Biography
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Years Active
2002 – present (22 years)
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Founded In
Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York, New York, United States
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Members
- Best of Seth
- Dana Janssen
- Miles Seaton
- Ryan Vanderhoof
- Seth Olinsky
Akron/Family was an American folk-influenced experimental rock band that formed in 2002 in New York that is currently on hiatus. After their 2013 tour, the band decided to focus on personal projects, leaving the door open for a possible reunion in the future. Front man Seth Olinsky started his own band Cy Dune , Dana Janssen started the band Dana Buoy and Miles Seaton is pursuing a solo career under his own name.
Though each member of the band — Miles Seaton, Seth Olinsky, Dana Janssen and formerly Ryan Vanderhoof — can be relegated to loosely defined roles (drummer, guitarist, bassist, vocalist), all of them play several instruments and sing, as evidenced by their shows and recorded material. When playing live, the band makes prominent use of improvisation and vocal harmonies. On their self-titled debut record, field recordings of a creaking chair, thunderclaps and the white noise of a television find their way alongside psychedelic and electronic elements, guitars and a glockenspiel.
In addition to their solo debut in 2005, the band played behind Michael Gira on his Angels of Light project as well as splitting a full length CD with Angels of Light.
In 2006, the band released an EP, “Meek Warrior,” a collaboration with master drummer/hero Hamid Drake which contained both more traditional folk music such as the lovely "Gone Beyond" and a pair of throbbing electric guitar monsters in “The Rider (Dolphin Song)” and the epic “Blessing Force,” which ends with an exploration into free jazz.
Sometime between the completion of Love Is Simple and Akron/Family’s 2007 U.S. tour, Vanderhoof left Akron/Family to live in a Buddhist Dharma center in the Midwest.
The band has also released several tour EPs featuring demos and other recordings. In May of 2009, the trio released Set 'em Wild, Set 'em Free. This album serves as a blend of the previous albums with more acoustic-folk songs like "Set 'em Free," to fusion freak-outs like "Gravelly Mountains of the Moon."
In January of 2011 they released their album, "S/T II: The Cosmic Birth And Journey Of Shinju TNT ."
Akron/Family's sixth studio album, Sub Verses, was released on April 30, 2013 on Dead Oceans. The band toured for the album from January 29 to December 8, 2013. After the tour the band decided to focus on personal projects, leaving the door open for a possible reunion in the future.
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