this one
Jason Koerner

Louisville Rock Lowdown
By Jason Koerner

Incursion 502

The band speaks up after eleven years together, stating that they have never had an interview or an article written on their music... better late than never.

The band did, however, receive a nice plug from Jeffrey Lee Puckett back in August 2001 in his article about the local talent in metal. There they were dubbed one of the best-unsigned bands in town and I would have to agree. The band has it together musically and has recently partnered up with Julie McGrath to tie up the loose ends on the business side of things.

Incursion 502 features the dual lead vocals of Van Avery and Tim "Stem" Holder, both specializing in screaming. Brian Hart plays bass, Nick Houpt is on the drums and Jeremy Robertson and Erik Angelini play guitar.

The band describes their music as "hard metal groove-core aggression, Louisville style." Isn't that how N'Sync describes their sound too?

The band dates back to the summer of 1995, when they formed what would be known as one of Louisville's biggest names in metal. It is not unusual to see 200 or more people packed into a tiny venue to see the band explode onstage. Incursion 502 is synonymous with good old-fashioned aggression and rage, plus a little violence and Satanism. The group has built a loyal following a few hundred strong based on this ideology, both locally and abroad. A major reason for such as devout following is their live performance. The band is insane on stage and you cannot help getting hyped up with them. The group is intense in every way and is able to transfer that energy to the audience every show. The band states that they want to open peoples' eyes with their music, so they can see the world for what it is- not what it appears to be. The group takes this a lot more seriously than others who have fought the same cause before, "Incursion 502 is not just music, Incursion 502 is an emotion that people feel, after it grows on you."

Incursion502

Incursion 502 has a reputation for many things and one of those things is playing shows. Shows after shows after shows... The band works hard for the "money," to say the least. If you have ever read my or played in a local metal band yourself, you would know why I just put the word money in quotations.

They have been playing a lot at Pappy's Bar lately. Pappy's has taken up the role of local metal venue since the demise of Tek World and has been building a foundation of music since. There is a bit of culture shock for some regulars, however. Since it was not always a metal bar, there are the older customers who walk in, hear metal and walk out. This doesn't include everyone though, as some patrons enjoy the music well enough to dance to it. Unfortunately, dancing on top of a table was one woman's biggest mistake of the night, as she fell off during the appropriately titled song, "Bleed Bitch." Irony never takes a vacation, does it?

Lord of Carpathia was the first album from the local heavies and it was released in 1999. It featured five songs from the band and introduced many people to what Incursion 502 was all about. The follow-up album was released in 2001, Hymns for a New Revolution. This one was full-length with nine songs and has been a good seller for the band in local stores in Louisville and Lexington.

The new CD is being recorded at Canyon Studios as we speak and will be released sometime later this fall. The group has written over 35 new songs for it and will be picking the best ones for the cut. It is still untitled, but whatever it is called, I am sure it is going to be worth the wait. However, if you would like to speed the process up a bit, feel free to send money to the band to finish the recording. This will keep these fine young men off the streets, turning to prostitution for extra cash. For only 8 cents a day, you could sponsor an Incursion 502 band member.

The major goal of the band is to get signed to a label that will put them in the studio and on the road to reach a new audience. They say there are many fans of theirs that have never had the chance to see them perform live in places such as the West Coast, Europe, Canada and other locations. A deal would help fix that. Those fans are missing out on the best part of Incursion 502.

Incursion 502 has opened for such national acts as Hatebreed, American Head Charge, Morbid Angel, Strapping Young Lad, Cold, No One, Neurotica, Chimaira, Switchd, Vendetta Red, Kidney Thieves, E-Town Concrete, Flaw, Apartment 26, 40 Below Summer, Outspoken, Primer55 and LollipopLustKill. (Information taken from the band's site at www.incursion502.cjb.net...) They have also toured regionally and continue to do so.

On the web, you will find a ton of information about the band. Unfortunately, a lot of it is outdated. The group is working on that aspect but has a great many valuable items for the taking as well, such as Mp3s, pictures and news. Aside from their web site(s), you can see them at www.garageband.com and www.iuma.com as well. The listeners from around the globe have very flattering things to say about the band. The band gains much comparison to Pantera, a la My Own Victim, but who can complain about that?

One of the other projects of the band right now includes a book of poetry to be released by Timothy James Holder, A.K.A. "Stem." No date has been set yet for the book to be produced, but manager Julie McGrath says it is coming along nicely. Poetry is a source of inspiration for some Incursion 502 songs, believe it or not.

The other project is Tim's creation of an independent label, "Warfare's Muse Recordings," which will also be doing the next False album. The band also has some new T-shirts and posters on the way following the release of the new CD.

To contact the band directly, send email to Incursion@insightbb.com. For booking, contact Julie at VixenVideo502@aol.com.

The group is continuing to write new music and is trying to transition into playing predominately newer material at shows. They still do the crowd pleasers of the old material but have a lot more to offer these days. If you are interested in seeing the band live, check them out at one of the following dates around town:

May 1 at Pappy's- w/Assisting Sorrow, Summer Dying (Michigan) and False

May 3 at Pappy's- w/Soilent Green, Kallus, My Own Victim, Voices of Aggression and RedBoxNow

May 8 at Pappy's- w/False (tbc), Violenza (tbc) and Hollow (tbc)

May 22 at Pappy's- w/Eternal Ruin (Maryland), Mangled Atrocity, Abominant and Kallus (tbc)

June 4 at Phoenix Hill- w/Kallus, Luther and False

June 5 at Uncle Pleasants- w/Kallus(tbc), False and Arch

June 26 at Headliners- w/7 other bands TBA

Here is what you may have missed on the Louisville Rock Lowdown on WLRS this month... Be sure to tune in every Friday morning to 105.1 FM at 7:45 to hear it in all of its glory!

Week 11- In the Clear

Andy Paul's new band is in full swing recording their upcoming CD, Ugly Angels. Andy gave us the scoop on what the band has been up to lately and revealed some details about the project. Be sure to check out those guys on the web at www.intheclear.net.

Week 12- The Blue Umbrellas

The all-female rock band is alive and well in the Blue Umbrellas. The girls came into the studio with Mudd and me and did a great interview that was probably the most fun to date. If you have not done so already, pick up last month's edition of LMN and check out my on the up-and-coming band that is contagious like the flu. Buy the new CD, Metamorphose and stop by their site at www.theblueumbrellas.com.

Week 13- The Dolly Crisis

I am not done with the all-female rock bands yet. The Dolly Crisis is making a wave in the Louisville scene as well and they have a recording on the way soon. They band is composed of three guitarists and a drummer, but no bass! Where's the love for bassists, girls? They fill out the sound effortlessly with their multi-vocal harmonies and are excellent performers to boot. They have a new, under construction web site at www.thedollycrisis.com.

Week 14- Incursion 502

Jeremy stayed up late to talk to us about the happenings of the band. Though Incursion 502 was scheduled to be on the show in a few weeks, Jeremy did the interview on short notice unexpectedly since radio politics exist the way they do. My original guest that was lined up for the show that week informed me last minute that they were told they could not do the interview because of their (unpaid) affiliation with another radio station in town. I have no hard feelings towards that guest whatsoever, but it kind of sucks that they were held back from an opportunity that would have benefited them because of radio wars.

In other news...

I recently had the idea to make some T-shirts to express my political opinion about the censorship in America. I made a design that states my feelings very clearly, "F*c$ the FCC, along with the 7 dirty words that you cannot say on the airwaves, followed by the phrase, "Go ahead, fine me." The next logical step was to get someone to make them. This printer would have to be bold and unaffected by fear of controversy. This printer was Monkeydrive screen-printing. I went there per the advice of someone on the Factor 9 Internet message board and they were absolutely correct about the place being awesome. They did a great job on the shirts in regards to quality, the price was affordable and the service was friendly and fast. They do lots of work for bands, so if you are in the market for shirts, go there first. Visit them on the web at www.monkeydrive.net, or call them at 1-866-2-MONKEY. My best experience yet... If you want to be cool like me and express your opinion publicly, or you just want a shirt with the 7 dirtiest words in the English language on it, you can swing by Ear X-Tacy and pick one up for $12. C'mon, everyone's doing it!

A related story of a "creation of greatness" is as follows: my former drummer from Nemesis, Tim Owens, has made a "solo project" CD of his own called, Mr. McFeely's Off Day: Mr. McFeely vs. Paul Stanley. Tim is on crack, so I do not expect any of this to make sense to anyone but those who know him. To better understand his creative genius, visit his site at www.geocities.com/mrmcfeelysoffday/main. The CD is a copyright infringement suit waiting to happen, as many of the tracks feature overdubs from famous people such as the Ultimate Warrior, Paul Stanley and even local celebrities like Tom Wills and Chris "Mongo" Miller. If you need a laugh, this is your chance.

End of Me, fronted by Bryan Fox, has signed a deal with Studio E Records. Bryan says, "They are a new label out of New York headed by Brad Kaplan. We have been negotiating the deal for months now, but didn't want to say anything because we didn't know if it was going to happen or not. We will be recording in Chicago next week to finish the album and the release date will be at the end of June. This is an independent label with Major label distribution (Sony Red), etc. They have just recently released the new Local H CD. We are excited and hope that everyone will support us in making our dream really happen. We realize that having a record deal doesn't mean s**t by itself, nor does that make us rock stars by any stretch of the imagination. We still have a lot of hurdles to jump, even with a deal. Hopefully everything else will fall in line and we will be one of the lucky ones to actually survive making music! Thanks for everyone's support. Louisville Rocks!" (taken from Factor 9 message board)

For more information on the local music scene, email me at rocklowdown@insightbb.com, or visit louisvillemusicnews.com.

And that is the Louisville Rock Lowdown!