User:The Shots

Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. Inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal, and indie rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars, contrasting song dynamics, and apathetic or angst-filled lyrics. The grunge aesthetic infected Chad Barwick at the age of 11 with NIRVANA. Around this time during the summer of 2005 Grady Holland started listening rock music, influenced by his hobby then, skateboarding. Along with this change Grady started buying albums and playing Guitar Hero. Holland started becoming musically inclined after joining the middle school band playing trumpet.As for the Barwick twins Chad bought every NIRVANA album available and even turned some of his old friends onto the subgenre. Brad Barwick(twin) was also intrigued by this music, as the twin brothers craved more of these elements of good rock & roll. Chad became so interested in this music he started listening to other Seattle bands and their influences, along with the new taste in music came a new desire to play an instrument, for months he would play the drums in the air or on furniture around the house with screwdrivers & knives. Chad constantly begged his mother to obtain a drum kit for him, he finally got a drum kit at the age of 14. With Chad now owning a drum kit, this prompted Brad to obtain some sort of guitar. in November 2007 Grady Holland took up playing guitar, as he was not the fastest learner his father stayed on his case to continue working at his skill, which resulted in Holland turning into a dramatically fast learner. Almost a year after Chad got a drum kit, Brad's father bought a refurbished Epiphone P-Bass from a local pawn shop along with a lunchbox amp. The twins would start practicing together and focusing on being musically tight. Brad and Chad even joined in on a punk side project(Swivel Farei)with local guitarist Tyler Hale of Manning. The band had opportunities to play talent shows and parties around Manning but just continued practicing in the guitarists utility room. A good few Manning musicians also took part in what could of been Swivel Farei, this consisting of David Glaser-Guitarist, Dillon Oswald-electric Keyboards and Jamey Evans- Rhythm guitar. About Two years after completely working out the musical kinks, Swivel Farei had been put out of its misery and all the current participating members went on their seperate ways. Desperate to play music the twins started another project based at the Lake in Manning, this project was known as Bad Gravity which featured Burnis Stanley attempting to play guitar and the twins attempting to hold a steady timing. As this was only a project, nothing came out of it and Bad Gravity was flushed down the drain. At the end of 2008 the twins got more equipment as Christmas gifts. Brad got an Ibanez GSR200 along with an Ampeg cabinet, Chad got a Yamaha DTXplorer drumkit and a mini recording device. With all this new equipment came the founding of a psychedelic rock, drum and bass project titled Mispent Result. At this same time Holland attempted starting a project of his own titled "The Pigeons Of Ovation"(POO), Holland was not pleased with this name as he favored the title of The Shots , only every other member didn't approve of the name, therefore (POO) was the name of Holland's first attempt at a project that never succeeded.As for Mispent Result, The drum and bass duo felt something was missing so they went on a search for a guitarist, eventually settling with Jamey Evans from the project before, Swivel Farei. Eventually the twin rhythm section started having conflicts with the guitarist Jamey. It wasn't long before Mispent Result fell out of the question along with the termination of Evans' guitar role. A few months before the end of Mispent Result, Grady & Christian Gallop started a music project called Live It Lyve, but this wasn't exactly what Holland had in mind for music. As 2011 came around the twins were in hopes of being able to start a real band, as the same for Holland. The twins were rejected on multiple accounts of searching around Sumter High School for a Guitarist. The situation was somewhat the same for Holland as no other musicians around were truly serious. Months later a new enigma of the Seattle sound was started in the suburban city of Sumter.

"The Shots" are an American rock band formed by Grady Holland & Brad and Chad Barwick in Sumter, South Carolina in 2011. After local Lead Guitarist Grady Holland and Rhythm Guitarist /Vocalist Alex Corley met Bassist Brad Barwick and Drummer Chad Barwick through a friend Kevin Landon Osteen. The band's birth was established with a composition of originals that would later be known as 'Alone', 'Live Once', 'Put Me In The Shade', 'This Life' , 'Never Done A Damn Thing Right' 'What They Want' , 'Remember This' and other singles that have remained hidden for the 2012 album. They have produced a number of 3 demo compilations to date ."The Shots" have used their own management and production skills for most of their recordings,except for the original single "Keep Talking", local artist Christian Gallop produced the single in his studio .The band's music is bass driven and the band has continued to keep their original style while composing more emotional and heavier music and blending dynamics and energetic feels.

The band was recognized for their weekly performances at local parties and a local pizzeria "Pizza Lane" in Sumter in 2011. Their debut year started off as most likely no different from every other bands first year.. On June 9th 2011 The Shots performed with touring bands (School Boy Humor, The Answered, Taylor Thrash) at the Elk's lodge in their hometown of Sumter. While the show was not a hit, and the mix milked the performance, the band continued to perform locally while composing more originals that would eventually become known as 'Truth For A Nowaday', 'tell you tomorrow' , 'By God' and, 'Regular'. Continuing on their music fueled path, the band performed at 'Pizza Lane's' weekly open mic show for 9 months straight before taking a break on performing for more attempts at recording new material. Conflict became present months later when Rhythm Guitarist/ Vocalist Alex Corley had difficulties getting to recording sessions and rehearsals due to personal difficulties. Eventually Alex Corley parted from the band on positive terms with the members.

The Shots searched for a front man lead vocalist for a few weeks before the drummer Chad took the position of singing while playing drums live. The band has offered many of their demos for airplay consideration, but faced rejection. This is not where the band stopped, as the new year settled in, new and older singles were recorded for experimentation for demos. The band would perform wherever whenever for a number of months and afterwards take time off to create,structure, and memorize newer singles. The Shots would then eventually perform at The New Brookland Tavern in Columbia South Carolina on a New Music Night on February 22nd 2012. One month later The Shots performed at Habitat For Humanity's Battle Of The Bands on April 14th 2012, for The Shots this would be no golden day, after the band ran through a random set list in Sumter's Civic Center, the audience had no reaction. A few days later on April 17th 2012, The Shots returned to the New Brookland Tavern in Columbia South Carolina to perform in a set as a guest band with other local bands Robot Plant & Broken Innocence. Eventually the drummer Chad would switch to harmony vocals and give the leading vocals part to his twin who could easily mimic the original vocal presence for the band. While the bands style and ways continued to be consistent, so did the music. The Shots would go back to Sumter and create more music for presentation. As couple of months went by the band continued to go back and forth from Sumter to Columbia to further their career via exposure The band evolved and heavier singles were being created, 'Craving On Booze' was written by Bassist and Front man Brad and it was recorded and composed as well as produced all in the same day. The quality and mix of the band's studio recordings have improved with time as does their experience. Another new powerful song composed, 'Loaded Gun' is inspired by the bands name and trigger happy sound, followed by this new single came the birth of other ones such as "Please", 'Everything's Alright', 'Evaluate' which also contain a verse chorus verse groove approach. The Shots closed out the year by performing at the Pre- Election Day Bash in Columbia at The New Brookland Tavern in November 2012. It was official that the show was the last appearance of The Shots in 2012.

In the new year Brad Barwick, Grady Holland, and Chad Barwick halted on studio work, only to focus on expanding the originality of their music into a neutral using the original dynamics and fills .Drummer, Chad Barwick wrote a new song titled 'Walk Strong' while Brad composed what would eventually be the song 'Lost Again'. The Shots then went on to perform 3rd in the battle of the bands 2013 in Columbia South Carolina at the New Brookland Tavern January 29th where the band performed all their newest heavier songs. After their last show for january at NBT, The Shots began writing songs with structured backgrounds and deeper meanings while conserving the sarcasm and angst filled lyrics. On May 27th 2013 The Shots performed in Myrtle Beach South Carolina for the first time at the SoundHole.