BulletProof Messenger
Encyclopedia
Bulletproof Messenger is a rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 band from Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...

, NY.

Formation (2001 - 2005)

Prior to being named BulletProof Messenger (BPM), the group was originally named Gone To Earth (GTE). GTE was formed by DJ/Programmer Matt Litwin, bassist Josh Rieger and guitarist Jon Maisel in 2001.

Rieger and Maisel met while attending the same high school while Litwin joined the band through an introduction of a cousin of Rieger. Due to the band’s use of programming and electronics it was a struggle to find a drummer who could keep up. After unsuccessfully auditioning multiple candidates, the band's drummer Voley Martin (current guitarist) was found in 2002 through an ad posted in a music store.

At this point the band still didn't have a vocalist and all of the music being played was instrumental. In Farmingdale, NY
Farmingdale, New York
The Village of Farmingdale is an incorporated village on Long Island within the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, New York in the United States...

 the band played an open mic at a venue called The Downtown
The Downtown
The Downtown was a music venue in Farmingdale, New York. The venue opened on December 21, 2001.On September 19, 2005, the Downtown sent an email to their mailing list announcing their closing, thanking the fans and bands for support, and offering refunds for the upcoming shows. No reason was cited...

 in hopes of meeting a potential vocalist and after a few performances, paired with vocalist Marc (last name unknown).

With Marc the band added vocals to some of the instrumental tracks and recorded a demo at a friend’s local studio. Because of the success at the open mics the band was invited to be the opening act for Derek Sherinian
Derek Sherinian
Derek Sherinian is a rock keyboardist who has toured and recorded for Alice Cooper, Billy Idol, Yngwie Malmsteen, Kiss, and Alice In Chains. He was also a member of Dream Theater and is the founder of the instrumental metal-fusion band Planet X...

 at The Downtown
The Downtown
The Downtown was a music venue in Farmingdale, New York. The venue opened on December 21, 2001.On September 19, 2005, the Downtown sent an email to their mailing list announcing their closing, thanking the fans and bands for support, and offering refunds for the upcoming shows. No reason was cited...

 in the summer of 2003. For this performance, most of the songs performed were instrumental while Marc joined later in the set to perform a few additional tracks.

However, a few months later Marc ended up parting ways with the group to pursue a different style project. This was a major blow to the band. In the words of DJ Matt Litwin: "This left us pretty bummed since we knew that if we were to really make anything of the project we couldn't be like every other local band. The vocalist was the key to the puzzle and a being a great act ... finding a vocalist is easy, but finding a great one is a different story." (Quote from an email).

As a result of Marc’s departure the group began a search for a new vocalist. Making the search more difficult was the fact that the group attended different colleges at the time. Litwin and Rieger attended SUNY Binghamton, Martin went to SUNY Cortland and Maisel attended Miami University
Miami University
Miami University is a coeducational public research university located in Oxford, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1809, it is the 10th oldest public university in the United States and the second oldest university in Ohio, founded four years after Ohio University. In its 2012 edition, U.S...

. The group was forced to try out potential vocalists through demo tapes sent via email or CD and writing new material came to a slow down. Over the next 2 years, Litwin and Martin spent time writing and recording parts of new songs sending each part back and forth over the internet to each other, piecing songs together part by part.

While a great number of vocalists were listened to the group wasn’t satisfied. In November 2003 the band received an email from Marcus Klavan expressing his interest in the project. However, since Klavan lived in Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

 at the time the band sent him an instrumental track to prepare something over and requested he email back a demo tape. Upon hearing his demo the band believed that he was the right person for the project. After some discussion the band met Klavan in January 2003 for a live tryout, after which the group decided to bring him on board as the group’s vocalist.

During the 2 year period without a vocalist, Litwin and Martin had written a significant number of new tracks which needed the vocal element introduced. With these instrumentals in hand, Klavan spent the next few months traveling back and forth between Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

 and Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...

 to join Litwin and Martin in writing and recording vocals. Apart from the demo Klavan recorded over named “Eight” the first two tracks recorded as a group were entitled “Break Outside” and “Wasted” respectively - (“Wasted” appears on Arm Yourself
Arm Yourself
- Personnel :* Marcus Klavan - Vocals* Matt Litwin - DJ/Electronics* Voley Martin - Guitar* Alex Straiter - Drums* Jesse Downing - Bass* Scott Martin - Guitar...

). Also recorded over the following months were songs entitled “Everyone”, “And You Say” and “Like a Drug”.

In the summer of 2004 Klavan relocated to Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...

. The band had rented a studio and began rehearsing on a daily basis. During this time the band was working on their live performance as well as writing some new songs including, “Next To Me” and a song entitled “Tomorrow” (which appeared on The Crucial Line
The Crucial Line
The Crucial Line is the debut album of Long Island rock band BulletProof Messenger and was self released in October 2006. The album was recorded and engineered by Matt Litwin, Voley Martin and Bob Stander and mastered by Tony Dawsey at Masterdisk in New York, NY.-Track listing:Music by Matt Litwin...

).

Over the next few months the band played live at local venues including CBGB
CBGB
CBGB was a music club at 315 Bowery at Bleecker Street in the borough of Manhattan in New York City.Founded by Hilly Kristal in 1973, it was originally intended to feature its namesake musical styles, but became a forum for American punk and New Wave bands like Ramones, Misfits, Television, the...

, The Crazy Donkey and The Knitting Factory. In October 2004 the band secured an opening slot with national rock act Incubus
Incubus (band)
Incubus is an American rock band from Calabasas, California. The band was formed in 1991 by vocalist Brandon Boyd, lead guitarist Mike Einziger, and drummer Jose Pasillas while enrolled in high school and later expanded to include bassist Alex "Dirk Lance" Katunich, and Gavin "DJ Lyfe" Koppell;...

. This opportunity lead to spots on MTV, CBS, FOX, as well as being voted one of the top unsigned acts in the country by XM satellite radio.

In early 2005 the band was alerted about a Clear Channel Radio battle of the bands being hosted by 92.5 KGB-FM and "Magic City Music Hall” in Johnson City, NY. The band agreed to play the gig with the exception of Guitarist Maisel who declined to participate.

The band had eventually wanted to move Martin to guitar and bring in a new drummer due to Martin’s military obligations, as an attempt to prevent the band from coming to a standstill if he was deployed. Through Klavan’s introduction, Alex Straiter, a friend from Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

 traveled to NY a few weeks before the show to try out. With little practice the band went through with the show and ended up winning the contest.

Following this success, Straiter relocated to NY to be the group's full time drummer and Martin took the role of the band's second guitarist. With the new lineup the band played shows with Collective Soul
Collective Soul
Collective Soul is an American rock band originally formed in Stockbridge, Georgia. Collective Soul broke into mainstream popularity with their first hit single, "Shine", which came from their debut album Hints, Allegations, and Things Left Unsaid, released in 1993...

 and played as an opening act for Trapt
Trapt
Trapt is an American rock band that formed in Los Gatos, California in August 1997. The group is composed of lead singer Chris Taylor Brown, lead guitarist Robb Torres, bass guitarist Peter Charell, and drummer Aaron "Monty" Montgomery...

 in 2005.

In the winter of 2005 Maisel, upset with the groups refusal to sign a 3 song demo recording contract, removed the majority of the group’s fans and accomplishments gained over the previous years from the group’s MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....

 page, bringing the project to a standstill. Being frustrated with this situation, Straiter left the band to play in a side project of From Autumn To Ashes
From Autumn to Ashes
From Autumn to Ashes was a NY melodic hardcore band that formed in Long Island in 2000. While the band had gone through many line-up changes, the members include Francis Mark , Scott Gross , Benjamin Perri , Brian Deneeve , Mike Pilato , Rob Lauritsen , and Jeff Gretz From Autumn to Ashes was a NY...

 guitar player Scott Gross. Rieger left the group to attend law school and Klavan’s involvement decreased for a brief period of time, leaving Litwin and Martin to determine which way to go with the band.

Debut Album - The Crucial Line (2006)

As a fresh start to the project, Litwin introduced the potential name BulletProof Messenger, intended to be a play on the phrase "Don't shoot the messenger" and an easy to remember abbreviation (BPM).

With the new band name in place Litwin and Martin decided to self-fund their debut album The Crucial Line
The Crucial Line
The Crucial Line is the debut album of Long Island rock band BulletProof Messenger and was self released in October 2006. The album was recorded and engineered by Matt Litwin, Voley Martin and Bob Stander and mastered by Tony Dawsey at Masterdisk in New York, NY.-Track listing:Music by Matt Litwin...

(an enhanced CD
Enhanced CD
Enhanced CD, also known as CD Extra and CD Plus, is a certification mark of the Recording Industry Association of America for various technologies that combine audio and computer data for use in both Compact Disc and CD-ROM players....

 with video) and complete the group’s lineup at a later date. Collaborating on the production of the new album over the internet, Litwin and Martin wrote over 25 songs using the same methods that worked for their earlier demo recordings – with Litwin coming home during college breaks to get together and finalize the tracks, as Martin had previously graduated.

Klavan returned to the group partially through the writing process and spent much of January and March 2006 writing and recording demo vocals in Litwin’s home studio over the tracks that had been previously written. The band (now with 3 members) continued work on the album until June 2006. By then the album had been almost completely recorded and produced at home by Litwin and Martin. At which time, the band booked time a local recording studio "Vudu Studios" in Long Island, NY
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...

 to record the final version.

The band headed into the studio and started the professional recording of The Crucial Line
The Crucial Line
The Crucial Line is the debut album of Long Island rock band BulletProof Messenger and was self released in October 2006. The album was recorded and engineered by Matt Litwin, Voley Martin and Bob Stander and mastered by Tony Dawsey at Masterdisk in New York, NY.-Track listing:Music by Matt Litwin...

in June 2006 with Litwin and Martin financing the recording out of their own pockets. The Crucial Line
The Crucial Line
The Crucial Line is the debut album of Long Island rock band BulletProof Messenger and was self released in October 2006. The album was recorded and engineered by Matt Litwin, Voley Martin and Bob Stander and mastered by Tony Dawsey at Masterdisk in New York, NY.-Track listing:Music by Matt Litwin...

was produced by Litwin and Martin, and performed by Litwin, Martin – playing guitar, bass and selected drum parts (prior to Straiter’s return), Klavan and Straiter - who rejoined the group towards the beginning of the recording process. Despite doing most of the editing of the songs outside of the studio to save money, towards the end of the project money was extremely short and the final cost turned out way over what had been expected. However, additional financing was obtained to complete the album which was completed and mastered by Tony Dawsey at Masterdisk
Masterdisk
Masterdisk is an audio mastering and multimedia company in New York City, located on West 45th Street in Manhattan. They provide production services such as audio mastering, vinyl cutting and enhanced CD and DVD production....

 in New York, NY and released in October 2006.

The band spent months adding friends on MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....

 and targeting people with similar musical interests to come and check out the album before it released. However, as well as this album was received, the band was still missing a solid lineup.

Completing the lineup/Sellaband (late 2006 - early 2007)

Though the album was complete the band was still missing a bassist and a second guitarist. The group had tried out a number of potential bassists and guitarists during the recording process but found nobody suitable.

In November 2006 the band was introduced to guitarist Scott Martin through a potential bassist they had been trying out. Impressed by the speed S. Martin learned the tracks the group decided to bring him into the group. After two months of attempting to incorporate the bassist, Straiter mentioned that he knew a potential candidate, Jesse Downing (former Shootyz Groove member), who he played with in his side project.

Straiter contacted Downing who was living in Albany, NY at the time and presented 3 tracks for him to learn. Downing took a weekend trip to Long island and visited Litwin where he performed the 3 requested songs as well as the rest of the album. Litwin later said "To say the least, I was sold .." At that time the band was hesitant to remove the bassist they had been trying to break in, however upon a live tryout with the group a week later, the group decided Downing would be the perfect fit.

By the beginning of 2007 the band had the lineup that they have today.

In 2007 the band was practicing, and performing around the East Coast of the USA. During that time Downing received an email from Rob Parzek of Wetwerks (band) saying they had reached 15,000 dollars of investment on Sellaband
Sellaband
Sellaband is a music website that allows artists to raise the money from their fans and the SellaBand community in order to record a professional album. It was set up by Johan Vosmeijer , Pim Betist , and Dagmar Heijmans in August 2006. Its offices are located in Amsterdam, Netherlands, but it was...

, which he forwarded to the rest of the group.

Interested to find out what Sellaband
Sellaband
Sellaband is a music website that allows artists to raise the money from their fans and the SellaBand community in order to record a professional album. It was set up by Johan Vosmeijer , Pim Betist , and Dagmar Heijmans in August 2006. Its offices are located in Amsterdam, Netherlands, but it was...

 was, Litwin took a look at the website and ultimately joined, deciding it would be a good opportunity to fund the bands second album and would be a great opportunity to gain new fans world wide.

On March 21, 2007 the band registered on Sellaband
Sellaband
Sellaband is a music website that allows artists to raise the money from their fans and the SellaBand community in order to record a professional album. It was set up by Johan Vosmeijer , Pim Betist , and Dagmar Heijmans in August 2006. Its offices are located in Amsterdam, Netherlands, but it was...

 with their album The Crucial Line
The Crucial Line
The Crucial Line is the debut album of Long Island rock band BulletProof Messenger and was self released in October 2006. The album was recorded and engineered by Matt Litwin, Voley Martin and Bob Stander and mastered by Tony Dawsey at Masterdisk in New York, NY.-Track listing:Music by Matt Litwin...

backing them. During this time The Crucial Line
The Crucial Line
The Crucial Line is the debut album of Long Island rock band BulletProof Messenger and was self released in October 2006. The album was recorded and engineered by Matt Litwin, Voley Martin and Bob Stander and mastered by Tony Dawsey at Masterdisk in New York, NY.-Track listing:Music by Matt Litwin...

was getting a great deal of attention and good reviews from respected music sites such as “Tunelabmusic.com” and others and entered the group into the top unsigned acts chart on MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....

.

Joining Sellaband
Sellaband
Sellaband is a music website that allows artists to raise the money from their fans and the SellaBand community in order to record a professional album. It was set up by Johan Vosmeijer , Pim Betist , and Dagmar Heijmans in August 2006. Its offices are located in Amsterdam, Netherlands, but it was...

 in its infancy and coming with an already professionally recorded album, believers rallied behind the group rapidly. The band progressed extremely quickly holding the number 1 position on Sellaband
Sellaband
Sellaband is a music website that allows artists to raise the money from their fans and the SellaBand community in order to record a professional album. It was set up by Johan Vosmeijer , Pim Betist , and Dagmar Heijmans in August 2006. Its offices are located in Amsterdam, Netherlands, but it was...

 for their first 3 weeks on the site. At that time Sellaband
Sellaband
Sellaband is a music website that allows artists to raise the money from their fans and the SellaBand community in order to record a professional album. It was set up by Johan Vosmeijer , Pim Betist , and Dagmar Heijmans in August 2006. Its offices are located in Amsterdam, Netherlands, but it was...

 also had announced their London Calling competition. Rallying all the fans they had made from The Crucial Line
The Crucial Line
The Crucial Line is the debut album of Long Island rock band BulletProof Messenger and was self released in October 2006. The album was recorded and engineered by Matt Litwin, Voley Martin and Bob Stander and mastered by Tony Dawsey at Masterdisk in New York, NY.-Track listing:Music by Matt Litwin...

through MySpace and other outlets, the group earned a slot on the show.

The band was subsequently flown to London, England in June 2007 to perform at London Calling at Gibson Guitar Studios. At the time of London Calling the band had progressed to approximately $17,000 in budget (out of the $50,000 required). After London Calling the band started progressing rapidly to their $50,000 target. The band decided to make the move of asking believers to limit the parts per believer and to shoot for the most believers of any Sellaband
Sellaband
Sellaband is a music website that allows artists to raise the money from their fans and the SellaBand community in order to record a professional album. It was set up by Johan Vosmeijer , Pim Betist , and Dagmar Heijmans in August 2006. Its offices are located in Amsterdam, Netherlands, but it was...

 50k artist. The band believed that the more believers the better for the release of their second album.

On December 21, 2007 BPM hit the $50,000 target mark with 1171 believers. This is currently the highest number of believers any act on Sellaband
Sellaband
Sellaband is a music website that allows artists to raise the money from their fans and the SellaBand community in order to record a professional album. It was set up by Johan Vosmeijer , Pim Betist , and Dagmar Heijmans in August 2006. Its offices are located in Amsterdam, Netherlands, but it was...

.

Arm Yourself (2008 - present)

By this time, V. Martin had shipped to Fort Rucker
Fort Rucker
Fort Rucker is a U.S. Army post located mostly in Dale County, Alabama, United States. It was named for a Civil War officer, Confederate General Edmund Rucker. The post is the primary flight training base for Army Aviation and is home to the United States Army Aviation Center of Excellence and...

, AL for Army flight training. Litwin and V. Martin had always been the writing team for the band. This, as well as the introduction of 2 new members caused a change in the writing structure for the new album Arm Yourself
Arm Yourself
- Personnel :* Marcus Klavan - Vocals* Matt Litwin - DJ/Electronics* Voley Martin - Guitar* Alex Straiter - Drums* Jesse Downing - Bass* Scott Martin - Guitar...

.

In March 2008, Litwin and Downing flew to Fort Rucker
Fort Rucker
Fort Rucker is a U.S. Army post located mostly in Dale County, Alabama, United States. It was named for a Civil War officer, Confederate General Edmund Rucker. The post is the primary flight training base for Army Aviation and is home to the United States Army Aviation Center of Excellence and...

, AL for a week to work on the tracks for the new album. However, like before, most of the tracks were written collaboratively by sending parts back and forth over the internet to all the members. Frequently, Klavan and Litwin joined to write and record vocals for many of the tracks while Klavan tracked the remainder at home, sending the recorded tracks to the group for review. Upon V. Martin’s return from flight school the group finished their writing process and chose the songs for the album.

In October 2008 the band began the official tracking of Arm Yourself
Arm Yourself
- Personnel :* Marcus Klavan - Vocals* Matt Litwin - DJ/Electronics* Voley Martin - Guitar* Alex Straiter - Drums* Jesse Downing - Bass* Scott Martin - Guitar...

at “The Cutting Room” in NYC
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

. This album was self-produced and mixed by Anthony "Rocky" Gallo. Tracking was completed in early December 2008 and mastered a week later by Howie Weinberg
Howie Weinberg
Howie Weinberg is a music mastering engineer who has worked with numerous bands.- Career :He has worked at Masterdisk, New York City, since 1977...

 at Masterdisk
Masterdisk
Masterdisk is an audio mastering and multimedia company in New York City, located on West 45th Street in Manhattan. They provide production services such as audio mastering, vinyl cutting and enhanced CD and DVD production....

 in New York, NY. Arm Yourself
Arm Yourself
- Personnel :* Marcus Klavan - Vocals* Matt Litwin - DJ/Electronics* Voley Martin - Guitar* Alex Straiter - Drums* Jesse Downing - Bass* Scott Martin - Guitar...

was released in January 2009.

In 2011, Matt Litwin and Marcus Klavan also made an appearance on It's Over, a track from the album The Quiet Resistance
The Quiet Resistance (Nemesea album)
The Quiet Resistance is the Third studio album by the Dutch Gothic metal band Nemesea. The album was produced and mixed by Joost van den Broek.-Track listing:-Personnel:* Manda Ophuis - Vocals* Hendrik Jan de Jong - Guitar* Sonny Onderwater - Bass...

 by the Dutch metal band Nemesea
Nemesea
Nemesea is a Dutch female-fronted Symphonic metal band with pop and rock influences, formed in 2002 in Groningen. Their musical style has been compared to that of After Forever-Biography:...

.

External links

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