road without a sidewalk, resulting in Turner saying "Why is he walking?", and Dark comically mimicking it (also referenced in the title of the album's final song, "Why He Walking"). Several songs from that discussion remained, including "Tummy Snicker," which is a result of Turner listening to the opening track to Taylor Swift's Reputation, "...Ready For It?", along with the songs "1800s Slave," "Defecation Sickness," "Monkey Business," "Special Ed, You're Dead," "Taylor Swift," and "Why He Walking." For Praying For Grandpa, the duo used many more influences than Nirvana, whom Turner cited as among the least influential, including Taylor Swift, Mario Judah, Ke$ha, Cage The Elephant, and The Shaggs.

While working on the album, after finishing three songs - "Tummy Snicker," "Marry A Whore," and "Defecation Sickness," - the latter being the only track resembling Cranium, Eightfold Path released Goon Squad vs The Fiends, a three-song extended play meant to promote the album. The title comes from the same joke that spawned the track "Goon Squad" from Cranium, which came from a joke song Turner released in 2020. The EP released August 4rd, 2021.

The art of Praying For Grandpa is a reference to Nirvana's Bleach, featuring a black and white inverted image of Turner praying (as referenced in the title) in a car, with black bars along the top and bottom. The band briefly considered the concept of featuring text on the cover, but figured that would push into copying rather than referencing. The album was released October 12, 2021.

Musical style and lyrics
At the start, the band described their primary influence as Nirvana, although early on began citing many artists, such as Taylor Swift, Mario Judah, Ke$ha, Cage The Elephant, and The Shaggs, and tried incorporating various genres, including rock, hip-hop, pop, grunge, rap, hard rock, electronic pop, vaporwave, and more. Turner has said that, although their music can resemble other artists, the band doesn't consider any real influence, claiming most of their music comes simply from their heads, and whatever the idea is is what ends up on the album. Some songs, like "Taylor Swift," aim to sound like a certain artist, sometimes taking that sound and subverting expectations. Some songs feature tempo and key changes, and use a wide variety of instruments, including electric and acoustic guitar, ukulele, bass, live and programmed drums, 808 machines, orchestral instruments, pianos, synthesizers, arpeggiators, leads, and more.

Often in Eightfold Path songs, lyrics are simply there in order to have lyrics. According to Turner, all of the lyrics for the song "Aisle of Pigs" were written collectively in under a minute. Some songs use storytelling in the lyrics.

Band members

 * John Dark – lead vocals, lead guitar, bass guitar, drums, keyboards, drum machines, background vocals
 * Matt Turner – bass guitar, piano, keyboards, drum machines, synthesizers, drums, background vocals, occasional lead vocals

Studio albums

 * Cranium (2021)
 * Praying For Grandpa (2021)
 * The Color Album (2022)

Extended plays and compilation albums

 * Goon Squad vs The Fiends (2021) (extended play)
 * 100 Goons, A Christmas Album (2021) (extended play)