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COMMON CRAVE

Hip Hop / Funk / Pop

Philadelphia

About

The Five fly guys of COMMON CRAVE are Dave Humes, George Waldie, Nick "Souks" Matsoukas, Brandon Rutter and Nathan Barnett. Each adding their signatures from different genres of music, the five musicians when combined explode into a nasty mix of hip-hop, rock, jazz, funk, and R&B.

Humes, Waldie, and Matsoukas all grew up in West Chester, PA. Dave and Souks attended high school together, while George went to a rival high school. Ironically, through sports not music, Dave and George met at an early age. Both played in rock bands through their high school years and eventually did a bunch of show swaps at various venues in West Chester and Philadelphia. Souks spent his high school years delving into hip-hop, making beats and working with various emcees in the area, spitting his own verses occasionally.

Moving ahead in time, and by clear coincidence, the three musicians all decided to attend Drexel University, Dave and George as music industry majors and Souks as a business major. After hearing a guitar line that Dave played on acoustic guitar while at a party, Souks was hooked. They agreed to write something together, however, both got caught up in the move down to Drexel.

After getting settled in down at school, Dave played a jazzy chord progression, to which Souks requested he play the first two chords on loop. Souks then did what he does--dropped a beat to it. After writing the basic guitar groove and drum beat, Dave introduced George to Souks. Although they had never met until this time, the chemistry was immediate, powerful and overwhelming. Once George was introduced to the track, it was on like popcorn. George wrote a catchy verse melody and the song became "THC (The Hot Cut)." The track came out so well that the three musicians decided to run with it and call their trio/production team COMMON CRAVE.

During the winter of 2005, COMMON CRAVE wrote 8 complete tracks and a wealth of unfinished grooves and beats. Their initial tracks were recorded in the dorms on the most amateur of recording software. After all, it was the beginning of freshman year, so none of the musicians know much about music engineering or production. The three guy's knew, without a doubt, that they had a powerful thing going on, which gave them the desire to perform. Thus, came a chance meeting with Brandon Rutter a skilled, cool bass player and Nathan Barnett a fierce, yet smooth drummer. Both very skilled and accomplished musicians in their own right, with very similar musical experiences and students at Drexel as well. Having put the "Dream Team" in effect, it was time to introduce COMMON CRAVE to the world. So, just for kicks, COMMON CRAVE entered themselves into "EMERGENZA," which is a worldwide competition for original music. They where accepted into the competition and played the first round at the 5 spot, in Philly. The guys drew an attendance of 70 people who came specifically to see them and represented them with overwhelming praise and enthusiasm. After winning the primary round, COMMON CRAVE moved on to the semifinal of Philly at the Northstar Bar.

COMMON CRAVE did their homework for the Northstar Bar show. They sold a record setting 220 presale tickets and drew a walk-in crowd of an additional 100 spectators--combining with the smaller draw of the other bands for a crowd of over 500. Needless to say, their show was bananas and they rocked the house winning the round, topping other great talent, such as the Subliminal Orphans (collaborated with Cypress Hill). The win was made even sweeter with the fact that COMMON CRAVE completely devastated 250 plus bands at this point, leaving them all in the dust. With this win, they where catapulted forward into the Philly/NY/DC final round. Once again, they brought a huge crowd and packed the house, but fell short of first place. Based on their rank after the Philly/NY/DC final at the TLA, they had proved themselves better than over 500 original bands, some signed to indie and major labels.

During a hiatus due to Nick transferring to UCONN, Dave and George both started working in professional recording studios, learning all the tricks of the trade in the music engineering world. Both produced various, different unsigned artists from different genres, creating their instincts as producers. After a year at UCONN, Souks missed COMMON CRAVE too much and made another college transfer to Penn State, completing what the group calls his "college tour." Over the summer of '07, the three hit the studios hard and wrote fresh new tracks. All with HEAT and FIRE comin off them.

Having come out of the studio with heat seeking songs, COMMON CRAVE has hit the street running with songs that are a mix of very eclectic sounds and lyrics all written, performed, engineered, and produced by the group. The group has appeared at DOC WATSON, GRAPE STREET, for the Comcast Battle of the Bands, THE KHYBER, THE RUSTY NAIL and they appeared on THE NAIL Radio Show, THE NORTHSTAR BAR and they were the opening act for DREXEL'S NEW STUDENT ARRIVAL DAY. Keep an eye on and an ear glued to the streets, because COMMON CRAVE is definitely on the move and coming to a venue near you!! Check out their sophomore album, "WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS".

Common Crave is:
Nick (Souks) Matsoukas - emcee, drum beats, sampler, turn tables
Dave Humes - electric guitars, bass, synthesizers, piano, vocals
George Waldie - acoustic guitar, vocals, synthesizers, piano, bass
Brandon Rutter - Bass, Sax
Nathan Barnett - Drums, Traps, Alto Sax and Bass

When you hear them, you will be Jones'n for more!!!

Click to visit Common Crave Music.com

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