Since their incarnation in October 2007, Channel Eightis more about a reunion of two longtime friends and collaborators that share a love for making great music. It’s been a long road for vocalist/guitarist Jeff Mathers and drummer Steve Manning in finding their place in the music world. These two musical titans shared their beginnings in a band that played in 1996′s Battle of The Bands in Vernon, B.C. which won them the cash prize. They quickly gained local recognition and decided to move to Vancouver to capitalize on the city’s striving music scene. Sadly, their partnership eventually ended with each member going their own separate way. Manning played with CFOX Seeds alumni Pleasure, and singer-songwriter Mani Khiara while Mathers opened for acts like Puddle of Mudd and Big Wreck with his bands Soma City Ward and Goya. Growing tired of the rock bar scene, Mathers decided to play acoustic shows and eventually released an EP of mostly acoustic material with the help of his friends Toby Hulse (Retrograde/Run The Red), Dave Benedict (Default), and Michael Johnston (Kill Rhythm) as additional musicians.
While living on the West coast gave our heroes the experience they needed, the hustle of city life began taking a toll on their spirits. Individually, both members moved back to Okanagan Valley and soon Manning found himself taking part in Mather’s acoustic sets. As a duo, they played anywhere and everywhere they could with their material being well received by audiences, but both band members found themselves missing the rock element in their material. Mathers and Manning decided to crank up the noise and hirer bass player Aaron Cyr to create an epic trio. As Channel Eight, the three entered the studio with local producer Bob Gablehouse at Big Audio Productions and recorded, “Point of No Return”. The single generated over 100,000 Reverbnation widget hits and was included in a video game by VASTstudio.com. The band began playing clubs and fine tuning their new material while opening for bands like Art of Dying, GOB, and Cold Driven.
In early 2009, the band entered the studio with producer Travis Saunders (Stutterfly, Secert and Whisper, Kookshow) to record three new tracks. Set for release in November 2009, “The Pilot”, packs a punch for a three song recording. The opening track, “Getting Nowhere”, is a song that is laced with loud, heavy guitars and hard-hitting lyrics that could only be described as a juggernaut of epic proportions. Mathers’ guitar tones can easily draw comparison to Page Hamilton’s (Helmet) guitar tones but it seems that Mathers takes it to the next level in this song with making the tones bigger, louder, and meaner. “Lights Out”, can only be described as the perfect hard rock song that every band wants to write. It encompasses everything that makes a great song. The song begins with Mathers simply proclaiming, “LIGHTS OUT”, and then all hell breaks loose. Mathers shows his versatility as a singer during the verses as he goes from a moderate tone to a mean growl. As the song progresses, the listener is instantly caught in a catchy chorus that eventually leads to a very skillful breakdown that than swan dives back into a pit of musical insanity. The last track, “Suffocating”, is the most dynamic and diverse song because it incorporates different elements of rock, hard rock, and alternative rock that could very well make it an instant radio hit. Mathers conjures some of his best lyrical work with lyrics like, “Silent madness/Keep it all inside/Foolish people do it all the time”, that truly makes him a master of lyrical word play.
Band members Jeff Mathers and Steve Manning have endured much over the past few years as musicians. When many musicians would have thrown in the towel, Jeff and Steve pressed forward and have created a band that can only viewed as a force of musical excellence. If you’re looking for a band that will blow your mind…switch over to Channel Eight and prepare to get blown away!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kyle I'm a self taught musician of nearly 20 years and I'm proud to say that music encompasses my life. I'm just a simple guy that loves music and who is constantly searching for new music to feed his musical vices!
