See our blog for up-to-date info, which will one day be part of this biography.

Chapter 1: The Summer of 2001

It all started in the summer of 2001 with a jam session at drummer Chris Myers' house with guitarists Gregg Rossetti and Rich Skibinsky. Rich approached Gregg after seeing him sport one of his numerous Blind Guardian t-shirts and began a metal conversation, since people with good taste in music seem to be few and far between. Screen names were eventually swapped and the jam session took place. To begin this band played on chord progressions in E minor and Gregg played natural minor runs while Rich sweeped diatonic arpeggios over the respective chords and Chris double kicked with two feet on one pedal. It was metal. Gregg's friend Kevin O'Hara, a singer whose musical interests include The Backstreet Boys and Medieval music, asked to be the singer. His debut performance was a mind-blowing metal version of "The Star-Spangled Banner," America's National Anthem. Gregg left for college in August while Rich and Chris were still in high school and Kevin was still mooching off of his rich roommate. Time passed...

Chapter 2: The Year of 2002

Gregg's first year in college, in which is he pursuing a degree in music composition, opened his mind to many different styles of music and incorporated them into his compositions. This would greatly foreshadow Suspyre's current progression. Over the past year, the band was still in its semi-existent stage. Rich was busy with school most of the time, while Gregg jammed with other musicians. There was a time period when the band used drummer Matt Squicciarini (ex-Swarm, ex-Entity), while Chris played bass. This didn't last long due to certain conflicting personalities. During the summer though, the band decided it needed to get together and actually accomplish something. Some recordings of the songs, I See, Perfect, and Father of Hate were done, but never actually completed. Later in 2002, Gregg spoke to his long time music friend Steve Petrilak about joining the band. He and Gregg made a deal to trade off guitar and bass on each others' songs. That didn't work. Also, when Steve and Kevin work together, the essential element of seriousness starts to fade.

Chapter 3: The Commencement of Something in 2003

May 31, 2003 was the day when things started to happen. It was Suspyre's first show. In the week before it, Gregg came home from college, the band got a list of names from a bunch of people, picked one they liked and played with the spelling, found two bass players in the same day, IMed a singer, and picked and learned songs for the 45 minute set. It was highly productive. Originally, the show was going to be played completely instrumental due to the lack of a singer, and the bass was going to be completely done by Chris's brother Steve. But, a few days before the show, bassist Kirk Schwenkler entered the scene. He knew Rich and Chris from school, and Gregg actually remembered him from an orchestra they played in together many years before. Out of a chance of luck, Chris went online and semi-jokingly IMed Crimson Roots' singer, Matt Hebert. He showed up a few minutes later and agreed to fill in for us. With only one rehearsal he was ready to sing the covers that the band performed at the fire station that Saturday. Thanks Matt. That summer the band started recording.

One may be wondering how all the songs came to be. Well, a good thing called technology really helps this. When the composer wants a piece to be written, he/she simply makes a MIDI file of it in one of the many music writing software programs available. So far Cakewalk Sonar has been the main program, due to its ability to record audio and its ease of use. Anyway, once the music is written, the file is sent to the other members, they make changes if they want to (usually just adding a solo) and then learn their parts. This was a very helpful tool in recording, because we could simply open the staff view and read the music if there were any discrepancies; no one really had to teach anyone anything.

If you want to get into detail, each song has a history. We can go on and on about how the songs came to be (some more interesting than others), or we could not. Let's not.

Chapter 4: The Winter of 2003/2004

This is when the band actually started advertising and getting shows. Rehearsals in this time period included playing holiday songs, jazz standards, and yep... show tunes. Be prepared for our metal version of "My Favorite Things" and our upcoming album, "A Very Metal Christmas," which is our response to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, but with seasonal instead of religious tunes to help appeal to more people. This is when Suspyre decided to be an instrumental band and have Kirk sing for the shows just to have singing for the sake of singing.

Many shows were played. Original vocalist Kevin O'Hara  contacted the band around this time in regard to rejoining. Since the band was in the middle of auditioning singers, his timing was not-so-great. But, at the band's performance at Last Band Standing, Kevin blessed the stage with his presence and wit while he sung a special performance of Perfect, which was actually written by Gregg and Kevin years before.

Weeks after the Last Band Standing show, Raffaele Gerace was announced as Suspyre's lead singer. He was recorded over the existing instrumental recordings of I See, Father of Hate, and Perfect, and the demo was sent out to record labels.

Chapter 5: 2005 - The Silvery Image

This year marks many important events for Suspyre.  In order to deliver the best possible debut album, changes needed to be made.  Due to the direction in which the recordings were going, the abilities of some members have been questioned on how they will fit in the new music.  First was the replacement of Chris Myers with Sam Paulicelli, then the replacement of Raffaele Gerace with Clay Barton.  The album needed a more unique sound, and the band believes these changes will be what is best. 

October 24, 2005 marks the release of the band's first full-length album, The Silvery Image.  The recording process started in December 2004 and ended in July 2005.  The band is very excited about making their debut into the progressive rock/metal scene with this album, which they believe is a strong collection of diverse musical compositions.  Reviews of this CD can be found here. 

Chapter 6: 2006 - A Great Divide

Once the first record was released Suspyre played quite a few shows.  It was great to finally play some original songs that were never performed live, as well as some new covers. 

Response to The Silvery Image during this time period has been overwhelmingly great.  To follow up on a good album, the band sought to make an even better album, A Great Divide.  The first half, The Alignment of Galaxies was composed in August of 2005, while The Silvery Image was still in its final stages of completion.  The second half, The Origin of a Curse was composed in November 2005, when the band decided a full-length was a better idea than just releasing the first half as an EP.  During this time Suspyre parted with bassist Kirk Schwenkler.  Bass extraordinaire, Noah Martin from Atlanta, Georgia was hired to record the album.  The permanent replacement for Kirk is now Andrew Distabile, a friend of the band whom actually switched from guitar to bass in order to play. 

A Great Divide is to be released hopefully by the end of 2006 on Nightmare Records.  This album is more diverse is every sense of the word: long pieces vs. short pieces, straight-forward rhythms vs. superimposing odd meters, microtonal clusters and just intonation vs. 12TET.  There is a balance between heavy riffs, lush/flowing orchestral parts, dissonant/energetic orchestral parts, classic prog, and a tasteful use of pastiche.

The album is a lot to take in; the first and second halves each have their own motives.  In the first half, you hear a melody first on a keyboard in The Singer, which later is heard on alto saxophone, various orchestral instruments, electric guitar, and finally, a remnant of it on an acoustic guitar at the end of Resolution. 

The second half plays with lots of different motives.  You'll hear the organ melody in April in the Fall later in Alterations of the Ivory.  The "Mega Man" sounding riff in April also gets used in Blood and Passion, (which in itself, is a culmination of many previous ideas found on the second half of the album).  Some of the ideas are hidden and you won't notice unless you really listen.  And, yes, there are quotes of other music throughout the album that sometimes is obvious, sometimes not so much. 

Chapter 7: 2007

A Great Divide was finally released on March 20, 2007.  To help promote, Suspyre traveled to Mokena, Illinois to participate in the Chicago PowerFest 2007. 

New music is being composed for another album.  Gregg has lots of stuff left over back from when The Silvery Image was being recording that was never taken to fruition.  That, and some brand new material is going to be arranged for an album that will be released in 2008.