Aloud

Aloud is an American indie rock band known for its songwriting and vocal prowess, as well as using a two lead singer approach. Founded in 2002¹ by Jen de la Osa (lead vocals, guitar, keys) and Henry Beguiristain (lead vocals, guitar, keys) in Boston, Massachusetts, the group is rounded out by bassist/backing vocalist Charles Murphy and drummer Chris Jago. In 2017, the band expanded its lineup to include Alanah Ntzouras Maguire on saxophone and Vanessa Acosta on trumpet. Aloud has released music under the Lemon Merchant Records label since 2006¹, with the exception of their fourth studio album It's Got To Be Now. Their latest EP Observer Affect is due to be released December 2024¹.

Aloud is an American indie rock band known for its songwriting and vocal prowess, as well as using a two lead singer approach. Founded in 2002 by Jen de la Osa (lead vocals, guitar, keys) and Henry Beguiristain (lead vocals, guitar, keys) in Boston, Massachusetts, the group is rounded out by bassist/backing vocalist Charles Murphy and drummer Chris Jago. In 2017, the band expanded its lineup to include Alanah Ntzouras Maguire on saxophone and Vanessa Acosta on trumpet. Aloud has released music under the Lemon Merchant Records label since 2006, with the exception of their fourth studio album It's Got To Be Now. Their latest EP Observer Affect is due to be released December 2024.

History

2002-2006: Formation and early years

Aloud was formed in May 2002 in Boston, Massachusetts, by lead vocalists/guitarists and primary songwriters, Jen de la Osa and Henry Beguiristain, who met as teenagers in the Miami-based band Rain. Aloud evolved out of an earlier version of the group named Feedback, which included bassist Roy Fontaine. Rob Acevedo, who drummed for Rain, was recruited to play drums for the fledgling band on an indefinite, but temporary basis. The four spent the summer working on a home-recorded four song demo titled Don't Trust the Radio, which was released on July 31, 2002, and was briefly sold at shows in the Boston area. In early 2003, Aloud recorded another four song demo titled Pretty Little Picture. Rob Acevedo would be replaced by Eric Anderson on drums before Ross Lohr was taken on near the end of 2003 as a permanent member.

The Sooner It Comes and Leave Your Light On

With the addition of Lohr, Aloud recorded The Sooner It Comes, a six-song EP, with producer Ian Hughes in early 2004. Aloud expanded their touring area to a greater portion of New England and New York City. That same year, Aloud met Hugh Wyman of the Boston band Baby Strange. Wyman became a frequent collaborator and adviser. He would eventually produce Aloud's debut album Leave Your Light On in 2005. The band made its first real mark after releasing their debut album Leave Your Light On on May 2, 2006, to positive press and national airplay on college radio. Aloud toured the record around the Northeast United States till the end of 2006 while concurrently working on material for their next record.

2007-2009: Fan The Fury and a new lineup

In April 2007, Aloud made it to the semi-final round of the 29th annual WBCN Rock & Roll Rumble, beating out 15 other groups for the wildcard slot. Jen de la Osa was nominated for Best Female Vocalist by the Boston Phoenix that month. De la Osa and Beguiristain spent the rest of 2007 writing material for a second album, eventually choosing to record it that Fall at Fireplace Studios in New York City with Sony mix engineer Caleb Shreve (under the pseudonym Chuck Brody). Between recording sessions, Aloud made their first appearance at the CMJ Music Marathon that October. Fan The Fury, was released on March 25, 2008. Fan The Fury contained more overt political themes than any of Aloud's previous work, and was praised as a more mature offering than Leave Your Light On. A national tour to support the album followed. Hard Up In The 2000s, a film documenting the Spring leg of the tour, was released on September 12, 2008. In October 2008, it was revealed Aloud was developing a multimedia live performance of Fan The Fury titled I Just Want To Witness..., named after a lyric in the songs "Witness" and "Justice & Forgiveness". The show integrated Aloud's live performance of Fan The Fury in its entirety with corresponding films, and was developed with filmmaker Johnathan Carr. Films were contributed by Johnathan Carr himself as well as directors Erin Bowser, Mike Pecci, Chris March, and animators Kristin Osiecki and Timothy Scholl. I Just Want To Witness... debuted in Boston on November 18, 2008. While this has been the only full performance of I Just Want To Witness..., Aloud later performed the majority of the show in New York in 2009. Music from Fan The Fury was heavily featured in Bad Habit Productions' presentation of The Laramie Project.

2009-2011: Exile

From April 2009 to July 2010, Henry and Jen worked with producer Daniel Nicholas Daskivich on completing the third Aloud release, Exile. Teasing their work on the album in interviews, the band indicated Exile would be sonically different from previous Aloud releases. The recording process initially began as "therapy", but quickly stretched on over the course of a year. Aloud's touring members and friends appeared as guests on several tracks, with Daskivich tackling the majority of the drumming on Exile. The group worked on the record song by song, often building instrumentation around an acoustic guitar. As a result, the record featured material that was sparser and far more experimental than previous albums. The songs loosely drew upon de la Osa and Beguiristain's respective experiences as US-born children of Cuban exiles. Further inspiration was taken from Reinaldo Arenas’ memoir, Before Night Falls. Aloud launched their first crowdfunding campaign on the Kickstarter platform to pay for manufacturing of the record and defray costs associated with the tour in support of the album. Exile was released on October 12, 2010, garnering some of the band’s strongest reviews, often focusing on Aloud’s expanded musical versatility. The subsequent US coast-to-coast US tour ran from October 2010 through January 2011, beginning at the 2010 CMJ Music Marathon. A second coast-to-coast leg included Aloud’s SXSW debut, and ran from mid-February through March 2011. Aloud released a non-album single, “The Cash and the Pearls”, after the second leg of the tour. The recording reunited de la Osa and Beguiristain with Ross Lohr in the studio. Aloud celebrated the single's release with a tour of the south and midwest, followed by a month-long residency in Boston. De la Osa and Beguiristain were approached earlier in the year by the Berklee College of Music to participate in BANDED, a documentary intended to become a part of the school's PULSE curriculum. The months-long project followed them and four other groups from the Boston area to document the life of a song, from its genesis to completion in the recording studio. The project culminated with the recording of "You Will Know" at Mad Oak Studios with head engineer Benny Grotto. Grotto encouraged Aloud to record the song as live as possible in the studio. The band found the experience enjoyable and booked a second session with Grotto at Mad Oak to record "Such a Long Time" in the same manner.

Discography

Studio albums Apollo 6 (2023) Sprezzatura (2020) It's Got To Be Now (2014) Exile (2010) Fan The Fury (2008) Leave Your Light On (2006)

Members

Past members

Vanessa Acosta: trumpet (2017–2022) Chuck Ferreira: drums, percussion (2015–2017) Roy Fontaine: bass, backing vocals (2002–2008) Frank Hegyi: drums, percussion (2012–2015) Chris Jago: drums, percussion (2017–2024) Ross Lohr: drums, percussion (2003–2009) ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:25 PlotArea = left:100 bottom:80 top:10 right:10 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy Period = from:01/01/2002 till:12/31/2024 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Colors = id:vocals value:red legend:Lead_vocals id:guitar value:green legend:Guitar id:bass value:blue legend:Bass id:drums value:orange legend:Drums,_percussion id:keys value:purple legend:Keyboards id:bgvox value:coral legend:Backing_Vocals id:sax value:magenta legend:Saxophone id:trumpet value:lavender legend:Trumpet id:bars value:gray(0.95) Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:1 BackgroundColors = bars:bars ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1 start:2002 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:2002 BarData = bar:Jen text:Jen de la Osa bar:Henry text:Henry Beguiristain bar:Charles text:Charles Murphy bar:Chris text:Chris Jago bar:Alanah text:Alanah Ntzouras Maguire bar:Vanessa text:Vanessa Acosta bar:Chuck text:Chuck Ferreira bar:Frank text:Frank Hegyi bar:Ross text:Ross Lohr bar:Roy text:Roy Fontaine PlotData= width:15 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) bar:Jen from:start till:end color:vocals bar:Henry from:start till:end color:vocals bar:Charles from:09/01/2009 till:end color:bass bar:Chris from:08/01/2017 till:07/31/2024 color:drums bar:Alanah from:12/01/2017 till:end color:sax bar:Vanessa from:12/01/2017 till:08/01/2022 color:trumpet bar:Chuck from:06/01/2015 till:05/06/2017 color:drums bar:Ross from:11/01/2003 till:01/31/2009 color:drums bar:Frank from:06/01/2012 till:05/31/2015 color:drums bar:Roy from:start till:09/30/2008 color:bass width:7 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) bar:Jen from:start till:end color:guitar bar:Henry from:start till:end color:guitar bar:Charles from:09/01/2009 till:end color:bgvox bar:Roy from:start till:09/30/2008 color:bgvox width:3 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) bar:Jen from:02/01/2008 till:11/30/2011 color:keys bar:Henry from:02/01/2008 till:11/30/2011 color:keys bar:Charles from:09/01/2010 till:11/30/2011 color:keys

Trademark

Issues surfaced in early 2005 with an electro-pop French duo going by the same moniker. The duo consisted of Cyril Bodin and Gregory Louis. Paperwork submitted by Bodin and Louis to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (SN: 76580505) is open to the public and can be viewed at the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The main argument was in first use dates. Bodin and Louis listed September 23, 2003 as the date of first use. De la Osa and Beguiristain argued their first use in commerce of the name “Aloud” had been used prior (May, 2002). Bodin and Louis' application has remained in stasis January 21, 2005. However, Bodin and Louis broke the group up in 2005, making the point moot and clearing the way for the American 'Aloud' to use the name without any foreseeable hindrance.

External links

allthingsALOUD.com - official site Aloud YouTube Channel

Notes

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1362109060 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.