In August of 2010, the five musicians in the Western Massachusetts band Infinite August shared a moment.
Individual members had previously paid their dues in such area ensembles as Melodious Culture, Vantage Point, The Elephant Disco and more. The group—singer Laurie Chmielewski, brothers Michael (guitar, vocals) and Steven Dubuque (lead guitar, vocals), bassist Kyle Douglas and drummer Brian Bourke—joined together to make a concentrated attempt at achieving music stardom on a national stage. But first, the aspiring collective needed a name.
“[The band name] came as a result of a particularly inspired couple of weeks in August where the band wrote a large amount of songs in a couple weeks and formed the basis for their sound,” says Michael Dubuque. “It was taken as a name to try and keep that sound and inspiration forged in that fateful August. We thought it was original and poetic. Metaphorically, it was supposed to represent the idea of wanting to hang on to the feeling summer stirs in us. That was the summer of our infinite August.”
Since then, the band has evolved from more folk-leaning origins towards a high-energy rock sound that highlights both Chmielewski’s powerhouse vocals and the songwriting skills of Dubuque along with the other members’ individual styles.
Infinite August has shared the stage with alternative guitarist Buckethead and former Grateful Dead percussionist Mickey Hart at various festivals, and has appeared on the locally produced television show Mass Appeal, where they performed the song “Irreverently.” More recently, the band held a CD release party at the Iron Horse Music Hall in December for its EP Backslider, and, according to Dubuque, plans are already in the works to record a follow-up.
He says, “We plan, most definitely, to work in the upcoming year with the area’s best and most talented audio engineer, Warren Amerman at Rotary Records in West Springfield. We just released our debut EP, Backslider, which was recorded and produced at Rotary Records a few months ago, and have already sold out of our initial pressing.”
Interested fans should note that Backslider is available to purchase online via iTunes and CD Baby, and physical copies of the release might still be found at Turn It Up! in Northampton. But for those who can’t wait for a taste, the album track “Marie” can currently be streamed on Infinite August’s Facebook and Myspace pages.
“I think we have grown a lot as we have ‘come into our own’ as a group,” says Dubuque. “Music has been inspirational and formational in all of our lives in more ways than we can hope to ever acknowledge.”
