CENTRIC is an adventurous electro-rock project from Charlottesville, VA. Fueled with a vision to produce a melodic blend of emotional songwriting through electronic and rock instrumentation, CENTRIC strives to bring a refreshing sound to the stage while still maintaining the visual energy of an engaging rock band. The project was born during the winter of 2002 while founding member Jason Judy was struggling to assemble a rock band in Charlotte, NC. Frustrated by the lack of like minded musicians in the scene, he began experimenting with electronic equipment as an alternate musical outlet.
The project was born during the winter of 2002 while founding member Jason Judy was struggling to assemble a rock band in Charlotte, NC. Frustrated by the lack of like minded musicians in the scene, he began experimenting with electronic equipment as an alternate musical outlet. Venturing into this new frontier set off a creative spark and by that spring he was out creating remix style music on the spot as CENTRIC. With an enthusiastic sense of musical freedom, Judy left Charlotte and set out in search for a new home better suited to develop the project in. After a rather nomadic year, including spending three influential months in NYC, he finally settled in Charlottesville in December of 2002 where he began working on the debut album, After the Fall, which served as a document to his trials. After two intense years of work, the record was released in October of 2004 to warm reviews from the local press, and was performed live in its entirety at the CD release show, with the help of several longtime friends and collaborators.
Having two years of work coming to life on stage was an alluring experience for Judy, and he quickly began working on assembling a permanent base of musicians to finally establish CENTRIC as an official band. One again, however, finding players who shared the vision became a daunting task, and it was over two more years before the right mix was finally dialed in. The result brought in electronic artist Paul Tucker (Bristol) in January of 2007 as the full time keyboardist of the group. This was major shift in the structure of the project, as Tucker's dual keyboard coverage of bass, rhythm, and lead sounds allowed Judy the ability to focus solely on guitar and vocals for the first time. Judy also recruited one of Charlottesville's busiest and most respected rock drummers, Jon Kuthy (Whitebird, Blur the Lines), who had been a collaborator in the past. This brought another major change to the sound, as the songwriting that was once primarily composed on electronics with organic instruments backing them up now, was being headed by a much more raw rock sound over a canvas of synths.
It has been a long and trying road for the project, but with one record under it's belt, another full album worth of material ready to be recorded, and regular live performances lining up, CENTRIC has finally come full circle into the band that was envisioned nearly 5 years ago.