Flaw was formed in 1996 when Chris Voltz responded to an ad in the newspaper that asked for a vocalist for an industrial/alternative band. The ad was put out by Jason Daunt (guitarist), who happened to live just two blocks from Voltz. Soon enough in 1997, Ryan Juras joined them. Fresh out the Marines he was playing and doing back-up vocals for a local band --in their residing state of Kentucky. The guys felt like they had stolen Juras from that band, but were glad to have done so.
Ryan's arrival to the band set things into motion. For Ryan played five-string among other instruments and he used to give guitar lessons. Only a week after Ryan came in, the band recorded it's first indie record, American Arrogance.
The story behind the recording of this record is interesting; it costs the band only $68, and was discussed by Voltz and Daunt in an interview. "Well, The Musicians Friend, the musical magazine, has a 30-day return policy if you're not satisfied", commented Voltz. "So we ordered all the equipment we could possibly need to record an album, and then sent the stuff back and said we didn't like it. So we recorded the album for shipping and handling costs! None of us had the income to do anything else. It was either do it that way or not do it at all.", Daunt.
The good outcome of this record, which included "Reliance" and "Amendment" --both in Through The Eyes, paved way for openings for bands such as Fear Factory and Econoline Crush. The songs also got regular rotation on "The Fox", a local rardio station.
The upcoming year, 1998, saw the release of Flaw --self-released, self-titled record. In 1999, Chris Ballinger (drummer) and Lance Arny (second guitarist) joined the band. Now the year 2000, Flaw was more than just a local band. In their October show at New York's CBGB, recording company, Republic, decided to sign Flaw.
Early next year, they began recording what would be their debut album with Republic at Los Angeles' Sound City, and later at Lard Bee with producer, David Bottrill. The band was more than happy to work with Bottrill because he had previously worked with their two influences, Peter Garbriel and Tool. Through The Eyes was quite a success anf they now all over the U.S. The album is very great, all the songs revolve around the emotions of Chris Voltz. The song "Whole" is entirely about Voltz' experience when he was twelve. His adoptive mother commited suicide and that affected him greatly. Voltz went through some psychotherapy and is actaully grateful for all of it because he felt like it help him understand himself better. All this he put into his lyrics, which is great because while listening to the album one can go through so many feelings and relate to so many things.
All went good with Flaw and their album. The bad news though, was that the band's founder Jason Daunt left the band due to disagreements with the style and approach of the music. As far as it is known, Flaw is not touring or recording at the time. The band has been quite dormant since Daunt left, but they feel content now as a quartet.
Hopefully, they come out with something new soon, because their music is really good. Their album is actually one of my favorites --if not my favorite cd in my collection.
If you spotted any errors or have any new news on
Flaw, do not hesistate to let me know by e-mailing me at:
systemsmusic@yahoo.com
Thanks once again guys, until new month when I bring you another worthy of attention artist/band.
- Nancy
