| The Letterpress | |
| Origin: | Mesa, Arizona, United States |
| Genre: | Math rock, indie rock, emo |
| Label: | Sunset Alliance |
| Associated Acts: | Rajiv Patel, Before Braille, Noah Blake, Foreign Holiday |
| Past Members: | Jeremy Drysdale - Bass, Vocals Rajiv Patel - Lead Bass Dustin Carson - Drums Braden McCall (short stint) - Guitar |
The Letterpress was a rock band from Mesa, Arizona, most widely known for its lack of guitars, as the band originally only consisted of two basses and a drum set.
The Letterpress was formed with the idea of doing something different, taking then-current Before Braille guitarist Rajiv Patel and placing a bass in his hands, placing him with a former member of Before Braille, Dustin Carson, on drums, and then finishing up the trio was Jeremy Drysdale, of Noah Blake, who would sing and also play bass.[1] The product of this composition would lead to, what one critic called, "rhythmically beautiful melodies . . . that really can't be compared directly to another band."[2] Notwithstanding that critics view of the band's original sound, the Letterpress would draw comparisons to Pinback during most of its activity.[3]
When Rajiv Patel left the band in 2004 to serve a mission in Peru for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), he was replaced by another former member of Before Braille, Braden McCall,[4] and demoed one song with McCall titled Physical Map, which was released on the band's MySpace page.[5] This, however, was a departure from what originally made the band novel, since McCall played the guitar. Nevertheless, it appears that McCall's activity with the band was short-lived, as he later left the Letterpress to focus his efforts on his other band, Alcohol(iday).[4]
Although Rajiv Patel had expressed his desire to return the Letterpress following his mission to record more material,[4] it seems that the original iteration would reunite only once more to perform with Before Braille, Fivespeed, The Player Piano, and Novi Split during Sunset Alliance's ten-year anniversary show in January 2010.[6]
Various former releases