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dear_ephesus

Dear Ephesus

Emo / Alternative Rock
Orlando, Florida, USA

Dear Ephesus was an Emo/ Alternative Rock music group from Orlando, Florida. They were voted third-favorite new group of 1997 by HM Magazine readers, and went on to release two albums.

From their label's promo materials: “Bulletboy Music's most aggressive and critically acclaimed rock band has once again defied conventional labels with their newest creation of diverse rock. Dear Ephesus' newest release is a hybrid of post-punk, post-hardcore, and emo rock rife with melody and lushly augmented by live string sections, full backing vocals, and the most modern in sampled effects. Exceeding critical expectations, The Absent Sounds of Me has raised the bar for modern Christian rock records, drawing rave reviews from the band's peers as well as the interest of mainstream labels.

Dear Ephesus remains committed to its audience first and foremost though, and has recorded their most sincere and honest work to date, with songs like “On West B” and “The Absent Sounds of Me” showing their genuine love for their audience by their transparency, and the reworked hymn, “Just As I Am,” and the praise song, “The Morning Sings,” showing the band's sincere love for the Lord.

No longer reserved for musicians and critics, The Absent Sounds of Me finds Dear Ephesus, making music ready for a wider, modern pop audience in a musical leap at once more accessible and more groundbreaking. One of 1998's best.”

The band broke up at the end of the 1990s. Several members re-formed as Tenderfoot, hoping to fill their Bulletproof Records contract and reach the secular market. They had one release under this name, The Devil and Rock and Roll, in 2000.

Aaron Weiderspahn is now a writer and director. His first film was The Sensation of Sight (2006), starring David Strathairn and Ian Somerhalder from Lost.

Brett Levsen and Edgardo Lamoso are currently playing in The Vanity Plan.

Louis Defabrizio currently fronts the band Gasoline Heart along with Jeff Irizarry and John Forston from Squad 5–0.

Discography

A View of Epic Proportions

1997 Daddy-O Records (DDO#002)

Aaron Wiederspahn – Vocals
Brett Levsen – Guitar
Ed Lamoso – Guitar
Louis Defabrizio – Bass
Jeff Irizarry – Drums

  1. Misplaced Feelings of a Past Day (5:35)
  2. Wood and Dirt (5:21)
  3. Ichabod (3:50)
  4. A Boy and His Kite (3:37)
  5. A Place Called Slumber (6:29)

Recorded in a week, November, 1996, after Aaron stalked Nick until he agreed to produce us. What an education in bands, songwriting, musicianship, and producing!

Released March 1, 1997

Produced by Nick Barber (Poor Old Lu). Mixed and Engineered by Joel Wild. Original cover art by John Ralston; second cover design by Andy Crump. All songs by Dear Ephesus, except 2, and 5, by Jason Little and Dear Ephesus. All lyrics by Aaron, except 2, by Jason Little.


The Consolation of Pianissimo

1997 Bulletproof Music (D3006)

Aaron Wiederspahn – Vocals
Brett Levsen – Guitar
Ed Lamoso – Guitar
Louis Defabrizio – Bass
Jeff Irizarry – Drums

  1. Portrait (4:40)
  2. Behind Doors (5:26)
  3. Butter Never Bleeds (3:29)
  4. A Step For Dance (4:11)
  5. The Holidays (4:17)
  6. My Player Piano (5:48)
  7. A Boy and His Kite (3:29)
  8. Sackloth & Ash (3:59)
  9. A Posthumous Publication of His Memoirs (4:43)
  10. The Grand Spectacle (3:50)
  11. The Flight of Peter Pan (5:34)
  12. The Drifter (6:37)
  13. Life Begins With a Smile (4:10)
  14. Rock the Heck Out of You (2:39)

The hidden track on this album is not titled “Sutton Blaze” (as is often cited), but actually “Sutton Place,” a reference to an apartment complex where a friend lived and band members often hung out.

Released August 1, 1997

All songs written by Dear Ephesus except 1, 3, 4, and 6 by Dear Ephesus and John Ralston, and 5 by Dear Ephesus and Jason Little. All lyrics by Aaron. Produced and Engineered by J.C. Richardson, in Norcross, GA, during the summer of 1997.


The Absent Sounds of Me

1998 Bulletproof Music (BPD3028)

Aaron Wiederspahn – Vocals
Brett Levsen – Guitar
Ed Lamoso – Guitar
Louis Defabrizio – Bass
Jeff Irizarry – Drums

  1. * (0:16)
  2. Looked for in the First Place (4:44)
  3. On West B' (4:14)
  4. Simpleton Walks (3:31)
  5. Big Brother (3:19)
  6. Blue Day (4:05)
  7. Pinning Dreams (5:47)
  8. Ocean Deep (4:06)
  9. A Woe (5:40)
  10. And Nobody Thinks (3:54)
  11. The Absent Sounds of Me (3:47)
  12. The Morning Sings (6:46)
  13. ! (0:17)
  14. Just as I Am (3:42)

Recorded during late spring, early summer, 1998.

Released August 1, 1998

Produced, engineered, and mixed by Joel Wild at Footsteps Studios, Merritt Island, FL. All songs written by Dear Ephesus except 4, 6, 11 by Dear Ephesus and Joel Wild, and 14 by Charlotte Elliott and William B. Bradbury; version, and arrangement in this recording by Dear Ephesus. Cover by Andy Crump for FOPR design. Other design by Owen Eliasen 4000.

Dave Ott played guitar on tracks 11, 14
Len Federowicz played cello on tracks 4, 7, 9
Jeff Kendall played percussion on track 14
Joel Wild played acoustic guitar on track 4


Dear Ephesus / Lugsole (split)

1998 Velvet Blue Music (VBM027)

  1. Dear Ephesus - Ichabod
  2. Lugsole - Away From Me

As the Spider

2012 Independent

  1. As The Spider (2:39)

Previously unreleased! Outtake from The Absent Sounds of Me, intended for one of Jade Tree's emo comps, but the song was “too punk”.


dear_ephesus.txt · Last modified: 2019/06/15 20:38 by admin