Four friends create success in Infamous
In a corner of a warehouse on the east side of Fishers, metal band Infamous practices and prepares for shows like this week’s inaugural Nickel Plate Music Fest.
The group, comprised of Fishers High School students Jon Iosue, Adam Anderson, Drew Johnson and Jack Rainbolt, formed in 2010. They won this year’s Gorilla Music Battle of the Bands at the Emerson Theater, a rock and local music haven in Indy and scooped a handful of honors at the Best of the Best: Indy’s Local Music Awards.
“It (forming) was just luck,” bassist and lead-singer Anderson said. “What are the odds of us all knowing each other and all playing different instruments?”
All are members of the generation directly influenced by music-based video games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band. It was happenstance that the four teens, who all knew each other since elementary school, took to different instruments.
Johnson, the drummer, picked up the sticks at age 4, and guitarists Iouse and Rainbolt dabbled with the guitar and song-writing before the band formed.
For inspiration, Infamous draws on nationally-recognized bands including metal groups Avenged Sevenfold and Asking Alexandria, mixing fast guitar riffs, big drum beats, screamo stylings and original lyricism.
With that comes frustrating misnomers from misunderstanding listeners.
“We’re not devil music,” Anderson said.
The band’s overall message is about being yourself and not letting anyone or anything bully you into self-hurt and is represented on multiple tracks in their recently released EP “Hold Your Apathy.”
They work on getting that message out there to their fans by practicing once or twice a week in the bare-bones warehouse, replete with uncovered drywall. Walking up the door, sounds of up-tempo guitar riffs and brooding lyrics permeate the walls of the building, alerting anyone who gets too close to what lives within.
While Infamous covers a couple songs, they focus on producing their own material. The writing process varies, but most of the time, instrumental tracks are put together and then the group goes to work on lyrics.
Venturing outside of the warehouse, and even Fishers, the band members say the music scene is a mix of do-gooders and those who only exist to further their own causes.
The goals of the band are loftier than playing on a local level.
Iosue said in two to three years, he wants Infamous to play one of the big stages of Vans Warped Tour, an annual music festival showcasing established and up-and-coming punk and rock bands. Further down the line, eight to 10 years to be precise, Infamous wants the same level of notoriety that Avenged Sevenfold – a band with a national following – carries.
Fans and supportive parents are indispensable to the group. The four band members may have a five-song EP, but they have zero drivers’ licenses amongst them.
The group said that Mike Iosue, Jon’s father and the band’s manager is a major asset, as well as the other parents who help the band.
Of course, there are always the fans.
“We want to get to know everyone so they actually feel part of the experience of the band,” Johnson said.
Like every popular act out there, gaining the loyalty of the fans is the first step on the trail to sought-after fame and fortune. It all started for Infamous in Fishers.
To experience the music of Infamous before this Saturday’s Nickel Plate Music Fest, visit reverbnation.com/infamoustheband and check out their Facebook page – facebook.com/InFAmousTheBand.
Nickel Plate Music Fest
Fishers Amphitheater behind town hall
Cost: $10 at the door, kids 10 and under Free
Bands and set times unavailable as of press time
10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
