From Scarsdale: The Band Eclypse

They were about to take the stage. The familiar feeling of a free fall set in their stomach. All eight of their hearts pounded as adrenaline surged through their veins.

The Westchester County Battle of the Bands was neither their first nor their biggest gig; in fact they had played numerous times for a crowd of 2,000 at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. Despite this, The Band Eclypse felt the pressure of a competition and sensed the anticipation of an unknown crowd.

“As we took the stage to sound check, it was like getting dressed in front of strangers,” guitarist Matthew Yaspan said. “We were preparing ourselves and making sure our sounds matched each others; all the while 500 pairs of eyes were watching us.”

The band’s nerves were evident as they began playing their set before being introduced. They were forced to stop a few seconds into their first song to receive their formal introduction. After that, however, their performance was nearly flawless. The crowd cheered and screamed enough to win the band the prize for popular acclaim. Their performance was lively and active and showed a great level of chemistry between the members.

One wouldn’t be able to tell just by watching them, but The Band Eclypse has only been playing together for ten months, and had formed to play just one gig. Their history began when lead emcee’s Daniel Lonner (known as L.E.D.) and Jeremy Jordan-Jones (known as Triple J) as well as producer Scott Jacobson were accepted in an audition to play at the annual Amateur Night competition hosted by the Apollo Theater, a landmark in New York City. “The intensity of our audition was not at a high enough level to win the competition; we needed something more,” said Lonner. The trio recruited members to form a full band to ensure their victory in the four-round competition. They fielded bassist Ziya Smallens, guitarists Eric Sherman and Matthew Yaspan and pianist Ianni Drivas; Scott was moved to the drums. The group won first place in the first two rounds before being eliminated in the third. After these memorable performances, it was inevitable that the band would continue.

Since then, The Band Eclypse has made a few roster changes, including the replacement of Ianni Drivas with Andy Sherman, brother of guitarist Eric Sherman, as well as the addition of Jamie Ballan as lead singer. They are competing in The Break Contest to play for the chance to be in Bamboozle, a high-profile music festival in the Meadowlands, and have multiple performances in nightclubs scheduled in the future.

While they are serious musicians, they are all students under the age of 18. “It’s hard to be a musician especially when school remains a priority. We all want to do it full time and we do our best, but school takes up a lot of time,” says Lonner, who is also taking music classes at New York University. “We try to practice twice a week to work on our sound, and it’s enough for now, but hopefully we will be able to add more time for the band to our schedules. It’s especially difficult with Eric, who is currently attending Boston University.”

The Band Eclypse is unique in multiple ways. It consists of members from all different musical backgrounds including jazz, blues, rock, metal, hip-hop and pop. “Our goal is to be something truly different. We’re in a pretty limited genre as we are ‘rap/rock,’ but we make sure that our music crosses all types of musical borders. It’s especially helpful to be blessed with a singer like Jamie; she makes it easier to cross these musical borders,” says Jacobson.

“We want to make ourselves known. We want to show the world just how talented we are and to share our music and our message with them. It’s our desire that people know our names and that we will be forever remembered as something great that changed the way people thought about music,” emcee Jeremy Jordan-Jones explains.

Check out their tunes at www.myspace.com/thebandeclypse


(The Band Eclypse is currently in the studio recording their album, new material up soon!)