The Turn(2)

The Turn is a rock band from Rockville Centre, NY whose lyrical and melodic music is influenced by artists such as The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Stevie Wonder, John Mayer and Jeff Buckley. They combine soulful blues-driven guitar with hard-hitting drums and melodies; piano and organ add a taste of something Motown. The band has been playing and performing together since August 2007 and in February 2008 released their debut EP, "Long Story Short."



The Turn was founded by Brian Ripps, the band’s lead vocalist and lead guitarist, and Pat McDermott, who sings background vocals and plays guitars and keyboards. Brian and Pat collaborate on writing the band’s original material.



The name "The Turn" came from one of Brian's favorite movies, "The Prestige." In the movie, Michael Caine’s character gives a detailed explanation of what any great magic trick should consist of. This is a quote directly from the film:



"Every great magic trick consists of three parts or acts. The first part is called "The Pledge." The magician shows you something ordinary: a deck of cards, a bird or a man. He shows you this object. Perhaps he asks you to inspect it to see if it is indeed real, unaltered, normal. But of course... it probably isn't. The second act is called "The Turn." The magician takes the ordinary something and makes it do something extraordinary. Now you're looking for the secret... but you won't find it, because of course you're not really looking. You don't really want to know. You want to be fooled. But you wouldn't clap yet. Because making something disappear isn't enough; you have to bring it back. That's why every magic trick has a third act, the hardest part, the part we call "The Prestige."



The idea of taking something ordinary, making it extraordinary and attempting to appeal to the senses of the people watching is the idea behind the band’s name.



The Turn began in August 2007, Pat's first summer home from college at the University of Michigan, when he stopped by his long-time friend Brian’s house to find Brian jamming in the garage with fellow musicians Lance Weisberg, Jon Rizzo and Rob Delgaudio. Pat had always been interested in music and spent a lot of time writing himself, but had also said that it had never occurred to him to start a band. Later that evening, while chatting online, Pat suggested to Brian that they combine their efforts and start a band. Brian said that he already had something developing with the three other musicians, but he wouldn't be averse to some parallel efforts with Pat. Pat responded to that with, "Let me be a part of whatever it is you're doing and I assure you we will create the best music possible. Two musicians with drive like ours, nothing will get in our way." The rest, as they say, is history.



The band is currently at General Studios in Douglaston, NY, where “Long Story Short” was recorded, mixed and engineered, working on new material for a new CD, "The December Sessions." The first three tracks from "The December Sessions" will be released on the band's website (www.RockTheTurn.com); on its MySpace page at MySpace.com/RockTheTurn; on iTunes and other digital distributors; and on this press kit. The full CD is expected to be ready for release in mid-January.



On June 22, Brian and Pat appeared live for an interview and in-studio performance on Long Island radio station WMJC-FM’s program “Unlabeled” on which they performed their new songs "Silhouettes" and "May Day" and premiered their single "Christiana." “Christiana” was subsequently added to the program’s playlist. They have also appeared on WRCN-FM and WUSB-FM for interviews and in-studio performances.



The Turn participated in and reached the final round of the international Emergenza Music Festival at which all participants were required to perform original music. The local rounds of the festival lasted for five months, ending with the finals at Webster Hall in New York City on June 28. It was viewed as remarkable that The Turn, a band that had been performing together for only about six months, was able to equal or surpass the performances of bands that had been together for years.



The band was invited to perform at its second “Battle of the Bands” on April 5 at Molloy College in Rockville Centre. They had performed at a previous "Battle of the Bands" at Molloy and sold out sampler CDs that contained three songs from “LONG STORY SHORT.” On April 17, the band opened for the noted Billy Joel tribute band, Big Shot, also Molloy College. Big Shot’s lead singer, Mike DelGuidice, said he never watches opening acts, but he was so impressed by The Turn that he watched the band’s performance.



The Turn was honored to be asked to participate in the 7th Annual Friends of Max Kolb Telethon at Hofstra University that was broadcast on April 27 on Hofstra’s Channel 35 and streamed online courtesy of WRHU, the university’s television station. The telethon honors the memory of Max B. Kolb, an undergraduate film studies student at the University who died tragically in 2001. All proceeds from the telethon go to the Max Benjamin Kolb Endowed Scholarship, which was established by the Kolb family, with help from Hofstra, to assist other dedicated students to pursue a degree in audio/video/film in Hofstra's School of Communications.



The Turn has a keen interest in helping charitable organizations. In October and December 2007, they produced and performed in two highly-successful charity concerts for the benefit of the American Cancer Society. In November 2008, they were asked to perform in the “Momma Dukes Ride for a Cure Breast Cancer Benefit.” The band has been working with Tunes 4 the Troops, an apolitical, nonpartisan organization sending CDs and DVDs to U.S. combat troops around the world, by producing copies of “Long Story Short” and collecting CDs and DVDs to send to the troops. The band contributes a portion of their merchandise sales to various charities.