Progressive, symphonic and extremely melodic. A new genre of music that can only be described as "expressive rock".

10 MP3 Songs
METAL: Progressive Metal, ROCK: Progressive Rock



Details:
Clay Withrow first experienced music during his childhood by listening to the 70s and 80s pop tunes his mother played in the car. As he grew, his tastes expanded to include a wide array of film scores that intoned dark emotive imagery, such as Batman, Schindler's List and Terminator 2. His high school band, Dysphoria, played local venues, incubating his talent and confidence. The group successfully recorded Clay's original compositions, eventually landing a bit of airplay on local radio stations. Heavily inspired by Metallica, the songs "Fueling the Fire" and "Dawn of the Dead" became instant fan favorites and established the band's thrash metal sound.

After entering the University of Oklahoma Clay experimented with several unique musical styles- all influenced by bands like Ayreon and Pain of Salvation. The progressive rock genre began to afford Clay the flexibility to explore music like never before. Already familiar with advanced guitar technique he taught himself to play the bass, drums and piano so that he could accurately pen lavish compositions. Over the course of two days in December of 2002 Clay quickly recorded an eight-song album on his analog 4-track mixer. Consisting of completely improvised selections, the story, which took place on Christmas Eve (coincidentally the time he recorded the demo) confronted issues of abuse, abandonment and suicide. While the tracks were very rough around the edges, it was a striking indication of his bold new direction. Just one year later Clay emerged from his basement studio with a brand new demo that aptly summarized his previous recording efforts. The demo- a seven-minute epic titled "The Grinding"- quickly became a favorite among fans of independent progressive music for its brutal intensity and captivating narrative.

Clay's been writing music since- meticulously self-performing, mixing and producing CDs in his basement studio. He is currently working on music for his first full-length album, Dissonance Rising, which incorporates a blend of intricate time signatures layered by a non-linear narrative. With bandmate Jason May, Clay is bringing the Dissonance Rising project to a live setting, which will include grand epics such as "The Grinding Pt. I" and "Children of Machines". Available at www.claywithrow.com, his growing portfolio reflects his earlier elemental sounds, including original movie scores for independent films, as well as his own steadily evolving flavor of melodic progressive metal.