Name: Qiet
From: Huntington, WV
Genre: Raucous Art Rock / Street Corner Chamber Pop / West-By-God MFA-core
RIYL: Arcade Fire, Gogol Bordello, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Man Man
Members: Christopher Harris (vocals, guitar), Jordan Trent (bass), Lacey Hazel (vocals), Mike Waldeck (accordion, saw, flugelhorn), Jason Myer (baritone horn, upright bass, euphonium), Alasha Al-Qudwah (violin, viola), Max Venoy (trumpet), Russell Snyder (drums)

MUSIC

PHOTOS

VIDEO

BIO
Qiet is a case study in controlled chaos. The West Virginia nine-piece, drawing comparisons to Arcade Fire and Gogol Bordello, has been building buzz throughout their wild and wonderful stomping grounds where they’ve been developing a reputation for raucous performances (often themed), in which audience members are likely to stumble into a venue that has been transformed into a carnival or masquerade ball, or to find themselves participating in an art installation or undead apocalypse, or to discover that the band is in various states of undress or cross-dress (or covered in body paint). One might even notice that the on-stage weather has been altered for the show. Of course, this assumes that the band is on a stage at all, as Qiet also has a love for the unpredictable public arena, and has delivered quite a few performances from street corners. (The band is so committed to the public forum that all members have acquired street performer permits in their hometown of Huntington so that the show can go on without threat of fines.)

Local media outlets have taken notice – the band has appeared on the front page of the Charleston Gazette, performed live in-studio at Huntington rock radio station WAMX and on Huntington tv talk show “Up Late”. Qiet has also appeared at a half dozen regional music festivals in the past couple of years, and adapted and performed the production score for Wizard of Oz at The Alban Theatre in St. Albans, WV. Qiet is now getting attention from Paste Magazine & Relix Magazine, and the band is contributing a track to the upcoming College Radio Day sampler and booking tour dates for the rest of 2012 and beyond.

Qiet shows are explosive and unhinged affairs delivered at the hands of highly trained musicians (band members have earned degrees in composition, performance, jazz, and music education, and have studied at seven different universities). The band takes a detailed and considered approach in the preparation stage. “We aren’t just on stage with a bunch of instruments jamming. Our songs are highly constructed and every single setlist is constructed for that night, for that venue, that group of people and what’s going on amongst us,” says band member Jason Myer.

Qiet is preparing to export the experience this fall as they hit the road to deliver their elaborate compositions with frenzied abandon. Whether in the midst of calm or chaos, and whether Qiet travels near or far, the band is deeply in touch with its roots. “Everybody is a product of their own environment. You can try to hide that, you can be ashamed of it, but all that’s going to do is hold you back and maybe even make you a fraud,” says Myer. “We’re from West Virginia. We may not look like it, sound like it, dress like it, act like it, as far as what the paradigm you would expect from people from West Virginia to be, but it’s there.”

DISCOGRAPHY
Composition #7 (October 6, 2011)

CONTACT
qietmusic.com
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