Band celebrates its new CD

The Ohio rock band is riding high with a new album and upcoming shows.
YOUNGSTOWN -- Perhaps too soon to call it a scene, Northeast Ohio is slowly catching the nation's ear with numerous local rock acts garnering up-and-coming status. Such spellbinding bands include Cherry Monroe and Chimaira.
Another band worth mentioning is Between Home and Serenity, which is celebrating its newest album "Power Weapons In The Complex" with an upcoming CD release party Saturday at The Cellar in Struthers.
Normally, this is where the band talks about its long struggle for success, with years and years of empty clubs and failed attempts at stardom, but the truth is the North Olmsted quintet has moved up the ranks fairly quickly in music industry time. Less than two years old, Between Home and Serenity features a creative synergy among its five members.
"We were all playing in different bands," said bassist Mike Mealey. "Adam [Kraft] and I were doing a harder rock thing and Ian [Ver], Brian [Weir] and Anthony [Dargaj] happened to be doing the emo side. Both bands were kind of not like going anywhere. And we were like, let's do something now before ... we didn't want to go to college and stuff like that."
Pushing for success
As burdensome as college may be, the members from Between Home and Serenity were anything but slackers, dedicating all of their time offstage to growing a grassroots following. This included playing out as much as possible, as well as promoting the band with flyers and sending demo tapes to anyone who would listen.
With the emo/screamo genre at full throttle around the nation, fate soon smiled on the band when Cleveland-based label Rust Records heard something it liked and signed the group.
"Obviously, we get characterized with Story of the Year and stuff like that but then when you really listen to the music, our guitar players do a lot more like guitar harmony," Mealey said. "A lot of our guitar parts are just as catchy as the vocal melodies. And Ian doesn't sing so much about cutting his wrists and blacking his eyes, which is really in the scene right now. He writes lyrics more where people can put their own perspective on it and relate to it in their own way. And that's awesome."
Emphasizing live acts
The future appears bright for the band, which plans on spending the next few years touring its newest album. Among its upcoming dates are the first three Vans Warped Tour shows next week. Naturally, the hope is that the band's compelling live set, which showcases its emo-sounding/alternative-influenced material, will again grow fans one show at a time.
"There are a lot of bands, big in the scene right now, whose live shows are less than desirable," Mealey said. "We try to put on a show because when people want to listen to your songs, they can put a CD in their car, but when you're coming to a show, you know they are coming to see you play. So we have to like put on a show for them so they have something to talk about, something to catch their eye."