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h less than a year, local four-piece Beyond Tomorrow has gone
from performing for small groups of close friends in the base
ment of the Washington Street Tavern to snagging an opening slot
for Bon Jovi's recent Atlanta concert. Patrick Hoydar (vocals, gui
tar), Steve Gagnier (guitar), Phil Goodwin (drums) and Alec Wooden
(bass) began playing together in early 2005, evolving out of Steve
& Hodar, the name under which Gagnier and Hoydar performed as
an acoustic duo. “We wanted to be able to have the energy and
charisma that only a full band could create." says Hoydar. “We love
being able to get up on-stage and have all four of us creating a
sound together that gets people excited and rocking."
The Steve & Hodar sound was the template for Beyond
Tomorrow's rock; it was acoustic-based, catchy and uncomplicated.
The band built upon that, upping the volume and texture. Hoydar's
acoustic guitar still features prominently on some songs off the
band's five-song demo, recorded last year, but Beyond Tomorrow
goes for accessible, power-pop sound influenced by late-'90s, pal
atable mainstream emo-rock like Jimmy Eat World and Blink 182,
with a touch of showy and slick riff-rock reminiscent of Atlanta's
Marvelous 3.
"What usually happens is that someone comes up with a guitar
part or Phil comes up with drum part and we build up the original
idea," says Hoydar, "and we really feed off of each others' creativ
ity. Gur songs are also constantly changing. We take songs that we 1
‘lave written months ago and try to think of ways to make them
fetter all the time. No single person is responsible for all of the
writing that goes on."
Beyond Tomorrow has been able to cultivate a dedicated fan-
b*se; at a local open-mic competition last year, throngs of fans
sang along word-for-word, although the band had yet to record
any material.
The bandmembers are college-age, and relentlessly pull on that
resource to build and maintain their fanbase. “We do anything
possible to spread the word about our shows," says Hoydar. “We've j
even gotten our roommate who works at Krispy Kreme to bring
home 15 dozen glazed donuts for us to hand out to people as we
played acoustic versions of our songs outside of the dorms. We
would give away demos to anyone who wanted a donut. That got
quite a bit of people out to the show that we were promoting.
"We go play downtown with our acoustics all the time. We used
to go door to door with our CD and buttons when we lived in the
dorms and have people listen to our CD. We have always been re
ally nice to everyone we met, and that helps, too. It is a strong
belief of ours to always show our appreciation to everyone who
supports us and to never burn our bridges. Basically, we will do
anything it takes to get our name and music out there.”
In late May and early June, Hoydar, Gagnier, Goodwin and
Wooden plan to head up to Chicago's Engine Studios for two weeks
to record a full-length alburti with producer Marc McKlusky. A long
time friend of the band, McKlusky also helped record portions of
last year's demo.
And that Bon Jovi thing? Beyond Tomorrow recently won a
contest hosted by Atlanta radio station Star 94. Out of 16 Georgia
bands. Beyond Tomorrow was voted best by listeners; the win
ner opened for Bon Jovi at Philips Arena on Jan. 17. Hoydar calls
the experience “absolutely amazing. The feeling of looking out at
21,000 people in the crowd can not be topped,” he says. "Bon Jovi
was really cool to us and really supportive. We had a great crowd re
sponse, and we got a lot of emails from fans who were at the show
about how much they enjoyed it. We are grateful that we got that
opportunity, and we would do it again in a heartbeat." With shows
at big-draw venues like Six Flags Over Georgia and another Philips
Arena show—an Atlanta Thrashers pre-game performance—booked
for Mar. 18, it seems likely Beyond Tomorrow will get that chance.
Chris Hassiotis
WHO Beyond Tomorrow. Helios, Whim
WHERE: Georgia Theatre
WHEN: Saturday, February 25
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