Sceneazine.com
Mourning Arielle
by Alyce-Hannah Golderer
A
bout halfway between Augusta, Ga., and Columbia, S.C., there is a short and very sandy
road off the main paved highway. If one were to turn
onto that road at the right time on the right day, one
would hear the crashing of cymbals, rip of guitar, and
uniquely-styled singing that would alert one to the fact
that Mourning Arielle was hard at work practicing.
Only together since Spring, 2014, the guys in Mourning Arielle are up and running and ready for their first
show February 21, 2015, at the Art Bar in Columbia.
The band is made up of five very unique and unassuming-looking individuals. There’s Scott Hoult, who plays
a mean lead guitar; Dylan Barton, lead singer who produces haunting vocals; Donnie Gammons, the very tall
and talented rhythm guitarist; Ross Wilson, the bassist and kind of quiet member of the band; and Adam
Shealy, who beats his drums like they stole something.
Even though the group has yet to play out, they have
managed to accomplish a couple of impressive feats.
They were recently ranked number five on reverbnation.com’s rock list for Columbia, S.C., and showcased
on the Southern Wasteland program on the University
of South Carolina radio station, WUSC.
Of these two achievements and how they think they
managed them, Hoult jokingly said they paid people off
to get the notoriety they have so far. Singer Barton said
he is just amazed at how quickly the band got followers
on Facebook. So far they’ve received 411 likes and the
number goes up almost weekly.
The group currently has only two songs on their
Facebook page for people to hear, although they have a
veritable multitude of material ready to present to audiences at shows.
One of Mourning Arielle’s songs available for a listen
is The Last Illusion. While all the guys said that everybody is heavily involved with the creation of their mu-
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sic, they all agreed that it
is Barton who is responsible for “all the singing
stuff,” and The Last Illusion is no exception. Barton said the song is meant
to be allegorical and to
question whether we are
born with morality inside
or if it is taught to us.
When speaking about
groups that have influenced him, Gammons,
the rhythm guitarist, said
he comes from a metal
background and that it
was just natural for him
to play that style of music.
Wilson, the bass player,
said his influences come
from everything from
old school jazz from the
50s to modern funk. He
cited Primus as a major contributor to his
style, which is easy to see
when he plays. Shealy,
the band’s drummer, said
he is mostly influenced
by Tool and the Red Hot
Chili Peppers, “but mostly by Tool.”
The music Mourning Arielle produces is definitely
hard rock, but there is a melodic quality to it that invites
the listener to stay tuned for more. Hoult said achieving
that sound was something of a balancing act. He said
that first he comes up with the foundation of the guitar
part, then he structures it with riffs, and, finally, goes on
top of it all with the melody.
Wilson, who is a self-taught bassist, said he learned
about bass clef while playing the timpani in high school. He said what he
does now is to play what fits with the
song with lots of feeling, all the while
playing by ear.
Barton said he developed his unusual vocal style by riding an exercise
bike while he sang. Eventually, his
voice just developed into the unique
sound he does now.
Gammons said that he never feels
as if his rhythm guitar is upstaged
by Hoult’s lead and that it is “kind of
cool to let somebody else do it for a
change.” He said he also liked playing rhythm because it is something
different for him since before joining
Mourning Arielle he had played lead
guitar since he was a 12-year-old.
Shealy practically comes up off his throne while he’s
playing drums. And his beats are very tight. He said that
when the band begins to play out, as they will in February, he may have to do a little working out in order
to keep up the energy level he shows during practice.
Shealy also said that, “you gotta be in one song as much
as another.”
Mourning Arielle shows a remarkably strong beginning with a devoted fan-base that just seems to keep
growing. If their shows are as full of energy and life
as their practices are, they are sure to be a really great
group to see live and the wait will have been more than
worth it.