People, listen! We have real, live rock stars walking amongst us, here in Fishers. They are wickedly talented, amazingly bright and they come in the form of sophomores and juniors at Fishers High School. They are a five member metal band named Infamous. I am telling you, though, their notoriety is, and will be, positively famous.
The band was formed 3 years ago, when the boys were merely 7th and 8th graders. When asked how they decided to play music, they replied, “We got hooked on Guitar Hero and that’s what got us started.”
Jon Iosue (pronounced Yozway) is a sophomore, the lead guitarist and the only band member to continue taking guitar lessons, which he has done for the last five years. His dad, Mike Iosue is their manager. The band holds practices, once or twice a week for a few hours, in their basement which, fortunately, has a double-insulated ceiling.
Jack Rainbolt lives a few doors down from Jon, so they grew up, together. He is a junior and plays rhythm guitar with the band. In all of his spare time (right!), he works at Goodwill. He started playing the guitar at age 12, taking lessons at Bongo Boys with Jon for a few years.
Drew Johnson is a sophomore and plays the drums. In addition, he works at the Hamilton 16 Imax Theater. He was taught to play the drums by his dad when he was only 4 years old. He would sit on his dad’s lap in front the drums, with sticks in his hands, following his father‘s rhythm. Now, he is such an accomplished drummer, using multiple drum sticks for varying sounds, that at the end of a set, before the guitars have ended their reverberations, he is checking his cell phone messages.
Adam Anderson, is a sophomore and the lead vocalist. He used to also play bass, but now just focuses on vocals. “I felt myself growing and wanted to do more with it live by interacting more with the audience,” states Adam. He has 7 years of guitar/bass lessons and three years of vocal lessons, which he just recently ended.
Spencer Tillman is a junior and the newest member of the band, joining the group December 8th. He is the bassist and backup vocalist and also holds a job at Little Caesar’s Pizza. While he is new to the band, he isn’t new to the boys. They’ve been friends for a few years. He is a self-taught guitar player, only once taking advanced lessons for three months. Prior to this he played for another band.
When the boys aren’t doing tough-looking poses for promotional pictures or concerts, they are smiley and genuinely seem happy. Their music is definitely in the metal genre, but the lyrics speak to positive causes: anti-bullying, equality, and believing in and standing up for yourself. These are lyrics the boys write together, themselves, from personal experiences. They sit down for what might be called “brainstorming sessions” and build on each other’s musical ideas.
Not only is their music smart, but their grades reflect how intelligent and hard working each band member is at FHS, too. However, when asked about college, they are all pretty clear that they really want to make music their careers and focus on their band. The juniors, Jack and Spencer are looking at colleges, but more as a backup plan. “I’ll go to college, but if we get a record deal, I’ll drop out,” says Jack.
Mike Iosue became their manager, indirectly, by being Jon’s youth basketball coach. “We thought Jon was going to be a basketball player, but that’s just not Jon. This is what he is,” explains Laura, Mike’s wife and Jon’s mom. So Mike decided to be his “coach” for the band, helping the boys navigate through all that is involved. “You don’t want your kids to just succeed as a guitar player, but as a man,” states Laura.
Currently, the band is working with Jon E. Gee, the bassist for John Mellencamp since 1999 and before that, for Ted Nugent. He has been mentoring the group since September and helping them to “tighten up the music, making it sound better/more interesting,” say the band mates. The boys enjoy his insight and like that he “says what he thinks and doesn’t hold back.” John E. Gee thinks: “They have the ability to make it big.”
They are ALREADY making it big. Infamous walked away with SEVEN awards at the Best of the Best: Indy’s Local Music Awards in March 2012, including Best Overall Band, Best Metal Band and Best of each: Vocals, Lead Guitar, Rhythm Guitar, Bass Guitar, Drummer. A month later, they won First Place in the Gorilla Music Battle of the Bands. They released their first EP (Extended Play … a CD that is 30 minutes or less) in September, 2012, entitled “Hold Your Apathy.” This past summer, they performed at Rockapalooza in Michigan. This event gained them quite a few fans, some of whom even followed them to Indiana to see them play at Metal Fest. Just recently, they opened for Saving Abel in Toledo, OH.
Infamous is preparing to release their 7 track, second EP entitled “Inspire Yourself” in May, which includes the guest vocalist Spencer Charmas from Ice Nine Kills. They will hold a CD Release Show on May 2nd at 6:30 pm at Studio 37, which is located inside The Music Academy in Fishers (10029 E. 126th Street, Suite D). Everyone is welcome and tickets are $10 presale or $12 at the door. On June 21st Infamous will be at the MegaTon Music Festival in Toledo, OH, performing main stage at approximately 7 pm. More appearances are being scheduled as you read this, so be sure to check these sites for shows, EP sales and information: http://www.InfamousTheBand.com www.facebook.com/InfamousTheBand
You can purchase their EP’s at the following locations: iTunes, CDBaby (Amazon), Luna Music, Axis Mundi, or Indy CD and Vinyl. Get a piece of this amazing group of local boys, now, while they are still local … and still boys.
