Mid 2005 founder Alex Boccia, and co-founder Ryan Rickerson began writing song material which was going in a different direction than what their current band was playing. They decided to create a new project for their new music. They soon brought drummer Ken Berens followed by singer Seth Peterson and bassist Joe Coia into the picture, and began forming and shaping the music into complete compositions in early 2006. Come 2007 the group began performing under the name Old Ironsides, the nick name of the famous USS Constitution (known for it's strength in structure and experience as it still stands today in the Boston harbor), and released their single "Breaking Loose". After performing a handful of local shows original bassist Joe Coia parted ways. In 2008 Old Ironsides released their untitled EP (featuring tracks Breaking Loose, Hours of Everyday, These Eyes, Dancing in Gobbler's Gulch, and two bonus tracks). Around this time the band had the track "Dancing in Gobbler's Gulch featured on the 10,000 disc international compilation "Chronicles: City of Sound". They continued to write music for a full length album. Soon after the band found new and current bassist Chris Miklasz. That same year Old Ironsides experienced a big step forward and had a full page review /interview in the leading Chicago suburbs newspaper the Daily Herald, and opened for national act Local H. Shortly after the band began recording their full length album "The Path Of Madness." Fast forward to 2010 the band released an unmixed/unmastered free digital download of the album, and grabbed the attention of Chicago's local music blog loudlooppress.com. The music was well received, and got a very positive review of the album. Around the same time the band was placed on the bill with national acts Nashville Pussy, Green Jelly, and Psychostick. In early 2011 Ken Berens and Ryan Rickerson parted ways from the band.
The remaining members moved forward with the album finalizing the mixes, getting it mastered, creating artwork, and released the final version in December of 2011. The album was reviewed by Keep Gem and dubbed #1 Rock Album of 2011. Since the release the band has signed an endorsement deal with 1 Chance Clothing with whom they are working
with to release a line of apparel. Old Ironsides is currently working hard to promote and market themselves online, and working towards their goals of putting together a midwest tour, playing festivals, expanding their fanbase, and creating new music.
Three phases of the moon later the dark night lit up in flame as the next member burned his way through the Earths atmosphere plummeting into the ground creating a mile-wide crater in Siberia right at the feet of Ryan and Alex. Ken Berens, traveler of space and time had arrived. Dusting off the dirt, ash, and cosmic debris, Ken accepted the invitation to continue their voyage west stowed away on a Japanese Junk ship. The ship would soon collide with a colossal glacier. As the ship sunk the trio set sail upon the ice vessel where they would find the one and only Seth "The Skull Splitter" Peterson, a long lost Scandinavian Viking King awakening from his tomb of ice. After a grueling brawl Seth had proved worthy of standing travel with Alex, Ryan, and Ken.
Their journey on the glacier had come to an end as it melted down and left them high and dry on a volcanic isle. It is here the final installment, Joe "The Terror" Coia, would be found hibernating upon a bed of bones in the islands lava tunnels. Joe is known for single handedly wiping out an entire herd of Mastodons, and eating every last bit of their succulent meat. The camaraderie was now complete and they would dub themselves...OLD IRONSIDES!! 98 days later Joe's bond with Old Ironsides would soon come to an end. It was at this time that he must return to his land of ash and flame. Every 10 years the hunter of Mastodons would awake, but for no more than 100 days only to once again settle back into hibernation. The band of mighty misfits would not be hindered.
Traveling 5,672 miles, now by horseback, Alex, Ryan, Ken, and Seth would come to a slow halt. They found themselves bathed in the darkest of shadow that has ever dimmed their sight. They peered up to discover that the proprietor of this gloom was a man of extraordinary dimension. This man...this monster was Ki Kim "Ruler of Giants." Ki decided to share his path for a time with the four men. The giant soon parted ways from the group.
The quartet arrived to the chard remains of a war torn land dotted with severed body parts and contorted ruins of metal and concrete. It would seem that Ken's time traveling abilities had turned their horses into chronoporters, and had ejected them into a time of the future. The members found themselves choking on the smoke and gas that saturated the air. Just then a series of low pitched reverberations bellowed through the silence, and through the haze a figure emerged. This thing was of human shape, but was no human being. The discarded limbs of fallen combatants were fused to the torso in a powerful mass, and the head; the head was half replaced by a cybernetic node. Known only by a lifeless name tag labeled "Chris1117" the creature stalked them in the shadows, just beyond the crest of light.
At the fore front of the wind and at the heels of the sunset, Old Ironsides continues their journey...there are many pages still to be written!
700 years ago...Alex "The Feroce" Boccia remained behind when Genghis Khan led the Mongol Horde back to China. After leading many into war and conquering 100's of villages and cities he knew it was time to move onto something bigger. He would soon meet Ryan "The Electric Man" Rickerson who escaped from a Transylvanian laboratory after the resident Mad Scientists fitted him with a bionic left hand. The two joined forces and traveled west to find the best of the best.
The best of what, they did not know, but they would soon be found!
PRESS:
'The album is paved with some tasty slabs of prog metal. Lead track 'Breaking Loose' acts as a good introduction mixing hard and heavy riffs with more intricate passages the create a good overall sound. The playing throughout is top notch, taking all the different elements in their stride. The tracks I found of most interest were 'Tomcat' which sounds not dissimilar to Metallica circa 'Kill Em All' and the final three tracks which are a trio of songs entitled 'March To War'. The tracks are broken down into 'Rise', 'Fall' and 'Redemption' starting off heavily, chilling out acoustically in the middle, then thumping home with a big ending in fine style. If you like a bit of prog metal or even metal with an interesting twist, then travelling down 'The Path To Madness' may just be a journey worth making.' - Get Ready To Rock, UK
Band Line Up:
Seth Peterson: Lead vocals
Alex Boccia: Guitar
Chris Miklasz: Bass guitar
Ryan Rickerson: Guitar
Ken Berens: Drums
Seth Peterson: Lead vocals
Alex Boccia: Guitar
Chris Miklasz: Bass guitar
Ryan Rickerson: Guitar
Ken Berens: Drums
Tracklisting:
1- Breaking Loose
2- These Eyes
3- Hours Of Everyday
4- Prelude To Midnight
5- Dancing In Gobblers Gulch
6- Tomcat
7- The Path Of Madness
8- All I Need
9- White Chapel Vigilante
10- March To War: Rise
11- March To War: Fall
12- March To War: Redemption
2- These Eyes
3- Hours Of Everyday
4- Prelude To Midnight
5- Dancing In Gobblers Gulch
6- Tomcat
7- The Path Of Madness
8- All I Need
9- White Chapel Vigilante
10- March To War: Rise
11- March To War: Fall
12- March To War: Redemption
Progressive Rock & Progressive Metal - E-Zine
