Help support our entry into Hard Rock Cafe's global battle of the bands - click here to download our new track "Avalanche" and give us your vote!
We are Subject 2 Change -
A band that plays powerful original
rock music with a variety of influences.
We constantly strive to give the best
performance possible, each one being
better than the last.
We are on a quest
For our defining sound
Every show is our best
We are music-bound
We are subject 2 change
Subject 2 Change and Substance Productions are currently immersed in producing our first full-length album, and hope to have it completed by the end of January, 2012.
January 10, 2012:
We've just uploaded all but one of the latest works in progress from our soon-to-be-released debut album - enjoy!
January 25 -- February 5, 2012
Hard Rock Rising Battle of the Bands:
First round is online voting -
Click the image to the left to navigate
to the competition's page where you can
download our new track "Avalanche"
(which counts as a vote). If you want to
see us perform at Boston's Hard Rock
Cafe half as much as we do, then please
give us your vote - all it takes is a click!
CD Release Concert Dates:
March 10th, 2012 -- 9pm to 1:30am
The Cantab Lounge, Cambridge MA
Ticket prices TBD
March 24th, 2012 -- 8pm to 12 midnight
Milly's Tavern, Manchester NH
Subject 2 Change is an epic combination of three Attleboro, Massachusetts natives Aksel Solberg (guitar & vocals), Anders Benson (drums & vocals) and Eric Palmer (bass & vocals). The musical trio has a long history together, and their solid, long-lasting friendships have served as the foundation on which they have created their music. Drawing from their various musical backgrounds and tastes, their music incorporates rock, blues, jazz & funk. Their influences include everything from The Beatles and Led Zeppelin to the Dave Matthews Band, Incubus and The Mars Volta.
Their desire to write and perform original music is the core driving force behind the bands enthusiasm, but they also enjoy performing covers of some of their favorite songs. The band is constantly striving to improve not only each musicians individual skills, but also their ability to use those skills together to create a unique sound. As the bands repertoire of original music continues to grow, so too does their ambition to give the best performance possible. Subject 2 Change is currently immersed in an intense recording process. They are independently producing and recording their first full-length record and hope to have it completed by the end of 2011.
Like a phoenix, Subject 2 Change arose from the ashes of its predecessor, The Mystery Box. The Mystery Box was an original rock group comprised of Ben Goldsmith on guitar and lead vocals, Anders on drums, and Aksel on bass and vocals. The three practiced and composed music together for just under a year and played a small show for friends and family before Ben left to pursue an acting career.
With Ben gone, Anders and Aksel were left to go about fixing their musical addiction in their own ways. The two friends began writing a new type of music centered around their history together and the energy that they both brought to the stage. With no one left to fill the position of lead guitar and vocalist, Aksel stepped in with a large repertoire of original songs. Together, they practiced and honed their skills for almost 8 months until finally, their good friend Eric Palmer joined the group to make a trio once more.
Eric has a long history with both Anders and Aksel and at their first rehearsal together the energy was tangible. From that day on, the three friends have been devoted to a mutual goal of writing and performing powerfully energetic, yet technically complicated music.
Constantly evolving with the energy of their music, this band is Subject 2 Change.
Aksel grew up in a musical family, learning how to play his first instrument (the harmonica) when he was just 5 years old. His parents, both being musicians themselves, taught Aksel the fundamentals of music performance and theory from an early age. Throughout elementary, middle and high school, Aksel was a devoted member of school concert bands. Over the course of his concert band career, Aksel has played the clarinet, tenor saxophone and bass guitar (although he plays several other instruments as well).
Aksel first became engrossed in writing and performing original rock music in high school (although he played in several smaller, short-lived musical groups throughout middle school). His band, Tensions Run High (in which he played bass guitar), started off as a three-person punk rock group, but slowly evolved over the course of the next four years into a powerful, four-person rock band playing original music all over Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Eventually, the band split up as they were working on recordings with a small record label out of Fitchburg, Massachusetts and each member of the band went their own separate way.
After graduating from high school, Aksel went on to attend Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston, MA, and graduated with a Masters Degree of Architecture in May of 2009. Throughout his studies as an architecture student, music continued to play a vital role in Aksels life. He constantly played guitar as a way of escaping from the stress of his studies. Over the course of his college career, he progressed from guitar novice to an accomplished player. During his last year as a graduate student, Aksel increasingly brought his knowledge and love of music into the realm of architecture and design. He would ultimately go on to complete his masters thesis, which combined music performance and theory with architectural design in an unprecedented way.
Of the three musicians in Subject 2 Change, Aksel and Anders have the longest standing friendship. They met just before kindergarten, and have been the best of friends ever since. They started their first band together when they were in the fourth grade, which ultimately culminated in a badly-assembled jam session of musical novices. That first experience as inept as it may have been nevertheless served as a building block on which Anders and Aksel would continue to build their friendship. Strangely, it would be the last official band that the two would play in together until the founding of Subject 2 Changes predecessor, The Mystery Box.
Aksel currently works as an architectural designer in Boston, MA for Amaze Design, Inc. - a firm which specializes in designing museum exhibits and installations. His life is usually spent working on various projects, but he still finds the time to write and practice music, play shows with the band and pursue architectural projects of his own.
Anders relationship with music is purely symbiotic. His journey began as many other drummers do, banging on the pots and pans in his kitchen while still wearing diapers. His parents thought he was merely fooling around, until clear and distinct lyrics by Queen accompanied his steady beat.
At the age of six, Anders began drum lessons and after only two years of study, he performed his first gig in a band with his father, John, and current band-mate, Aksel Solberg. A few years later he began taking lessons with Richard Kelly, a former student of the famous percussionist, Vic Firth.
While studying with Richard, Anders played in various bands with his friends. Anders also focused on other aspects of percussion, joining the middle school concert band and the middle school jazz ensemble. This continued to hone his skills and help him grow as a musician.
High school was the time when Anders talents truly started to grow. He participated in various competitions playing the tympani/kettle drums. As a result he performed at various venues, including Symphony Hall in Boston and the Comcast Center in Mansfield, MA. After graduating from Attleboro High School in 2004, he and his mentor, Richard, went their separate ways as Anders journeyed off to college to continue his study of music.
In college, Anders took a more classical route of study, straying away from traditional rock band settings. At the University of New Hampshire, he studied classical percussion: specifically xylophone, snare drum, marimba, and tympani. While in college, he studied with Nancy Smith, a colleague of Richards and also a former student of Vic Firth. During his senior year of college, Anders participated in the Wind Symphony and was pre-nominated for a Grammy award for best classical performance of the year.
Since then, Anders has made his living as a music teacher in the cities of Fall River and North Attleboro, teaching general music and private percussion lessons. Anders has been exploring composition, writing various pieces of music for marching bands and small percussion ensembles. After graduation he reunited with Aksel to pursue his dream of playing in a rock band performing original, exciting music. They joined forces with another Attleboro native, Eric Palmer to start Subject 2 Change in 2010.
Bass guitar was an obvious choice for Eric. Its low tones & rumbling noise always drove his family crazy. It only took a couple of years before he was rocking out everywhere from backyard parties to local concert venues. He recorded some original music with some friends as a teenager and fell in love with the production side of music.
Over the past 15 years Eric has become a veteran of the New England music scene. In his last few musical projects hes gigged in all 6 of the New England states and developed relationships with numerous bands, labels, venues, & talent agencies. His most notable projects were Turning Circles (2003-2005) and Personal Legend (2005-2009). Both of these bands had steady air time on college radio. During these years Eric refined his skills in the recording arts.
Eric has been working as a freelance recording engineer & producer for 5 years. Hes recorded in studios all around Boston including Q Division Studios in Somerville, MA. Q is most famous for recording all of the music for the Dropkick Murphys, Amy Mann, & 2 records with James Taylor. Working in these studios gained him some great experience and helped inspire his dream of opening an independent record label. In 2008 Eric and a new-found business partner, Esteban Gonzalez, founded Substance Productions in Bostons south shore. Substance currently represents 4 independent performing artists including Erics current band - Subject 2 Change.
All of his past experiences have helped him to utilize his skills and musical ear to their full potential and this current project demonstrates his evolution as both a musician and an engineer. Forming the band gave all three members, whod been longtime friends, the opportunity for something great. The three together have a dynamic level of chemistry that is felt around them even when theyre not on stage performing.
Artwork, posters, T-shirt art and more for your viewing pleasure. If any of you out there would like to do artwork for us, send it in and we'll post it here. The more, the better!
Enjoy :)
-- S2C
Here's a video of "With You", from our performance at Milly's Tavern in Manchester, NH on September 24, 2011.
Email:
subject222change_gmail.com
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