THE TIME IS NOW FOR SECOND COMING

By Patrick M. Schwarz [Night Moves] - September 1998

Bands from Seattle have a history of having an impact on the music world. In the 80's it was the hard rock of Heart and Queensryche, while the early 90's experienced the onslaught of grunge with Nirvana, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, and Mudhoney. Now in late 1998, as we approach a new millennium, a new band has emerged from Seattle with a sound that combines hard rock and grunge. The band appropriately name, is Second Coming.

Following their month long tour with Monster Magnet, the band stopped by Capitol Records here in L.A. where I had the opportunity to talk tot them a little about the band and their upcoming album.

The idea to put the band together came about 2 years ago, when guitarist Dudley Taft and bassist Yanni (Johnny) Bacolas were playing golf. "We were all between bands" recalls Taft "When I suggest that maybe we could all get together and jam a little and see how it felt. The three of them, (Bacolas, drummer James Bergstrom, and vocalist Travis Bracht) were in a cover-band called FTA, so I learned 30 or 40 tunes and we were on our way."

It didn't take long before Dudley and Travis were correlating on new original material while the band continued with their cover-gigs. Believing in their originals , the band began booking some dates as an original band and decided to record an eight song CD. By the time Second Coming performed their second show in August 1997, they had a CD, a following from their cover gigs, and were the buzz around town. "We weren't thinking about a record deal or getting signed"; says Travis with a smile. "It was actually the last thing on our minds" adds Dudley, "We just figured we'd do it ourselves and be our own little record company when people began to take notice."

Some of the people who took notice were Cathy Faulkner at radio station KISW, Seattle, who began playing them on her show and Greg Sorrels, an editor at The Album Network. Sorrels was so blown away with the band that he began shopping the CD in December of 1997.

"It was so weird" explains Travis. "We didn't hear anything for months and then it all started. Every day it was another record company." It was Capitol, Columbia, and Elektra who were the most aggressive.

Second Coming signed a multi-album deal with Capitol in early May of this year. "It's a deal that's beyond my wildest dreams, more than I could have ever hopped for."; Exclaims Travis about the Capitol Records deal. Taft concurs, and further adds that the biggest determining factor in signing with Capitol was the people. "Every-one here is on the team. They like what they do, and they all believe. It's more than a job with people at Capitol, it's the band...On the clock and off, they don't stop promoting."

The self-title debut is scheduled to be released on September 22^nd and features the eight songs on their self produced CD along with three new tracks. The first single will be "Soft" which is definitely not so!

Although the record has diversity, it maintains an identity. Most of the material is aggressive, but smooth and the mellower tunes are packed with feeling and emotion.