Sporting a SoCal look and sound but with roots right here at N.C. State, the guys in Forward All know how to rock. But more importantly, they know how to have a good time while doing it.
“All the music we make is fun, energetic and positive,” Brandon Lee, alumnus and vocalist for the band, said. “At every one of our shows people are dancing and everyone is just having lots of fun.”
The members of Forward All said they can trace their band’s birth back to their first years at State. George Hage, another alumnus and guitarist, lived with Lee in University Towers during his freshman year, when they were in their own band called Flojo.
“That didn’t last too long, and then about a year ago we met up with Chris and Bill and we’ve been a band ever since,” George Hage.
Both Chris Hibbard, drummer, and Bill Corbin, bassist and junior in communication, were in another band called Natural Remedy, which played with Flojo.
Combining a brand of surf-rock made popular by acts such as 311 and Slightly Stoopid with a more straight-up rock and roll sound not unlike the Foo Fighters or Incubus, Forward All has an upbeat and distinctive sound.
“We each bring a different element and background to the band and I think that’s what makes us so unique,” Lee said. Forward All songs, which were penned by Lee, have messages about past experiences and life in general. The band members said they hope to keep on making songs with more messages.
“You know, we’ve all been in a lot of bands that have only lasted a few weeks or a month, but we’ve been a band for over a year now and I am glad I’ve just found a group of guys that are cool to hang out and rock with,” said Hibbard, a junior in history. Already with an EP out in May of this year and with hopes to go on tour soon, the guys in Forward All said they are hoping to take their band and run with it.
“Ideally, we would all want to be able to make a career out of this,” Corbin said. Forward All will get its first shot at stardom this coming Sunday. The band is playing with Glen Phillips and Inflowential at Lincoln Theatre for the filming of the TV show “Barchords.”
“At the show, they film some of the songs and do an interview with each band and air it on TV,” Lee said. “There is also a contest where the bands are judged by a panel of three judges along with the crowd. We are all really pumped about it.”
Students can catch Forward All again Nov. 4 when it plays at the Brewery with Greenshack and another band that will be announced later.
