TetraSphere Interview

July 2023

What was the story in forming the band?

Brian, David, and Matt all work at the same company, and in 2013, Keith Elliott was hired into the company and instantly became friends with the guys. Over the next few years as Brian, David, and Matt were in a band named 5iveMor, and Keith Elliott along with life long friend Jason Phillips were in their band Level 7, we would book shows together and even step in and play together on occasion.

However, there was a slow dissolution to both bands 5iveMor and Level 7 due to Covid and creative differences, but the opportunity came up that allowed us to reach out to Keith Elliott and have him come in and add Guitars to songs we had partially written which would become the songs from our first album “Finally”. Once the first album was complete, we reached out to Jason Phillips and asked him to join and solidify the group. The group is now complete and writing new songs for the next album, “The 4th World”.

How did you come up with the band name?

Bassist David Graham and Guitarist Keith Elliott were discussing names for an instrumental in our last album, Finally. During the discussions, they came up with TetraSphere and The 4th World. They fell down a rabbit hole with those names and decided to wrap up the first album and then bring the names to the guys in which we decided on TetraSphere as the band name and along with the band name we decided to write a concept album that was based off the name.

We have written a full story that we are breaking down and creating individual songs based on the chapters of the story. We are tentatively calling the next album “The 4th World” and are currently about 7 or 8 songs in so far….

Favorite artist(s)?

The list is so vast, so we will highlight this with the best of the best, so to speak. Bands such as Rush, Dream Theater, and Symphony X and Air Supply bring us the progressive side to our style. Artists such as Steve Vai, PAUL GILBERT, Randy Rhoads, George Lynch and Eddie Van Halen bring us the guitar influences that shape our massive riffs and arrangements. We look at Legends such as Geddy Lee, and Stanley Clarke as some of the influences for our amazing Rhythmic Bass lines. Gods such as Neil Peart and Danny Carey for the thunderous and explosive Drum styles within our songs. The vocal influences we have are from legends as Ozzy Osbourne, Eddie Vedder, James Hetfield, and Chris Cornell and Layne Staley. These guys shape our vocalist and the style he brings.

What is a venue you always wanted to perform in? Why?

For Brian, David, and Matt, the venue they would perform in would be Freedom Hall in their hometown of Johnson City TN. Many legends, such as Elvis all the way to Elton John have performed within the Hall. It would be a huge accomplishment and honor to grace the same stage as those legends. Keith lists The Knoxville Civic Coliseum because it was Randy Rhoads last venue in which he ever played. Jason lists the Budokan in Japan because it’s in Japan and its Budokan!!

What artist(s) would you want to tour with?

There are so many artists we would love to tour with, so we will list some favs here as well. Dream Theater, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Pearl Jam, The Police, The Winery Dogs

What brand instrument(s) and equipment do you play? Any favs?

Keith plays his Music Man by Ernie Ball mostly but does bring out the Gibson Les Paul and PRS from time to time. He also uses a Kemper Amp setup but also has an assortment of Marshall and Mesa amps.

Jason mainly plays his Ibanez and PRS guitars for the moment, and he also uses many amps and cabs, but his main rig is a HeadRush. It’s very simple to use, and it’s favorable for that reason.

David uses his Dingwall and Fender Jazz Bass, but on occasion, he will bring out his Rickenbacker and we all have to bask in its glory. He uses a Line 6 Helix and Gallien Krueger for amplification.

Matt’s main drum kit is his Tama Starclassic Birch/Basswood kit with Zildjian A custom Cymbals. His secondary kit is a Yamaha Stage Custom Birch with a mix of A Custom, Z Custom, and S Series cymbals.

Brian occasionally uses an Epiphone Les Paul or his reliable Ovation Acoustic/Electric. and uses Beta 58 shure mics.

What is a favorite story you’d like to share about the band?

Unanimously, the favorite story would be the time we were playing a company picnic for a friend. After the show was over, David Graham was driving Brian’s truck over to load up equipment and in the process of that, demolished a rolling trash cart the company had stationed around the venue. There was trash all over the parking lot, but fortunately, there was no damage to Brian’s truck, or they might have some words, ha ha….

Another good story was at one practice we decide to record a drum track for one of our songs on the forthcoming album. We had to place our singer Brian outside while he sang so that the overhead drum mics would not pick his vocal up. It was sprinkling outside, so he was kind of stressed about getting electrocuted, but we were not too concerned, ha ha he is a big boy….

What is the song of yours that means the most to you?

The consensus is a new song called “The Tragic” as it deals heavily with what is going on in the world today and makes this song very relevant for that reason. A second favorite is also off the upcoming album called “Serenity”. It was a huge undertaking, but once it was complete, it was a feather in our caps, so to speak. We also are partial to the song “Echoes” which is off our first album as it was our first real Progressive Style song…We know there will be other favorite songs written as we move further but these are a few we enjoy.

Check out our review of TetraSphere here!