Photo by Michael Donahue // Buy this photo
After the Exhale: (from left) Drew Nance, Josh Adams, Stefan Heaberlin, Sean Flowers and Blake Peel.
The band After the Exhale’s original name was “Accusations of Evil.”
“It just kind of sounds like metal,” said guitarist and band co-founder Sean Flowers, 18. “A lot of syllables.”
They changed the name after their first show. “A lot of people were like, ‘Oh, what does that mean?’ They were thinking we were being judgmental, I guess.”
Photo by Michael Donahue
After the Exhale: (from left) Drew Nance, Josh Adams, Stefan Heaberlin, Sean Flowers and Blake Peel.
Flowers and his girlfriend found the new name in the side notes of a Bible.
“It’s what’s gonna happen after your last exhale, your last breath,” said drummer and band co-founder Blake Peel, 17.
“We believe if you’re saved you go to Heaven and if not, you go to the bad place,” Flowers said.
“We’re all clean and we’re all Christians,” said vocalist Stefan Heaberlin, 21.
Heaberlin, who wasn’t the group’s original lead singer, loved the band when he saw them play at the old Skatepark of Memphis. “I messaged them a week later on MySpace asking if they needed a second guitarist.”
Guitarist Josh Adams, 16, also approached the band about joining. “I knew them from shows,” he said. “One day I came into Kroger where he (Flowers) works and said that I heard they were looking for a guitarist. That they were making some changes.”
“When we were metal with our old vocalist, Tony Diana, we had a song actually called ‘The One Where Everything Stops and Tony Screams,’” Flowers said. “We didn’t take it (the band) too seriously. That’s when we started doing what we’re doing now.”
They describe their current sound as “hard core metal,” “noise metal” or “noise core.”
Bass player Drew Nance, 18, is the newest member of the group. “I’ve been listening to music before I was born,” he said. “During Elvis week my dad put headphones up to my mama’s stomach and I started kicking.”
Heaberlin, who writes most of the lyrics, has a different approach to song writing. “Maybe three or four songs down I came in here with a digital camera and just filmed them playing it (one of their songs). I put it on my computer and sat there playing it over, making the words fit to the music.”
All their songs, including “Circles,” “Control” and “Watch,” have a positive message.
Adams wrote the lyrics to “Away from the Storm,” which was about how he lost three of his grandparents within a short period of time. “God can get you through this even if you’re beaten down to where you don’t even think you can get up,” he said. “He’s gonna help you to stand.”
Members of After the Exhale don’t preach at their shows; they invite people to hang out with them at McDonald’s after their gigs, Flowers said “Just to be like, ‘Hey, what’s up? We don’t care what the heck you’re doing. It doesn’t matter. We’re still gonna love you no matter what,’” he said. “I guess that’s our message more than just throwing it in people’s faces.”
Listen Up spotlights area performers. Michael Donahue can be reached at 529-2797.
After the Exhale
The band performs Sunday at the Hi-Tone Cafe at 1913 Poplar. Doors open at 6 p.m. Cover: $12 in advance, $14 at the door. Call: 278-8663.
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