Pensive Music

There's nothing pensive about these four young pop rockers. From the day their garage rehearsals began luring neighborhood kids to gather and gawk in the driveway, they've pumped a high-octane blend of sharp hooks, smart lyrics, and edgy melodies through a rhythm engine that's become one of the hottest on the US touring circuit.

The gypsy life, embracing the road to spread the word with a van and trailer, is considered obsolete by many upcoming bands enamored by the ease and power of the internet to carry songs around the world instantly. But Pensive reels in the physical experience of live performances, and the state by state tour tally tops 30 for this band. Guitarist and founding member Patrick Smith explains. “The fans we find in all the small venues across the country, who stand at the foot of the stage, singing our songs with us, hanging out after the show in the parking lot sharing the secrets of their towns, those fans are ours for life. The night we meet for the first time is unforgettable. We dig MySpace, but a song heard there just doesn’t seep into the soul in the same way.”

Coming up through the California pop-punk scene so heavily influenced by bands like The Ataris, blink 182, and Green Day, it might not be too surprising that Pensive tapped producer Will Salazar, former lead singer and master mind behind 90’s hit makers Fenix TX, to helm their newest album ARTIFACTS. Having previously self-released two EPs, which they describe with tongue-in-cheek charm as “diet punk,” the evolution in ARTIFACTS has been described as “stunning” by InsomniaRadio.net’s Jason Evangelho, the web’s premier podcasting guru and connoisseur of off-the-radar underground bands. Although continuing to embrace the naturally infectious tunes that make for a lively, energetic stage performance that is the hallmark of these California boys, ARTIFACTS fuses bittersweet poetic stories, dense vocal harmonies, and post-emo rock guitars, twisted up with a razor's edge when least expected. Put simply by Andres Martinez, founder of GreenDayAuthority.com, ARTIFACTS “is a fantastic mix of melodic rock and profound pop!”

It seems that much of the emotional impact of ARTIFACTS is grounded in the band's own struggle between discontent and anticipation as the upheavals continue in today's music industry. Pensive’s embrace of the independent non-label climb to the top holds great appeal to the sensibilities of teen aficionados navigating the brave new cyberworld of music. Says lead vocalist Julio Godoy, “we like to say that kids today are A & R, they find the bands they love. There are no gatekeepers anymore. We like that and think it’s a great time to be a band. We like holding our futures in our own hands.”

“We’ve ridden the digitial revolution,” Smith continues. “The album title ARTIFACTS is inspired by the changes we’re all witnessing in music today. The CD is on its deathbed. Record stores will soon be extinct. Kids these days don’t listen to radio to find music. Labels used to be known by name and worshiped, but they don’t matter to fans today. Protools has made everyone a musician in their own garages, and recording studios and music producers are bypassed. Music is becoming a cyber experience only. The time is coming when we’ll no longer buy, own, and hold in our hands an album as a carefully crafted artistic product with artwork and photos. Songs will stand alone in digital online vending machines. The pieces of art that were albums will be gone, artifacts of the past.”

A passionate topic for a band finding its way, as the old gives way to the new.