Usually my entries into the hallowed halls of the Synthesis Band You’ve Never Heard Of…OF THE DAY!!111 archive have some sort of clever plot device or other thematic tie together. But today’s selection, the Simi Valley based Fire On the Plains is just an honest to God badass band that I you more than likely have never heard of. The band recently completed a West Coast tour, stopping through Chico this past weekend. And though I had heard the songs streaming on their Myspace, which featured the typically pissed vocals and skronking guitars found in most modern thrashy metal bands, the recordings do no justice to the band live. The vocals were heavier, the drums were unflinchingly on point, and the band’s seasoned stage presence belied their youthful exuberance. The band currently has a self-released EP available, and will be playing around Southern California over the next couple of months, including a show with metal upstarts Carnifex. LEARN ABOUT IT!

This past summer I had the awesome opportunity to spend a month on tour with Ruth, an amazing band that thankfully many people have now definitely heard of, since they just got off the road with Switchfoot and Relient K. Since all we basically did for a month was throw fire crackers at each other and eat Waffle House there was plenty of time to sit around and listen to music, taking turns turning each other on………….to new music [c'mon now, this is a family blog]. One night Ruth frontman, and namesake, Dustin Ruth put on some shit that he was jocking, and we all agreed that it was pretty badass. The band was called Pomegranates, like the fruit, and the juice. Here’s what they say about themselves:

Pomegranates began in the young minds of Jacob Merritt and Isaac Karns, long time friends whose respective musical projects had recently disbanded. With a mutual desire to continue making music, the two began penning songs. Immediately they felt this new project was heading places, so they solicited the help of Joey Cook, and the three got down to business. Their initial practice session gave shape to what would later become their first song, “Nursery Magic”. This was November 2006.

Four months later the band recorded their debut EP, Two Eyes, at The Lunchington in Columbus. The five-song disc was tracked in two days and boasts intricate, melodic guitar arrangements adorned by bells, samplings and keys. Hand claps and tambourines actualize in the quirky percussion section, while falsetto vocals dance delightfully above. This is sophisticated stuff for such a youthful band. When Two Eyes hit streets June 12 of 2007, it was no more than a week later they were inking a deal with indie label, Lujo Records. The bands forthcoming LP ‘Everything is Alive’ will be released in Spring of 2008.

If “Hand claps and tambourines” actualizing in the “quirky percussion section, while falsetto vocals dance delightfully above” doesn’t sound cute enough, than how about their list of influences?

Grizzly bears shooting lightning out of their eyes and riding rainbows.

Um…can someone say bad ass????! Check the doods out on the Space and tell them to come to California already.

Since Brittany already stole the band I was gonna write about today (the ultra radtacular Nothing Ever Stays ) I had to think fast. Luckily, Trevor’s post earlier today reminded me that tomorrow is the first day of the continent-crossing Emery tour, which also features, As Cities Burn, Mayday Parade, Pierce the Veil and, today’s Synthesis Band You’ve Never Heard Of….OF THE DAY!!!111: Cry of the The Afflicted.

Cry of the Afflicted first came to my attention when they were here in Chico recording their debut full length with local music / RC Plane / Halo legend Jeff Schneeweis (who also, coincidentally, recorded Nothing Ever Stay’s new EP as well…dude is on the GRIND). Hailing from British Colombia, the land of world-class trout fishing and beautiful white women, COTA rock some melodic alt-medal ala Saosin, Stutterfly, etc. Their aforementioned full-length, The Unveiling, came out this past August on Tooth and Nail subsidiary Solid State records, and features the requisite creepy ambiguous artwork.

Check them out on Myspace, or better yet, check them out in person on the following dates:

If you make it out to a show, keep an eye out for our correspondent, Mr. Trevor Sellers, and tell him you want him to BLOG MOAR: