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Great Awakening is featured on Outbound Radio |
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 The History of Great Awakening. Floridian metal band Great Awakening was formed in September 2006 by brothers Nick and Vinnie Butera, inspired by bands like Metallica, Pantera, and Slayer. The two decided to combine their love for old school metal after each being in several other unsuccessful bands. At the time Nick (age 14) and Vinnie (age 17) had a hard time finding other musicians their age who were serious enough to commit to practices and gigs. So they enlisted their cousin Brandon Butera as their singer and bassist. "Brandon had played a lot of instruments and always wanted to play bass, and we needed a bass player. So we pretty much just told him one day hey guess what! You're going to buy a bass and play for us. A week later we told him he was singing too." -Nick Butera As a three piece Great Awakening began to invade the local scene. Grabbing the attention of local musicians, promoters, and bar junkies. Still searching for a thicker sound they began to quietly search for another guitarist and vocalist. Trying out hundreds of people with no success. In December 2007 they came across Ryan Kenyan through a friend. After watching Youtube videos of Ryan singing "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "Motorbreath" they decided to have Ryan over for a jam. We invited him to come jam with us at our practice space before a show one night. I handed him my guitar and he played and sang "The Four Horseman" with Nick. We were instanlty blown away, it sounds like James Hetfield in '83. After the show we asked him to join. -Vinnie Butera With there 4 piece complete Great Awakening attacked the scence with renewed intensity. Realeasing the seven song EP "Thrash til' you die", they began to receive recognition from all corners of the world. Being featured in magazines and online metal communites everywhere. They also began to play with bigger acts such as Kreator, Evile, Bonded By Blood, and The Autumn Offering. In 2009 they released the three song demo "Hit and Run", continuing their expanding sound. We try not to keep any limits or boundaries over our heads. Although we have strong thrash metal roots, we don't want to be known as a band that only plays fast. We're constantly trying to expand our sound to escape all the sub-genres out there. We want to play music with lots of energy that's fun for us and our fans. -Ryan Kenyan Recently, Brandon parted ways with Great Awakening. He was replaced by long time friend of the band, Cory Lobkovich. The band plans to tour the east coast this year, and hopes to head west sometimes next year. Stronger than ever Great Awakening is moving forward. The heavy metal revival is at hand and everyone is invited. Are you part of the Great Awakening? |
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