Biography
This text copied from their site with Ed's approval.
Four. Three. Two. Four. This is the count that has led the Cleveland-based band 2nd Half’s founding members, Ed Gandolf and Drew Scalero, to the present day.
2nd Half began as a four-piece band in 1997, but over the course of the next half-decade this number dwindled as the band parted ways with their rhythm guitar player and bassist. As the only two original members remaining, Gandolf (vocals, guitar) and Scalero (drums) were faced with a critical decision; carry on or start over. Whereas most would succumb to the overwhelming pressure of such a desperate situation, in 2002 Gandolf and Scalero made a bold move in deciding to continue 2nd Half as a two-piece act. One year later, the duo proved to the skeptics that they had made the right decision by releasing their first record “Now it’s Real” (2003) with the help of long-time friend/producer Ben Schigel (Spider Studios), and taking their live performance to a new level with the incorporation of new audio and visual elements unlike any that Cleveland’s local music scene had previously encountered. Beat for beat, frame for frame, and second for second, with each set meticulously planned down to every minute detail, Gandolf and Scalero played countless live performances with the energy and layered soundscapes of a full band.
Three years after their first release, Gandolf recorded and produced 2nd Half’s follow up record “Left Behind” (2006). The new music stayed true to the powerpop/rock sound that had defined the band on “Now it’s Real” but took their songs to a new level by incorporating more melody, more layers, and more hooks. Still a two-piece and armed with a new record’s worth of music that displays greater songwriting complexity, 2nd Half pressed on and continued to impress audiences with their perfectly synced audio-visual live performances.
As the years passed though, the pressure and frustration of being overlooked began to mount. Over the course of the band’s existence Gandolf and Scalero witnessed many of their lifelong friends achieve notable levels of success in the music business. Having grown up with members of the Cleveland-based bands Chimaira (Ferret) and Sw1tched (Immortal), Gandolf and Scalero felt the need to make another critical decision for the future of the band. Five years after the beginning of their two-piece venture, the duo decided it was time to return to a more traditional structure while maintaining the definitive elements of 2nd Half and enlisted friends Mike Bernot and Matt Majoros (Hedspin) from the band Slow Motion Soldier on bass and guitar. With two new members, a vast and harder audible sound, more new material in progress and a renewed sense of hope 2nd Half is prepared to expand their audience both geographically and numerically while bringing back something to Cleveland that now seems lost; the local scene.
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