The Color Truth, 56 Hope Road, Antioquia

The Color Truth is a band that prefers to put the Rock before the Pop. It is a band whose music is not only a catchy melody-- This is pop music that is alive and breathing. It's risky. It's heartfelt. It is guitar driven energy, toe-tapping in rhythm with a soothing vocal and a solid lyrical message.
All four members hail from the Greater Milwaukee area. Modern influences range from bands like Death Cab for Cutie to Dashboard Confessional; from Jimmy Eat World to Radiohead. And from solo artists like John Mayer to Willy Porter; from David Gray to Elliot Smith.
56 Hope Road is a band bonded like a family, and as a result, their music has an unmistakable honesty and openness. Uncanny, intuitive communication creates an easy interplay on stage, making even the most layered tunes sound effortless. They allow the joy of spontaneous creativity to color their song-based arrangements - neither losing their musical center, nor restricting its growth. The music is acoustic funk at its finest with sounds reminiscent of G-Love and Special Sauce, Richie Havens, MMW, Grateful Dead, Paul Simon and Gomez. This Chicago-based "acoustic funk explosion" is known for clever songwriting, lush vocal harmonies and one of the tightest rhythm sections on the scene. Formed in 1999, 56 Hope Road is made up of vocalist/guitarist Dave Hamilton, drummer Greg Fundis, upright bassist Chad Sanders, saxophonist Casey Fitzpatrick, and often augmented by vocalist Anne Katzfey, and percussionist Matt Katzfey.
56 Hope Road was recently announced the #1 Road Warrior Band by the renowned online musical resource, JamBase.com as well as HomeGrown Music Network, gaining national attention for their energetic live shows and relentless tour schedule totaling 660 shows throughout 2007, 2006 and 2005. Rising stars on the festival scene and national touring circuit, 56 Hope Road has appeared at High Sierra Music Festival, Summercamp, 10,000 Lakes, Wakarusa and has supported a variety of national artists such as Stevie Wonder, Dave Matthews Band, Page McConnell of Phish, Tom Cochrane and Red Ryder, ekoostik hookah, Umphrey's McGee, Tea Leaf Green, Devon Allman, Spyro Gyra, Verve Pipe, Bob Schneider, Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise, Drums and Tuba, Campbell Brothers, Jazz Mandolin Project, The Samples, and DJ Le Spam.
56 Hope Road has released 4 full-length albums on their independent label Albino Deer Records working with such industry moguls as GRAMMY nominated engineers as producer Rick Barnes (Smashing Pumpkins, Liquid Soul), Steve Albini (Nirvana, Page & Plant), and Mark Rubel (Hum and Poster Children). 56 Hope Road released their most recent album "Law of Attraction" early 2008 to critic acclaim. "Law of Attraction" left Richard Milne from WXRT in Chicago to wonder if 56 Hope Road had visited the crossroads and sold their soul. Their songs have been featured regularly on Sirius Radio Channel 17 Jam_ON, as well as WXRT Chicago, United Airlines Radio, various college and community radio stations across the country, National Public Radio, the soundtrack to "A Place in France," in an upcoming film "Road to Woodstock," and a Fox Sports Net Pilot/Warren Miller production "Destination Wild."
The name 56 Hope Road pays homage to the positive influence Bob Marley's message and music has on the world.
In the San Francisco Bay Area, bands that stay within the bounds of one genre are the exception rather than the rule... And so it is no surprise that Antioquia, an eclectic roller coaster of sound that dances from genre to genre as if there's no such thing, has chosen the Bay Area as its home. This socially conscious quartet of three men and a lady create churning cauldrons of groove...the driving pulse of the tambora, the hard swish of the maracas, a screaming guitar and funky slap bass that would make Les Claypool perk his ear... create the sound that can only be described as Antioquia.
While the atmosphere of SF is the perfect incubator for such a sound, Antioquia's conception took place much farther south in the department (province) of Colombia that gave the band its name...and where guitarist Adley Penner and drummer Craig Miller discovered their musical chemistry. The two northern transplants, Penner from Vancouver and Miller from Milwaukee, first met in 2003 playing music on a bus in Ecuador. They traveled together to Medellin Colombia where they became enthralled with Afro-Colombian folkloric music, taking lessons from accomplished percussionist Juan Guillermo. Two years later and with a newfound sense of self and purpose, Miller and Penner returned to Vancouver determined to flesh out the sound of their new band.
In June 2006, Miller and Penner moved to San Francisco and performed with three different bassists until they found Alabama native Paul Martin on Craigslist. With slap happy grooves and a pension for experimentation, Martin proved to be the perfect fit. Lead vocalist and fellow British Colombian Maddy Streicek completed the line-up in December 2006 when she moved to northern California. Streicek had been a loyal Antioquia comrade and designed the band's fliers, a task she still does today. Streicek and Penner had been friends since their teens and were in a previous band (and one show wonder) called I Cream of Genie in which Maddy played the drums.
Their musical tastes are as eclectic as their outfits (Streicek dons safety orange nail polish & Adley is known to wear a Mozart wig and tutu) and pull inspiration from an array of artists and visionaries ranging from Muddy Waters to Megadeth , Phish to Fela Kuti, Grace Slick to Gandhi, Toto la Momposina to Talking Heads! What separates Antioquia from other genre bending acts are the traditional rhythms that permeate their sound, from the Afro-Colombian garabato and puya to an array of West African dunun rhythms.
That said, Antioquia emphasizes that their biggest influences are their families and each other. Each member was exposed to music early in their life and now pushes the others to explore their personal boundaries and to cross the borders of traditional rock music. The band describes their sound as "musical impressionism," expressing emotions and thoughts through sound and rhythm and using their voices and lyrics as additional instruments rather than the overbearing force. Each set is unpredictable and peppered with fits of "structured improvisation." With over 30 songs in their arsenal, Antioquia offers listeners an experience that can't be replicated or reproduced. The end result: a feeding frenzy of energy between the entertainers and the entertained.