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05/10/2019

UTILITY: Ryan from Portland's Two-man band talks with Inessa / audio

By INESSA // UTILITY is the new project from RFK Heise (Last Giant, System and Station) and Adam Draper (Down Gown, Swim Swam Swum).  The idea is simple: “how much sound can two people make using modern technology with a bass and a drum kit and how close can that sound get to Thin Lizzy, New Wave, Soul, and Rock n Roll?

Always good to be inspired by an artist’s story of how they find their true calling. Paves the way for others to follow, and just maybe create the same path, be it in music or any other calling. Especially fine in this age of good distraction, and some not so fine.

Rock duos are certainly out there. Think White Stripes, Black Keys, MGMT, Royal Blood. UTILITY was Royal Blood-inspired, as it turns out.

Here’s a bit of background on Ryan and Adam:

"UTILITY is the new project from RFK Heise (Last Giant, System and Station) and Adam Draper (Down Gown, Swim Swam Swum).  The idea is simple: “how much sound can two people make using modern technology with a bass and a drum kit and how close can that sound get to Thin Lizzy, new wave, soul, and rock n’ roll?”   The result is the self-titled album UTILITY."

Drummer Adam Draper had a day-job gig, so it was bassist and songwriter, Ryan, on his own at Robin Road.

We dug into the history of the two long-time friends, the bands they shared a life with and how they got to know, each had the other’s back fully. So UTILITY  was born.

Ryan and I go deep into the project. What’s next, and how the magic happens. And we preview two tracks of the just-released self-titled album.

LINK UP

UTILITY

Royal Blood

System and Station

Last Giant

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