Melodic rockers Before Braille do everything their own way by following the road less traveled
By CHRIS HANSEN ORF
Get Out

East Valley “480 area-core” band Before Braille will never be compared to Simon and Garfunkel, but singer/guitarist David Jensen is a big fan of the ’60s folk duo.

“One of my major influences is Paul Simon,” Jensen says. “Listening to Simon and Garfunkel made me interested in being in a band at all. I think that's what we have to offer with our band — we can have something that's pretty edgy and technical, and then for me, if I throw Paul Simon on top of it, it becomes a little bit more unique.” Before Braille, who will release their new EP “Balance and Timing” with a show Saturday at The Sets, draw from a variety of different styles to create their sound.

All of the band members write their own parts, infusing the songs with such diverse influences as Cursive, Fugazi, Tool and Rush, with the end result being a unique blend of melodic hard rock and frenetic pop capped off with a dose of punk energy and the band's ever present, gorgeous vocal harmonies. “It's really rare that somebody comes in with a finished song,” Jensen says of his bandmates, who include guitarist Brandon Buckmister, bassist Tim Vanderwalker and drummer Kelly Reed. “It's a collective effort. Everybody gets the credit for writing our songs. The band has always been about the music and not the individual.”

The team effort has fostered a fiercely independent spirit in Before Braille that extends beyond their music. Jensen runs the band's record label, Sunset Alliance, the group prints their own T-shirts and, instead of only playing local bars, promotes their own shows in such non-traditional venues as the Boys and Girls Club of the East Valley, allowing the band's vast all-ages fanbase to see the group on a regular basis. “It works for all of us,” Buckmister says of playing gigs off the beaten path. “The kids can come and we actually get to make some money from the shows as opposed to playing in a club.”

Formed in the summer of 1999, Before Braille has already been through several personnel changes — the most recent of which saw guitarist Rajiv Patel depart for a two-year religious mission in Peru last month — a record label experience that the band would rather not talk about, a well-funded but poorly booked tour, a critically acclaimed full-length CD along with two EPs and this year they played the Vans Warped Tour. Through it all the band has learned enough to know they want to do things their own way.

“It would be nice if there was a label out there we knew we could trust,” Buckmister says. “But a lot of labels can't really do much more than we're doing for ourselves, other than tour support.” “More importantly than tour support is what kind of tour the label supports,” Reed laughs. “Our old label gave us a lot of money to tour and we'd play to, like, five people. We played a club when there was nobody there and after we finished the club filled up for a cover band and everybody was going crazy.”

Bassist Vanderwalker left ASU for a semester, where he is studying civil engineering, to join the band in the middle of a tour, but was originally leery of life on the road.

“I thought I'd try it out,” Vanderwalker says. “And I ended up having the best time of my life.”

Before Braille plan to co-release a full-length CD with Sunset Alliance and European label You And Whose Army — the band signed a one record deal that allowed them remain in control of their publishing rights — in February called “Tired of Not Being Away From Here,” then plan to release another CD in the summer of 2005 on Sunset Alliance called “Kill The Messenger, Keep The Message,” a disc the band is looking forward to putting out.

“It's a real release to be on our own again,” Jensen says of the band's label-free independence. “The decision-making process doesn't have to go further than the members of the band.”

Before Braille
With: Reubens Accomplice, Awake and Alert, Go Reflex, Five Speed, Lydia
Where: The Sets, 93 E. Southern Ave., Tempe
When: 8 p.m. Saturday
How Much: $10, free CD or T-shirt with admission Info:
Declaration of independence
Melodic rockers Before Braille do everything their own way by following the road less traveled