Greenwheel

by Renee Clark

  Unlike some of the other 20 something boy bands, Greenwheel has something real to offer in their music.  With lyrics peppered with real life emotion and drama they are sure to make a connection with their audiences. 

With teen sensations falling by the wayside, bands that write and perform their own music are increasing in popularity. Greenwheel is just the band to help take music into a new, and much needed direction.

“People have a need to catagorize things, so bands are no different,” Dwiggins said.  “I think people do that so they can justify to themselves why they like a band or not.”

            Who their influences are may shine throughout their debut disk “Soma Holiday” but they bring it together and create music that is an original style that they can call their own.  The fact that this quintet has actual talent is distinct proof displayed in their music. 

Soma Holiday, resurrecting one of their original band names, dropped in stores in June and has spawned two singles including “Shelter” and recently “Breathe.”  “Shelter” can be found on Vin Diesel’s The Fast and the Furious soundtrack and the Spiderman soundtrack displaying that any of their songs being fit for a teen movie is far from the truth.

Greenwheel’s members consist of Singer/songwriter Ryan Jordan, Guitaris/songwriter Andrew Dwiggins, Bassist Brandon Armstrong, guitarist Marc Wanninger and drummer Douglas Randall.  They all came together to form Greenwheel in November of 1998 in St. Charles Missouri while still in high school.  Their ages range from 21-22 making their music young, hip and fresh. College age themselves, Greenwheel relates to the college-age audience. In “Beathe” Greenwheel sing about longing for home and other issues that students can relate to.

Greenwheel’s album have a lot of radio-friendly songs, composed of powerful lyrics and honest ballads. Soma Holiday is an album that one can play without skipping any tracks.  It consists of modern rock sounds that compliment the heavy guitar, catchy melodies and intelligent lyrics that go beyond their years.  With music that enhances mood not creating it gives anyone the incentive to keep the disk in their players.

“We focus a lot on the quality of our songs/lyrics,” Dwiggins said. “If it's not honest, or we don't feel the songs when we play them, then we don't play them.

“I think there's depth to the music that's universal enough to hopefully stand the test of time, genres, or fads,” he added.

Greenwheel is not only strong on a disk but have a killer live show. Energetic and exciting no show is ever the same. While performing Jordan gets lost in his music. Each member is in their own little world but manage to come together through the music.  A chance to see this band perform live is one that nobody should pass up. 

With “Breathe” getting more airplay than their previous single, Greenwheel will soon be climbing up the charts and will not be soon forgotten. 

When asked about the bands goals Dwiggins said “(our goals are) To always be pushing ourselves creatively, and always being honest with our music. We don't want to make the same record twice, because the bands we admire are constantly evolving into something more unique, expressive, and cool. That's the type of band we want to be, and that's all we really think about.”

For more information on tour dates or the band go to www.greenwheel.net.