User:Sackoulnaut/sandbox

The Bind (rock band)

Lucas Hunton, Bass, Vocals

Ryan Begley, Guitar, Vocals

Bryan Michener, Drums

The Bind not only describes the musical bond the members have, but also reflects a friendship and kinship between the three bandmates. Bryan and Lucas became friends towards the end of High School. Both were members of Choir and the Drama Club who bonded during a school trip to NYC. They formed a band with a few close friends and started their music making career in an old studio above a redemption center.

Lucas also met Ryan around the same time when he helped with lighting for a play at a neighboring High School. Ryan was an actor in the play who also was interested, and had an great aptitude, for the technical side of things.

Eventually the two worlds would collide. Ryan had been a guitarist since 14 and had played some decent sized gigs with a local singer songwriter talent. When the band "Eyes of the World" that Bryan and Lucas formed felt like they needed something else, Ryan was called and joined the group.

After a few years the band had a few personnel changes, which included Ryan leaving, then coming back a year later. At this time the band was comprised of The Bind members and a songwriter/guitarist Derek Reckard who joined EOTW early on in it's formation. Eventually Ryan, Lucas, and Bryan decided that Eyes of the World was not what they wanted to do anymore, and The Bind was born.

They played together for 4 years. Rehearsing 3 times a week, playing about 2 gigs a month and writing constantly. As they struggled to get by, the dream of rock and roll glory propelled them ever onward. A few times The Bind tried recording some songs but a good high quality album eluded them. When things were not moving forward, eventually the fire died down and The Bind fizzled out...

Afterwards, the members of The Bind were still close friends. They even worked at the same company for a number of years. Bryan tried a solo project, Ryan played in a few cover bands and joined a couple established bands as well. Lucas played in Bryan's solo project, and attempted to follow Ryan around but was tired of the chase and hung up his bass.

Until...

The three missed playing together and formed a cover band "Mister Friction" with their friend, guitarist John Porier, in 2011. It failed to make money, which was the goal, but it kept the three playing together and ultimately strengthened their bond. MF played a couple dozen shows over 2 years and eventually broke up.

All this time Lucas kept hoping one day he could get The Bind back together. Being the keeper of "the tapes", every once in a while he popped in a rehearsal tape, of which there are about a hundred, and started thinking about what could have been.

13 years had passed since The Bind jammed together, the guys started seeing each other more at family events and started hanging out again just the three of them. Sometimes Ryan would be doing sound at a local bar so they would sit and watch older rock bands rip it up. Maybe it was the reminder of how it feels to play a show or perhaps the stresses of the past had subsided enough for the friends to reform The Bind and give it another shot. They started jamming again in fall of 2018.

After getting the rust and dust off, The Bind started playing shows once again in spring 2019. They had been down this road before and knew they needed to do some sort of recording to build a fanbase. In early 2020 they decided to try writing new tunes, unsure if they still had the chops.

When the pandemic hit, 2 songs were fully formed and two more were in the works. They still got together and jammed when they could and searched for someone to record them. John Farrell, an old friend of the band, who had done sound for the band in New Bedford clubs years ago was on hiatus from his job as Production Manager Front of House for the band "Blackberry Smoke". Ryan recommended him hard so the band went to John and his recording company Uptown Sound. The rest is future history...