Full Spectrum by 13 Hertz

A Spiritual Awakening

After college, Perry convinced Charlie to stay in the rock scene instead of going off into the woods to live like a hermit. The two friends formed a band called Gigawatt. When Gigawatt broke up, Perry and Charlie decided to hone their musical skills while emarking on a spiritual journey towards enlightenment. Inspired by the works of New Age philosophers such as Gregg Braden, they began to participate in spiritual rituals out of which sprang a new musical direction. Charlie was influenced by guitar players like John MacLaughlin and John Scofield, and he started coming up with odd-metered modal pieces containing dissonant chords. Perry managed to figure out some spiritual vocal lines about past lives. The duo released a 4-song demo under the name "Cherry."

The New York Rock Star

Meanwhile, Lila left Wicked Bison to pursue other musical projects, thus narrowly missing being peed on at a frat party gig. Kent, however, was not as fortunate, but he overcame and after a brief stint with Philly band Earth City Exit, he moved to New York to pursue what would later be known as his "New York Rock Star" days. These included many adventures with a band called the Subway Darwins.

The Bar Nun

Lila, in turn, moved to Los Angeles to work on her guitar playing skills for a year or so. Then, having been convinced by Kent that Minneapolis was a great rock and roll town, Lila left the big-hair scene to try her luck in the Twin Cities. After floundering around for a while, she landed a gig with alt-rock/grunge band No Mans Land, and was occasionally joined by Rob Aurand who filled in on bass. When No Mans Land disintegrated, Lila suddenly found herself grinding out hooky pop tunes and dressing up like a nun in a band called The Sandwiches.

The Return of the New York Rock Star

When Kent moved back to Minnesota in 1998, Perry immediately gave his old Renegade Gus buddy a call. Kent called Lila and Rob, and sometime in May of 1998, Perry, Charlie, Lila, Kent, and Rob, joined by 3 backup singers Nancy, Jeannie, and Charlie (Little C), and keyboard player Mark Bergen, began reworking the 4 songs off of the Cherry demo. The band was officially named 13 Hertz, after Gregg Braden's theory that when the earth's resonance rises to 13 Hertz, there will be a new spiritual awakening.

"Metaphysical Rock."

Influenced by the explosive creativity of early 70's jazz (Miles Davis, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Weather Report) and rock (Pink Floyd, Yes, and Led Zeppelin), the band continued to crank out mellow, dissonant, and often psychadelic tunes. "Vibrant" was the first 3-song EP and contained "Full Spectrum" in 13/8, "Aura," and a song called "Carlos Castenada." Kent's long-time friend and former Renegade Gus guitar player Dan Page (now of Hi-fi) described the band's sound as "Metaphysical Rock." The term stuck.

Eventually, the band was paired down to 6 members. The sound continued to evolve as they released a new self-titled EP with the definitive track "Nowhere Somewhere" and more radio-friendly numbers "Cool Waterway" and "Rose." Little C then left the band to pursue a career in television production, resulting in the current roster which is sometimes improved upon by the addition of a tabla player named Matt during acoustic sets.

A New Album, At Last

The band now plays venues in the Twin Cities ranging from Dunn Brothers Coffee to the Uptown Bar. They also play in surrounding midwestern areas such as Duluth, Mankato, and Wisconsin. They have just released their first full-length album entitled "Full Spectrum," which was recorded and engineered by John Earl at Taylor Sound and Hennepin Technical College and mixed and mastered by Ev Olcott at Integral Studios. It includes a mixture of shorter, more radio-friendly tracks like "Headlight" and "Risk", heavier prog-influenced tracks like "Chasing Money", and the lengthy and adventurous tracks: "Ecstacy," "Dug," and "Morningstar," songs which are more characteristic of the band's signature sound.

In Conclusion

So grab a sandwich, sit back, relax, and enjoy the spiritual journey of 13 Hertz's musical craziness. Who knows? You might soon find yourself getting Metaphysical too.

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