Capital Lights Brett Admire (Guitar) Bryson Phillips (Vox) Michael Paul Phillips(Drums) Jonathan Williams(Guitars) There comes a time in every band's life when abandoning commercial expectations in favor of heartfelt musical expressions and relatable lyrics takes center stage. For the Tulsa, Oklahoma-based pop/rock foursome Capital Lights, that realization came remarkably early in its already impressive career, following a name change and stylistic shift from members' days in locally acclaimed screamo act afterEIGHT. "We had a couple people leave the other band's line-up, I stepped up from bass to singing, rewrote our material and we changed styles completely," says front man Bryson Phillips of Capital Lights' debut disc This Is An Outrage. "The main thing we've learned personally is to really focus the writing on what you like rather than trying to be like all the other bands around. ...show more

Capital Lights Brett Admire (Guitar) Bryson Phillips (Vox) Michael Paul Phillips(Drums) Jonathan Williams(Guitars) There comes a time in every band's life when abandoning commercial expectations in favor of heartfelt musical expressions and relatable lyrics takes center stage. For the Tulsa, Oklahoma-based pop/rock foursome Capital Lights, that realization came remarkably early in its already impressive career, following a name change and stylistic shift from members' days in locally acclaimed screamo act afterEIGHT. "We had a couple people leave the other band's line-up, I stepped up from bass to singing, rewrote our material and we changed styles completely," says front man Bryson Phillips of Capital Lights' debut disc This Is An Outrage. "The main thing we've learned personally is to really focus the writing on what you like rather than trying to be like all the other bands around.

When we were doing the screamo thing, we were seeing other bands and trying to be just like them. But in Capital Lights, I started writing on an acoustic guitar without trying to plug into any particular formula, just being ourselves and playing 100 percent exactly what we wanted." By breaking down the walls of familiar formulas and shooting straight from each player's personal artistic compasses, the results not only resonated with a steadily expanding audience, but yielded an intense bidding war from Nashville to Seattle (with just about every city in between). Linking up with manager Jason Fowler (Red, Pillar) and joining the roster of Third Coast Artist Agency brought about additional prominence, eventually resulting in a deal with Tooth & Nail (a long time dream for the band after youthful obsessions with MXPX). "Before we got signed, we would constantly send out new songs to A&R reps at various labels and managers, so often that we got to know the FedEX lady by name," he offers, laughing at the sentiment of always rushing to make the day's last drop off deadline.

"We were sending songs to Aaron Sprinkle and he always responded saying he liked what he heard, but to keep him updated on any new songs. About a year ago, we wrote 'Worth As Much As A Counterfeit Dollar' and he responded back saying how much he loved it. Six or seven labels stared sending interest our way as well, but Tooth & Nail wound up flying us to their offices for an acoustic set in front of the staff. Two weeks later, they sent us a contract and that was without even seeing us play an official live show!" Outside of being drawn in by the band's vibrant blend of Relient K and Jimmy Eat World, there was an underlying originality to Capital Light's peppy surge of power chords and relevant writing subjects. ...show less