EPK – Knecht – Self-Titled (2021) (EP)
Publicist – Jon Asher – jon[@]ashermediarelations[.]com
For fans of Haken, Dream Theater, Porcupine Tree, Plini, Liquid Tension Experiment
Instagram.com/joeknecht.exe | Facebook | YouTube | Spotify
EP Title: Knecht
Release Date: July 16, 2021
Label: Joe Knecht
Distribution: Distrokid
“I wanted to write something that was short and that people could groove too. While there are some complex sections in my songs, they serve a purpose and are not just there to be flashy. The EP sounds like a blend of new and old. Djenty riffs combined with the classic keyboard sounds like the Hammond Organ and Minimoog. My songs have a more bluesy feel like classic 70s Prog even though I used a fair amount of mixed meter and poly meters. If you listen closely you can hear Jimmy Page licks in my solos and melodies.” – Knecht
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BAND STORY ANGLES / FUN FACTS:
1. Joseph Knecht is a multi-instrumentalist, first playing piano when he was five and picked up playing guitar one year later with learning to play bass in high school.
2. The track Working Title is entitled as a kind of inside joke. When Joseph first started writing the song, he could not come up with a proper name. So he called it this and the more he kept writing the more the name seemed to fit.
3. Tabernacle Jam is named after Joseph Knecht’s hometown Tabernacle.
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The EP as a whole:
The EP sounds like a blend of new and old. Djenty riffs combined with the classic keyboard sounds like the Hammond Organ and Minimoog. My songs have a more bluesy feel like classic 70s Prog even though I used a fair amount of mixed meter and poly meters. If you listen closely you can hear Jimmy Page licks in my solos and melodies.
Track by Track explained:
Transformation – This was one of the first songs I wrote with my 8 strings. It’s a hard-hitting sludgy mixed-meter riff. With a hint of Tesseract in the middle with the staccato Djenty section. This song represents my transformation into the style that I have developed.
Tabernacle Jam – It’s an upbeat groove that leans more on the classic Prog side. The intro was inspired by Chick Corea”s song Spade.
Working Title – Yes that’s the actual name, the main groove makes you want to nod your head in time. This is my most riff-focused song as it has a lot of polymetric and odd meter sections.
Overture – This is my cover of the Overture from the game Halo Reach. It’s a much more hard-hitting aggressive take on the original.
Summer Nights – I wrote this song to be a breather. It’s calming like a warm summer night, with a loud solo section in the middle. It’s a nice break before the final song.
Destruction – When I wrote this, I knew this was going to be the finale. It captures everything about my style, with elements from 70s prog rock and modern prog rock.
EP Title: Knecht
Release Date: June 15, 2021
Label: Joe Knecht
Distribution: Distrokid
Track Listing:
1. Transformation (4:50)
2. Tabernacle Jam (3:50)
3. Working Title (4:42)
4. Overture (Excerpt From Halo Reach) (3:42)
5. Summer Nights (3:16)
6. Destruction (5:09)
EP Length: 25:31
EP Credits:
• All songs performed by: Joseph Knecht and Jason Stewart
• All songs written by: Joseph Knecht
• Produced by: Joseph Knecht
• Mixed by: Charles-Henry Volk
• Mastered by: Charles-Henry Volk
• EP Artwork by:
• Member ASCAP
EP Band Line Up:
Joseph Knecht – Guitar, Bass and Keyboards
Drums – Jason Stewart
Pictured – Joseph Knecht – Photo credit – Tristan Ahearn
Joseph Knecht, from Tabernacle, New Jersey, USA, has been playing music since he was a small child. He started out with piano when he was five and picked up the guitar a year later. Bass came along in high school and he attended Berklee College of Music to further his music education.
Looking to share the music he was writing and playing, he created his instrumental solo project Knecht, where he plays everything from classic rock to more modern progressive metal. He performs originals and covers as well as teaches private guitar lessons.
With influences rooted mainly in progressive and groove metal, he replaces vocals with sweeping, complex guitar melodies that are written like vocal melodies. A typical song starts with the rhythm, for him the rhythm guitars by themselves should be interesting and be able to garner attention through the piece. While he is doing this, he is thinking about what he might want the other instruments to be doing as well as keyboard sounds if there will be keyboards. For the drums, he will program a track for writing and recording purposes, but ultimately leaves it wide open for Jason Stewart.
Knecht’s debut self-titled EP is available on July 16, 2021. It features Jason Stewart on drums and was mixed and mastered by Charles-Henry Volk.
L-R: Matt McCabe (Guitar), Steve McMillan (Drums), Matt Cutrara (Vocals), Lyam Morrison (Bass), Mark Wylie (Guitar)
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