Pennsylvania band A Thousand Reasons started out with the intention of translating universal tragedies and connecting with people who feel the same way. And they’re well on the way to achieving that aim with a powerful but emotional hard rock sound they describe as “introspective, vulnerable and dark.”
The Reading band started out in 2021, when singer/songwriter Joe Drenning started to record a stockpile of songs and wanted to play live gigs. He soon onboarded guitarist/singer Nate Baker and, after a few personnel changes, drummer Jeff Klein joined after meeting at gigs while playing with other bands. The bass is currently provided courtesy of a backing track from a laptop called ‘Johnny Macintosh,’ until they can “find a human who sticks around.”
On the sound they’ve crafted, Joe told us: “We are a hard rock band relating our own experiences with people who may have gone through something similar. We hope to be a beacon of hope to help people find their way out of a dark place. If you enjoy 2000s emo, post-grunge, or hard rock, we are right up your alley. Our sound can be enjoyed across genres and music tastes as we’re not too far into any one niche.”
Our latest taste of this is Until the Sunlight Dies, which was released last month and features guest vocalist Ally Rozario. It opens up with a twinkling guitar over moody synth sounds, building in intensity as Ally’s backing vocals come in. It spins into a delicious guitar lick that drops into an engaging opening verse that starts with Joe’s vocals, before Ally takes over to build up to a big singalong chorus of powerful dual vocals. The pace slows with Joe’s laid-back vocals giving way to Ally to lead us back into another chorus, which ends with dramatic stabbing strings and guitars teeing up a dramatic final chorus.
On the track, Joe told us: “Everyone who’s heard it has said it is one of our best. With the dynamic changes and addition of Ally Rozario’s powerful vocals it is our most universally enjoyed song so far.It is a hard rock duet about falling in love within an impending nuclear apocalypse. The male/female vocal dichotomy is very cohesive and prevalent in the song, and the addition of strings during the breakdown keep things interesting. It is melodic yet heavy when it needs to be.”
Until the Sunlight Dies follows on from the band’s self-titled debut album, which was released last year. The album offers an interesting mix of diverse sounds, including the lively opening track Prophets, the more laid-back Tyrants, the feisty Alive and Obsession, the album’s lead single Eclipse, and a particular favourite in the big atmospheric Memory, which you can check out in the lyric video below.
The A Thousand Reasons sound draws influence from the likes of Breaking Benjamin, My Chemical Romance, Red, and Avenged Sevenfold, both musically and lyrically.
And on what inspires them to write music, Joe told us: “The struggles of mental illness such as depression and anxiety, and how I deal with and interpret those struggles internally. Also, the impending doom of where the world seems to be headed constantly. Dealing with depression, trauma, addiction, and anxiety are the most covered topics. Random ideas strike me all the time, so we’ve also got songs about an apocalypse, the rainforest, and vampires.”
A Thousand Reasons recently filmed a “very large scale and theatrical” video for Eclipse and they have a couple more songs recorded an in the mixing and post-production process. The band also hosts an annual Halloween concert with their local VFW, which includes several bands and costumes, and runs a clothing line A Thousand Reasons More.
You can follow A Thousand Reasons on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, and check out their music on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube.
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