PRESS RELEASE 9.98

Clocking in at over seven minutes in length, "Confessional" might not be the most commercially viable cut on Second Coming's self-titled Capitol Records debut, but it's definitely the most telling -- the most telling of their sound, style, roots and direction. It is a swaggering epic that blurs the lines between their hometown's trademarked grunge sound and the classic rock backgrounds that make the Seattle quartet one of hard rock's brightest prospects.

"A lot of the bands that have come and gone in the rock arena have been bands that are all about a certain sound, not necessarily about the songs," says guitarist Dudley Taft. "We're more about having good songs that will last a long time. Techno stuff may make up 10% of one of our songs, but if that's something that rock grows out of in a few years, that's all right with us. We only use it as a flavor for the rest of the music, but we don't depend on it.... If we want to do something straightforward, great. If we want something soft, with an orchestra, or heavy and guitar-driven, great. We view our music as eclectic and powerful, and we're a band that won't limit ourselves."

Taft, vocalist Travis Bracht, bassist Johnny Bacolas and drummer James Bergstrom are clearly not pigeonholed on Second Coming channeling their energy from "Confessional" into the gritty rock of "Soft," the supple strains of "Vintage Eyes" and into the beyond on the hyperactive "Electric Head." They dive to a symphonic depth with "The Song," trample through the darkness on "Tonight (The Goodnight King)" and stir a raucous rumble through "Free," when all is said and done, unraveling an eleven cut debut that puts substance ahead of style.

"There are a lot of little rules that apply to writing a song for the radio like, 'Don't bore us; get to the chorus,' and 'Hurry up and get to the second verse,"Taft, a veteran songwriter whose former band, Sweetwater, received enough acclaim for him to know the hurdles Second Coming has to clear. "I've written songs by those rules before because I got confused and lost sight. With this band, there's a breath of fresh air. I was able to forget allthat."

Adds Bergstrom: "That's the best part about this band. If there's a real cool riff or a really good groove, none of us are going to try and get out of it. There's nothing worse than when a band gets into a really cool rift then cuts it short to rush into the chorus."

Bracht agrees, convinced that Second Coming's appeal is that of a band where songs are the focus, image and commerciality are not a concern and lasting power will be a reward earned by songs that stick with listeners. "I like to go into a room and just start playing -- jamming old school. The bass player's got a cool line, everyone builds around it, and we see where it goes. I honestly don't know how anyone can write a 2-1/2 minute song."

Remarkably, rock fans have a little-known cover band called FTA to thank for Second Coming. FTA, the acronym for "Funding the Album" as the foursome called themselves, played Top 40 rock covers by night, making enough money in the Seattle suburbs to record an eight-track debut on their own, pay Kelly Gray (Candlebox) for his role as co-producer with Taft and fund Second Coming. The band played their first show in Seattle proper in July 1997, after honing their originals amidst their cover sets. "

"The people that were coming to our FTA shows turned into our hard core fans. We would try our original shit out on them between Black Sabbath tunes, and pretty soon they started to want to hear our songs more than the covers," Bacolas recalls. "We made money from the Top 40 gigs, fine-tuned our material, and here we are. We had already been done with our album for two months and were going to do our own distribution, when we were signed by Capitol. The deal was like an added bonus." The band decided to add three songs and re-master the existing eight for the Capitol release and little more than a year after their first gig as Second Coming, are on the road supporting their major label debut.