Looping metal

Combining the industrial savvy of Trent Reznor and Rob Zombie with the

crunching guitar and body-shaking grooves of today’s nu-metal acts comes

Huntington Beach’s Uprooted.

The band, through various incarnations, has been putting out quality

industrial metal since 1996, although the emphasis was not always as

centered on the entrancing, luminous percussion loops it is today.

“On our first demo things were a little different, the focus was more

on riff-based hard rock,” front-man Bill Warren said. “We were always

willing to experiment and I think that is how we got to where we are

today.”

Uprooted, which is made up of Warren, guitarist Mike Moore, guitarist

Bob Amos, bassist Chris Little and drummer Brian Mahoney, tends to lend

the songwriting duties to all members of the band. Warren focuses on the

drum loops and samples and from there they all try to build the songs.

“We’ll usually come into a practice with ideas or a we’ll have simple

four-tracked versions of the songs and go from there,” he said.

Warren works with both keyboards and drum machines to try and get the

perfect drum loop to give texture to the songs.

“I try to write riffs around the samples to give everything a feeling

like it belongs there,” he said.

The band has it’s own lockout rehearsal studio, which allows for them

to practice at least three times a week. Although members would like to

be playing shows every weekend, once or twice a month is the norm for

now. Touring is something that they hope to do one day.

“That’s one of the reasons I started this band, touring around the

country in a Uhaul with the guys eating baloney sandwiches is a dream,”

Warren said.

They will be playing at T.C.’s in Huntington Beach on Saturday night

with Downright, Trench and Project 1. Playing at 21-and-over venues has

been the bands staple.

“We’d really love to play some all-ages shows so we could share our

music with a younger audience, but we’ve had a lot of trouble trying to

book those types of shows,” Warren said.

Over the years the group has self-produced several demo albums and

received good responses from fans around the globe.

“Although we don’t have any kind of distribution in Europe, we have

really gotten a good response from fans over there that have heard our

stuff on the Internet,” Warren said. “I think the sound we have and hard

music in general has a bigger audience in Europe.”

Musical proficiency and songwriting skills are one thing, but Uprooted

is more than just a sonic act. With the intention of entertainment before

anything else, the band’s live shows are multi-sensory.

“Growing up one of my favorite bands ever was KISS, and in every band

I’ve been in I’ve always tried to get the crowd involved on several

levels,” Warren said. “I like our shows to be very visual.”

Fans will get a chance to see Uprooted’s music on a visual palette as

the band’s song “Slam the Door” will be featured in the upcoming B-horror

film “Hell Asylum.” The song will play just as a character’s head is

being chopped off.

At this point music is not a full time job for the members of

Uprooted.

“I just want to get our music out there free of charge so people can

have the opportunity to hear us,” Warren said. “We didn’t start this band

to be famous, we just want to share our songs with people.”