The Sentinels

 Sentinels return with a second full-length album, Dynamic Ribbon Device. A follow up to 2011’s Music Of The Pleistocene, the record was a solid year in the making due to classic upheaval in the band’s lineup. A stellar rock band always proves the adage that the whole is greater than its parts. Dynamic Ribbon Device proves that despite departures, The Sentinels' grasp continues to approach its reach. In the Fall of 2012, following the writing process for most of the tracks on Dynamic Ribbon Device, drummer Zebulun Barnow departed. The search ensued to find a drummer who could quickly learn the new songs and get the band into the studio as soon as possible. Working the band’s network of friends and family, Michael Nicasio was selected to fill the drum seat. A solid grasp of the weirder time signatures and rhythms in the songs, combined with the fact that he and Liz Ele (vocals) were both drum-line kids in high school, allowed Michael to slot right in to The Sentinels' M.O. Sentinels entered the studio in April of 2013 with Kris Poulin to begin tracking. Chicago mainstay and current San Diegan Poulin had also recorded Music Of The Pleistocene. Throughout 2013, the band returned to the studio in phases to track bass and guitars whenever time and Poulin became available. In October, 2013, with much of the record already tracked, Nicasio left the band to spend more time with his wife, dog, and forthcoming first child. Drummerless for the second time in a year, Sentinels pushed ahead to finish the record with a combination of remote mixes and one-off days in the studio. Poulin flew to Chicago in the Spring of 2014 for a five-day session to finish and mix the record. On April 20, 2014, Dynamic Ribbon Device was completed, one year to day that it was begun. Of the new work, Melissa Urbanski (bass) says, “It’s a darker record, but it feels more grounded too. Something that sounds different sonically, perhaps a little heavier than before.” Ele’s lyrics are different too. “Lyrically, the first record was ‘sex, drugs, and rock and roll’, but with the new record it’s more about ‘sex and rock and roll’. I forgot about the drugs.” Reg Shrader (guitars) offers his assessment: "It's better than the last one. That's the only goal." Completing the current phase of the band, drummer Jason Hanggi joined in May of 2014 to complete The Sentinels (version 3.0). The band will be promoting Dynamic Ribbon Device with a short tour in the Summer following the record’s release on July 29th. After that the four Sentinels are back to working perpetually on the next ‘new record. 

• http://www.sentinelsrock.com