Songs of ghosts and memories. Songs about surviving and escaping heartland hometowns. Songs of lust, overcoming fears, and pandering shamelessly to the ones you love. Songs about strong beginnings and frustrating endings. Life, from beginning to end and all things between. These are the themes brought to you by All the Lights. Fortified with three songwriters — Simeon Berkley, Dave Keats, and Matt Levy — each with their own vocal and musical styles, All the Lights will take you on a musical journey spanning decades of influences. Floating on an undercurrent of the Chapel Hill indie rock scene, their original songs infuse musical flavorings reminiscent of Crowded House, Elvis Costello, John Mellencamp, Neil Young, Cream, with a good dose of Americana. Featuring Mary Anne Barckhoff on bass and Groves Willer on drums, the songwriters rotate on guitar, keyboards and lead vocals. The rough and sweet vocal harmonies will give you chills while the diverse arrangements of these talented musicians will surely bring you to full eargasm.
Simeon Berkley (guitar, vocals, keyboards): Having played in such bands as the Mind Sirens, Simeon, the Bastages, Mystery Ranch, Gobotz, John Lennon's Tongue, Dickweed, and the Glow in the Dark Scars, Simeon joined Matt and Marc to form All the Lights to realize their own brand of quirky surrealist rock.
Dave Keats (guitar, vocals, keyboards): Hailing from the suburbs of New York City, Dave has spent the last 20 years performing around the Triangle in dad-rock cover bands (867-5309, anyone?), and also as a solo acoustic performer. He spent the late 90's working in NYC for record labels, writing, recording, and performing throughout NY, hoping for a shot at rock stardom he's grateful never came. Fun fact: Mom and Dad made him rent his first guitar.
Matt Levy (guitar, vocals, keyboards): As for many GenExers, a guitar and a 4 track cassette player created a lasting obsession. In the Triangle of NC, Matt played guitar in Kismet and drums in Go Wheels. In the Pacific Northwest, Matt was on guitar and supporting vocals for Sleep Censors. When he quit his day job, Matt returned to NC with the goal of forming a new band with Chapel Hill songwriter, Marc Sloop. Marc invited Simeon and All the Lights began to take shape.
Mary Anne Barckhoff (bass): Mary Anne has written, recorded and performed music on bass, guitar and vocals with various original, cover and tribute bands such as Little Miss Messy, Viva la Venus, and Shoot to Thrill (AC/DC tribute), among various others in NC and around the world. She met Matt Levy and Dave Keats in a few jam sessions with her former Fields of Mars bandmate, Eric Peace. Matt invited both Dave and Mary Anne to join and thus her bass playing became part of the band's style.
Groves Willer (drums): A ubiquitous staple in the Chapel Hill, NC music scene for decades, Groves has played bass and drums in numerous bands, including: Evil Weiner, Shark Quest, Family Dollar Pharoahs, Phatlynx and Dex Romweber and the New Romans. Known for grabbing the spine of a song like few others and contributing key suggestions for arrangement, Groves locks with Mary Anne to create a rock-solid foundation for All the Lights.
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