Local band Scalise has begun promoting its second album after a two-year hiatus. The band has released a handful of singles and currently has two show dates at Bogart’s Entertainment in Apple Valley on Nov. 29 and the Turf Club in St. Paul on Dec. 9.
The new singles, “Rest of the Week,” “Fruit Snacks,” “Airbag” and “Tell Me You Need Me,” are in lead up for a currently unnamed album that continues Scalise’s sound from its 2020 release “From Nothing to Nothing,” but the band is expecting this album to be bigger and better. Although the release date has not been confirmed, it is anticipated the album will be released this spring.
“We made the album I want to listen to,” Graden Hill, lead vocalist and guitarist, said.
The band consists of six members: Hill; Rachel Scott, a 2022 St. Thomas graduate and bass player who sings both backup and lead vocal; Collyn Camara, guitar and trombone; George Knier, keyboard; Ben Schwartz, drums; and Sarah Navratil, saxophone.
“The biggest goal of the second album is growth,” Knier said. “Growth doesn’t just mean getting more fans, it also means meeting new booking agents, meeting new bands, being able to open for other bands, and that will lead to a bigger following and bigger gigs and growth in general.”
The band’s 2020 album “From Nothing to Nothing,” was a debut that landed the group opening shows for other bands by catching the attention of DJ Bonics, 95.3 Go Radio DJ and manager for the indie band Mt. Joy. These connections helped score opening performances for the band at 7th Street Entry as well.
“We didn’t expect to play bigger venues, but we would have always wanted to,” Schwartz said.
Hailing from Apple Valley, the band is named after their high school band teacher, whose last name is Scalise. Originally formed by Hill and Schwartz for a high school talent show, the two later incorporated Camara, Scott, and Navratil by 2016, though all had known each other since middle school.
“The first album was really a learning process for me because I learned everything not to do really quickly,” Hill said. “We listened back to that first album, and I still am really proud of it. I think it’s great.
“You can tell it’s a bunch of kids in the basement trying to make an album, where this next one, we took all the stuff that we learned from the first one and improved on it.”
After realizing some of the difficulty of recording in the bedroom, Hill reached out to mixing engineer Adam Krinsky, who helped teach the band about the recording process. He helped mix the first album and is mixing the second album as well.
“He’s been really cool and pushing it in ways that we wouldn’t have thought to do,” Hill said. “That also has shown me the importance of collaboration.”
The band could not consistently come together to record or collaborate on their previous record, so Hill carried much of the writing, producing and promotional work by himself. Now that the band is mostly out of school, it has become a more full-force effort.
“The biggest difference and the biggest lead up to album two is that we have a plan now,” Camara said. “I think now that we can all kind of sit down and go through and figure out the fine details. … We can maximize on all of the resources we have and make it as enjoyable, but also as big, as it can be.”
Joe LaPorte can be reached at lapo7605@stthomas.edu