NightNight, Loud Harp, Alex Bateman and Soft Science to play at Velour on Friday

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Something big is about to hit the Provo music scene. One band is reuniting and one band is just getting started. Together, these bands will put on a show that is out of the ordinary.

On Friday Sept. 28, Provo’s Velour Live Music Gallery will host Alex Bateman, NightNight, Loud Harp and Soft Science. This show will be the culmination of a coming-home show, a revival show and a last chance effort at a Kickstarter campaign.

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Mason Porter, member of Soft Science prepares for the show on Friday Sept. 28 at Velour.
Loud Harp has never played a show in Utah, but is well known elsewhere. They just came home from a successful summer tour and according to local musician Mason Porter,  their debut in Provo is highly anticipated.

NightNight is band comprised of local heros in the Provo music scene. The band features Scott Shepard,who also sings for New Nervous and Book On Tape Worm.

“We’re all working on different projects,” Shepard said. “But it’s fun to get together for this side project, especially for this show. We want to support Soft Science. The album they’re working on sounds incredible.”

The other members of NightNight include McKay Stevens, singer for The Vibrant Sound and co-founder of Northplatte Records with Joshua James, and Nate Pyfer who toured with Joshua James and produced The Moth & The Flame’s album and is producing Soft Science’s record. NightNight has a big local following and hasn’t played a show in nearly two years.

Shepard said playing at the Velour rejuvenates the band.

“There is such a good community in Provo,” Shepard said. “We look for and foster friendships when we do play. The vibes we get are good, and it pumps us up for more projects. We feed off the success everybody of there and that helps make it a great show.”

Soft Science is a relatively new band working on its first album. Like the name implies, Soft Science uses electronic beats to create sounds decorated with melancholic melodies. The thunderous, powerful beats are evocative of the mystique surrounding the mood of the band. The organic and naturalistic sounds are produced electronically and build on each other to create an aesthetic unlike any other in the local scene.

“Electronic music is something that’s never been incredibly popular in Provo,” Jason Gibby, the band’s primary beat maker, said. “We just think it’s fun to make music that’s fresh and if people like it, all the better.”

The band consists of Mason Porter (vocals), Scott Haslam (guitar), Jason Gibby (synthesizer, samplers) and Jared Price (base, synthesizer). Each of the members work together, exchanging positive criticism and encouragement to further and deepen the sounds of the band.

“We rely on the interaction of technology and traditional instruments to create an innovative musical experience,” Haslam said. “One of our goals is to push musical boundaries. We are exploring new ways to be creative both with audio and visuals. In an artistic, non-traditional way, we want our shows to be as exciting as rock shows, but with a totally different sound.”

The band’s album “Basic.Complex” is in the final stages of production. The show on Friday will serve as the final promotional push for the Kickstarter campaign the band launched to raise funds to finish the record.

Soft Science is offering interactive incentives to those who pledge to the Kickstarter campaign. Those who pledge $10 are pre-ordering their copy of the album, those who pledge $25 will have the privilege of attending a pre-listening pizza party with the band, and those who pledge $50+ will get to come into the studio and record sounds with the band that will be used in live shows and possibly future albums. Other incentives can also be found at the Kickstarter page.

“Producing this album has been a slow process,” Porter said. “We realized it was in our best interest to put our all into recording. We’ve already spent a lot of money for studio time and stuff, now we’re asking our fans to help get us the rest of the way. This is a chance for us to connect with our fan base, and it gives them a chance to see our growth.”

Those in attendance at the show will be able to pledge their assistance to this up and coming band at the merchandise table at Velour.

“We’re really excited for this show,” Price said. “We’re used to playing with a lot of folk or rock bands, and we love that music, but the line-up for this show is more similar to our sound than usual, because we are playing with NightNight. We’re striving to create the chance for fans to connect to something new and fresh in the music scene.”

Correction: In the first edition of this story, it said NightNight is coming out with a new album in October. It is actually Book on Tapeworm that will release a new album.

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