" It breaks musical boundries. A vacation back to the early nineties. It is post grunge excellence. It is alternative, acoustic, and unsafe. They are wonderful purveyors of melody and lyricism. They prove themselves as a talented entitiy capable of producing great period music and of packaging emotion and alternative rock into one sonically satisfying box to be opened"

The Mace and Crown

Brandon Webb

 

Pig Radio, the second release from The Influence, is a mix of old sounds and new. The band could best be described on this album as sounding like a mix of U2 and Pearl Jam. There are splashes of catchy melody with a heavy dose of the grunge sounding guitars and vocal stylings.If you're looking for sunshine and rainbows, you're not going to find it on Pig Radio. Archer Stephenson, the band's lead singer, writes largely introspective, dark lyrics. It's hard to say whether he's had a tough, dreary life or he's just very good at emoting that in his writing. Either way, there are some tough, gritty lyrics on this album.

 

The band members are excellent musicians for certain. There are some challenging drum chops on the album as well as intricate guitar pieces. Most of that will be lost on the average listener and that's fine. The end result is solid songs performed in a very crisp way.

The production on Pig Radio is excellent. The bottom (kick drum and bass) is tight, the snare is snappy, the guitar tones are full and the vocals are mixed in well. Hats off to the band's producer Tim Roberts for his outstanding sound.

 

Pig Radio should be a big hit on the alternative college scene. It's usually pretty inexpensive to hit those play lists and The Influence will be a perfect fit. This will be one of those albums that those people hip to the hot music will recommend to their friends.

HardRockHaven.COM

 

Virginia based, The Influence has been gaining the attention of new fans along the East Coast since their 2005 debut album and are back now with their sophomore effort, "Pig Radio." While they carved their name out backed by an acoustic sound, "Pig Radio" departs a bit from that and focuses a little bit more on a bigger rock sound that begs to be compared to late 70's era Peter Gabriel (especially vocals) combined with a dash of modern day Pearl Jam. It has been a long time since a rock-based band captured my attention the way that The Influence has on this album, but it's safe to say this band has it all. From the excellent lead vocals to the big guitars that will easily fill arenas to the thumping bass lines you will find yourself falling in love with the Influence if you give this album a spin.

AllAgesZine.COM

 

" One of the best bands out of Hampton Roads today!" A wonderful collection of listenable tunes"

NPR

Paul Shugrue