Galvanized Souls

2011-12: Founding

The alt rock band Galvanized Souls first formed in Camarillo, California in 2012. Before meeting all four members had been introduced to music at an early age. The members Silveira, Traylor, and DeMartini all attended ACE Charter High School in Camarillo together, which is an architecture school with ACE standing for Architecture, Construction and Engineering. The classmates started jamming together towards the middle of 2011, before becoming more serious and beginning to write original music. Inspired in part by grunge and post-grunge bands of the 1990s, the group began developing an alt rock sound, also incorporating elements of punk rock and pop punk. Much of their early practicing was done at Rock City Studios, where several of the members had taken lessons since childhood. According to Zakk Silveira, "there’s only one venue in Camarillo, it’s called Rock City Studios, which is actually where we formed."

After practicing together for a time, "we wanted to do more than jam in a garage. We wanted to tour and create music to inspire our fans." Galvanized Souls formed as a trio in December 2012, with members including Zakk Silveira on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Chris Traylor on lead guitar and backing vocals, and Matt DeMartini on bass guitar, synth, and backing vocals. Their drummer Kevin Cogen joined soon after. All members were teenagers at the time, with Silveira 16, Traylor 18, DeMartini 15, and Cogen 19.

In the summer of 2013 they began learning how to make their own guitars from Doug Peyton of Rock City Studios. They also began working on instruments in their construction class at school, later moving to a home workshop that they modified to serve as a rehearsal space and early recording studio. The group began working on new original songs and music videos after coming to the attention of Luke Tozour, a producer and engineer associated with Rockerrazzi Films.

Galvanized Souls were featured as Pop Blitz Magazine's Artist of the Week for June 1, 2013. The band also won the 2013 Thousand Oaks Teen Center Battle of the Bands, and was chosen as a Featured Artist on Reverbnation. The band won Beat 100’s Ultimate Musician Award in 2013, the organization's highest award possible.

2013: Galvanized Souls EP

The group released their first EP, Galvanized Souls, on September 6, 2013 on Rockerrazzi Records. All five tracks were written by the band, while the album cover was designed by the group using spray paint and stencils, then photographed by Jared Sagal of Rockerrazzi Media. Themes on the album vary.

The EP met with a largely positive reception from critics. Headlines Tonight called it "practically perfect," while MyBurbank.com stated that each song "encompasses a different style and almost a different genre. This layered and nuanced touch to their music is what makes them unique."

Bennett Cornell of VC Reporter praised the band's consistency and their ability to write catchy vocal melodies, also writing that "The chemistry is so great and tangible, it’s as though they were born to play together." Popdose further complimented the consistency of the songwriting, as well as the tracks' "dynamic riffs." About the EP's themes and lyrics, All Access Music Group wrote, "Galvanized Souls stands firmly on its own and gets kudos for their originality, intensity, and sincerity. This album is powerfully emotional in its content, and compassionate in its presentation."

2013-14: "Believe" and touring

Their cover of Cher's 1998 song "Believe" was released as single by Rockerrazzi Records on November 25, 2013. Acorrding to Silveira, they decided to cover the song because "I had just gotten this vocal box that had a bunch of effects and auto tune was one of them. So I did that whole scene from Land of the Lost where they put their hands on the crystal and start singing 'Believe'..." Afterwards, Silveira and Traylor..."joked around and said maybe we should cover it since we were looking for a cover song to ‘Galvanize’." The band stated in an interview with PopDose that they had dedicated the cover to troubled teens, "for the sake of trying to help teens deal/cope with the stresses of their lives and the pointlessness and destruction of suicide." A music video for the cover was released by Rockerrazzi Films in late 2013, with the band stating "We have also seen a lot of people committing self-harm and if we can help just one person with this video, it would be all worth it."

By December 2013 the band had played at venues across Southern California. The band toured throughout early 2014, performing at venues such as the Troubadour, Whisky A Go Go, The House of Blues Anaheim, The Chain Reaction, and the Chop Shop Benefit Concert in Simi Valley, California in February. They also released a remix of their track "Shut You Down."

2014: "Carry On"

The band has stated they were inspired to write their April 2014 song "Carry On" after seeing fans doing self-harm on social media, explaining that "we wanted to help them not inflict any more damage to their bodies. So we thought that writing a song to our fans about carrying on would help them get through their hard times." Silveira further explained the song is for when their fans are "going through tough times or when something is happening at home, or anything, they have a song they can listen to that’ll help them get through it."

In June 2014 the band released the music video for their original song "Carry On." Produced by Rockerrazzi Films, the video has an anti-bullying message and features Colin Cunningham, a student and internet celebrity for his story of dealing with bullying. Cunningham and his family had flown from Richland to California to film the video in May, then returned in June for the video's premiere, walking the red carpet in Los Angeles. On June 17, 2014 the band launched the music video for "Carry On" with a performance at Mack Sennet Studios, ending the event with an acoustic performance. The event was also to "bring awareness to help stop bullying in schools," and anti-bullying organizations such as PACER, Not In Our Schools, I am Bully Free, Not the Target, Champions Against Bullying and Beyond Bullies supported the event. Galvanized Souls has also been involved with the Stop Bullying Event.

2014: Recent projects

By summer the band continued to perform in the United States, primarily appearing at venues, fairs, fundraisers, and music festivals in Southern California. Also that summer the band won Ernie Ball’s Battle of the Bands, which led to the band performing at that year's Vans Warped Tour in Ventura. They were featured in Guitar World in June 2014, with drummer Kevin Cogen also appearing in Modern Drummer’s blog. That year they also performed at Michele Clark 's Sunset Sessions conference.

Their single "Behind Green Eyes" was receiving airply on Top 40 and Hot AC FM radio in the United States as of June 2014, while at the same time their music video for "Shut You Down" appeared on television, NME, and various cable channels. In July 2014 the band announced they were working on a new single titled "Make a Sound," with a final version to be recorded around August. They stated to HighWire Daze that the song is "about standing up for yourself, not keeping anything hidden, if you’re getting bullied but to actually speak up." The band also announced they'd be filming a new music video for their single "Fall of Icarus," previously released on their debut EP.

Galvanized Souls won Santa Barbara's Youth Battle of the Bands in May 2014.

Style and equipment

Though self-identifying their sound as "modern grunge," the band also incorporates other styles including punk, pop, and post-grunge. According to Traylor, "We love to try out new things…we try to make every song sound different.” MyBurbank.com described the band as having a "heavy guitar sound and clear, harmonized vocals." Galvanized Souls approaches songwriting with "free writes” or “focused free writes," focusing on "general topics, historical events, and problems in everyday lives."

As musical influences the band has cited the post-grunge band Foo Fighters, the grunge bands Alice In Chains and Nirvana, and the alt rock groups Failure and Queens of the Stone Age. Also, "Newer artists that inspire us are Imagine Dragons, Thirty Seconds to Mars, Arctic Monkeys and the Black Keys." Cogen has mentioned influencing drummers on his sound as Dave Grohl, John Bonham, Peter Criss, Robert Ortiz, and Jeremy Bryan.

Traylor, Silveira, and DeMartini use a variety of guitars, basses, and effects units, while drummer Cogen uses his "dream drumset" of a "five-piece DW Collector’s series drumset with DW hardware." The band is known for making its own instruments, which each member either modifying hardware or building equipment from scratch. According to lead guitarist Chris Traylor, "We like creating things, taking them apart and putting them back together like a Frankenstein type of thing." Coached by Doug Peyton of the California rock band Halifax on instrument repair and manufacture, the members often using programs such as 3D Google SketchUp to design templates. The band has also designed intricate lighting setups for their live shows.

Members