By Eric the Red (Eric Robertson)
Our desert’s music scene is an ever-changing landscape, with bands sprouting up like desert sage, and dying just as quickly. As with any area, some bands are capable of sticking out the turbulence, to carve a name for themselves in the sandy mountain walls. One such band is Remnants of Man. With their melodic riffing, powerful vocals and unending perseverance, Remnants of Man breathes a new life into our dry, parched metal scene.
Consisting of vocalist Joe Lynn, Ruben Torres and Rudy Mendez blazing the fretboards of their 6-strings, Alex Milward destroying drums, and Daniel Wheat holding down the low end on the bass, Remnants of Man began playing local dive bars and venues in 2008, with the release of their first demo in 2009. Since their inception, they have worked relentlessly, and built a following throughout the valley, as well as most of southern California. When asked what the biggest challenge their band has had to overcome, Torres stated, “We’ve dealt with just about everything a professional band has dealt with. We’ve overcome traveling out of town, band members replacements, trying to release a CD with zero dollars in our pockets, but all of that disappears when we listen to the final product. In all honesty, it’s the music that keeps the drive in our bands career. At the end of all the blood, sweat and tears – holding a finished product in your hands makes it all worth it.”
As with many other bands, Remnants of Man are relatively active on the social media front. With tools such as free event promotion, tagging of specific users and fans, and sharing of images from gigs and shows, websites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have become an integral part to the bands arsenal of promotional weapons. The band states, “It’s amazing. When handled right, social media is the greatest tool for anyone, whether it’s a band or a business, for getting the word out there.” Members are consistently posting updates, sharing their hilarious antics, a multitude of music videos (such as the recently released “Will You Rise) and helping build the valley’s metal scene.
With all the work these guys put into their music, promotion and shows, some might think the fun of playing in a band would shift to a more career oriented mentality. This is not the case for these gents. “(Practice) is always a laid back, ‘guys hanging out’ kinda jam even when we go into rehearsal with the notion to be serious. We can’t help it – we’re all good friends and have been for a very long time. So when we have practice, it’s like going outside to play with your friends when you were a little kid. Then after we settle down its time to run through several set lists and work out kinks in the music. Lately we have been incorporating more backup vocals, even some clean stuff to add to our live experience,” shared Mendez. With the mentality that playing music should be about good friends having a good time, this band will stand against the waves of our constantly fluctuating musical landscape for as long as they choose to continue.
So if you’re ready to have your face melted with some “Awesome Space Metal,” as Ruben prefers to describe it, come check out Remnants of Man. They will be playing their Second Annual Halloween Bash, this Thursday, 10/24 at Plan B Live Entertainment, located at 32025 Monterey Avenue, Thousand Palms, CA 92276. This show is 21+, and includes Remnants of Man, Ekavohs and Death The Kid.
