With an incredibly diverse sound, musical group Proverbial, which formed in 2007 in Harrisonburg, Virginia, charts massive territory with their current self-titled set. A seemingly unknown band, consisting of Thomas Whitesell, Phillip Walker, Stephen Holicky, Michael Keeter, Ryan Harlowe, Scott Gerry, and Kevin Condrey, it is quite the opposite as it has opened for megastars Switchfoot, Papa Roach, and Chevelle, just to name a few.
Music is not the only passion the tight-knit group has. It strives to give back to multiple humanitarian efforts, including Monument 10K Run/Walk, Y101’s Show Us Your Cans food drive for the Central Virginia Food Bank, and Relay for Life.
In a recent interview, Gerry, the bass guitarist, opens up about his musical influences, views on the music industry, and what big things are coming in 2012 for the seven-member band.
Who were your musical idols growing up? How do they feed into your songs?
My personal idols were Kurt Cobain, Scott Weiland, and Flea. I started playing music when I heard Nirvana at age 11. I played guitar at first, then shortly after I moved to bass and Flea became my favorite musician and is still at the top of my list. They all inspired me but i don't think too much of their influence shows through in my music.
How did Proverbial come to be? Did each band member fit naturally into place?
Thomas (sax), Steve (guitar), and Phil (keys) all went to JMU and with a few others formed the original line-up of Proverbial. They all moved to Richmond and got a house together. Mike (vocals) was brought over by Steve, his childhood friend, to jam. In March of '09 Ryan (drums) was at the river with some friends and ran into Steve, who he used to play with years before when Steve played keys, who invited him to come jam.
My band, and Kevin's (percussion) at the time, bailed on practice that night so I called up Ryan to jam and he told me about the get together. I came over and we just clicked right away. I think we practiced twice and had our first gig about a month later. Six months later we recruited Kevin and have been going strong ever since.
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