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Antennas Up finds happiness in the power of three

Entertainment

Wednesday, 11 March 2009 01:00

LIGHT UP: Kansas City-based Antennas up is, from left, drummer The Ryanist, bassist Kyle Akers and bassist Bo McCall. The group is releasing its self-titled album in April and will tour the East Coast in May.

After about six years, the three members of Antennas Up realized that a fourth band member might not be working.
The Kansas City band has gone through two lead singers, a style change and a name change to become a trio – made up of bassist and lead singer Kyle Akers, guitarist Bo McCall and drummer The Ryanist – that now plays groove-driven rock and pop.
“We’ve been together for six years and we’ve always known this is our passion. This is what we want to do,” Akers said.
The band started with lead singer Curtis Hayton when the band was known as Distance to Empty. Hayton eventually left the band and lead singer Lonnie Coleman came in and switched the name to Antennas Up. Coleman recorded all the vocals on the band’s self-titled album, slated for release in April. However, Coleman left the band in October.
“Curtis was with us for a while and he wanted to change his direction, so he left,” Akers said. “Lonnie was with us and he helped us record a great record. He decided this wasn’t for him. Us three have never wavered. As soon as Lonnie left, I was like, ‘I’ll pick it up, I’ll sing.’”
Akers said the band discussed looking for a new lead singer, but thought better of that choice.
“We talked for a day or two about looking for another singer that sounds kind of like Lonnie,” Akers said. “But with that, we’d be putting all our energy and focus into someone we don’t know who might quit six months later. It was too big a risk for us to take. The dynamic we have, we’re such great friends and we just know each other.”
Since October, Akers has been busy learning the vocal parts of the 11 tracks on the album and the band has tinkered with the keys of the songs to fit Akers’ voice better. Akers said the band also is writing new material specifically for his voice.
Before Antennas Up jumps head first into making a new album with Akers behind the microphone, they have work to do. In April the band starts a series of shows to support the new album, including an April 13 showcase in Nashville. The band also leaves on a tour in May that will take it to Chicago, the east coast and the Northeast.
While the songs played live may have a different sound than the record, Akers said there is too much to like about this record not to get behind it.
“People have questioned, ‘Do you really want to release the record?’” Akers said. “We think this record is too good to put off. We’re really confident in it. What you hear live is going to be a little different, but we look at it like any band that uses guest musicians. Lonnie really ended up being a guest vocalist on the record. We just think this record is so good and we’re so proud of it, we don’t want to shelve it.”
Antennas Up members want to make an impact with their live performances, so they are continuing some traditions and adding new features. The band uses a computer program to sync up different sounds in their songs, such as keyboards and synthesizers, that allow the band to have a bigger sound, Akers said.
The band also will have a new setup of LED lights that will be synced to the computer and music for a more professional light show, Akers said.
Throwing out Dum Dums at each show has become a traditional at Distance to Empty and now Antennas Up shows. Akers said the band even contacted the brand about a sponsorship. Akers said all the aspects of the live show are for a reason.
“You have to be a really amazing band to stand out from the crowd,” Akers said. “Anything you can do to help people to remember you, to help people talk about you, to write their friends about you – we want to put that as part of the show.”
Akers said Antennas Up has definitive plans in front of them and ways to reach them. He said the band will concentrate on bigger markets including Kansas City, St. Louis, Chicago and Denver, while hitting other cities on the way, such as Iowa City, Columbia, Emporia, Manhattan and Wichita.
“Once we can get a couple hundred people in those major markets at our show, then we can look at distribution and maybe a label, but that’s where we want to be,” Akers said.

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