HAVE A LOOK: SEE Pearson, Cournoyer, Losek, Curtin, and Green. |
Kodiak Attack are comprised of two former members of Atlantic Records act the Invite and three members from Penrose, which built a strong fanbase around these parts a few years back. Johnathan Losek and Joshua Cournoyer lived out their major label rock star dreams (and all the subsequent music industry horror stories) in their early 20s, and decided to return home and look up their longtime friends Robb Pearson, Don Curtin, and Jessie Green, with the intention of stirring up their post-hardcore favorites (At the Drive-In, Minus the Bear, Thrice, and Taking Back Sunday) steeped with "straight-forward pop sensibility," lead guitarist/songwriter Cournoyer said when we spoke at length earlier this week.
Kodiak Attack released their self-titled EP in early January, and the band recently returned to Mike Poorman's Strangeways Studios to crank out a new two-song "concept EP" titled Look: See for Yourself, documenting a relationship between Cournoyer and a girlfriend from beginning to end. During our conversation, Josh was quick to defend any reference to what could be deemed overtly emo-tional subject matter.
"I got dumped, but I'm not crying about it all over this record," Cournoyer said. "The lyrical content isn't so much 'emotional' as it is an honest observation. We basically captured a moment in time and made a record about it."
Cournoyer refers to "Look" and "See for Yourself" as "an urban romance set to nine minutes of music
"The first track takes place at the Wild Colonial, where we met, and ends on a porch across from India Point Park, where it ended," Cournoyer said.
Post-breakup pop-core? Local fans lamenting the demise of Penrose and the Coming Weak (both of which also recorded with producer Poorman) probably know of Kodiak Attack, but Cournoyer said the band will stay the course of grassroots promotion — handing out fliers and free discs, and doing lo-dough shows with eclectic lineups, such as the "punk-rock winter formal theme" the band put together for the Look: See for Yourself release show at the Met, where Cournoyer works as the day manager, while longtime promoter/booking guru Mike Delehanty serves as Kodiak Attack's manager (Cournoyer and Delehanty go way back to their management days at Harper's Ferry).
Kodiak Attack can boast of being the very first band to play the new Met stage, having opened for Civil Twilight at the inaugural show. WBRU program director Wendell Clough was impressed enough to add the band's first single, "Moving In Time," not only to the "Home Bru'd" play-list but to the coveted daytime-drive rotation. WBRU sponsored the band's recent EP release show at the Met, which had a near-capacity turnout of more than 400 friends and newfound fans.
As previous players in the major label game, Cournoyer and lead singer Losek know all about the clichéd pratfalls and shady practices of the music industry. The Invite was signed to Atlantic and scored a production deal with Howard Benson (Hoobastank, My Chemical Romance), before devolving into a gimmicky pop-country act. Cournoyer and Losek eventually bailed.
"I played ball for awhile, you know? You're 22 years old and you get stars in your eyes," Cournoyer said. "We eventually had people picking out our clothes, made sure we went to the gym daily — it was crazy.
