A Farewell Rescue

published in The Daily Item, www.dailyitem.com, on Thursday September 3, 2009. Pages D1 & D2.

Northumberland rock band A Farewell Rescue is starting on the road to success.

A Farewell Rescue won the 2009 Hot Topic Band Grant contest, is planning the release of a new album and is opening for national act Cartel in Pottsville on Labor Day.

The band, composed of Northumberland residents Joey Heid, vocals; John Peifer, guitars and vocals; Max Keely, guitar; Josh Kerstetter, bass; and Jordan Rhoades, drums, was recently awarded a $1,000 grant from retail store Hot Topic.

Kerstetter is an employee of Hot Topic at the Susquehanna Valley Mall. He explained that “the Hot Topic Band Grant is an annual contest to find the best bands (that) have members working at Hot Topic. ... It’s a nationwide contest, and thousands of bands enter.”

Kerstetter submitted an entry for A Farewell Rescue, which included one song and a two-page essay stating what music meant to the band.

Judges selected by Hot Topic narrowed down the entries to 12 finalists and then “voting is opened up company-wide, and all employees must check out each band and cast their vote,” Kerstetter said.

The band was selected as one of this year’s winners and received the $1,000 grant, and their debut album, “Never Meet Your Heroes,” which is licensed by Snapdragon Records/MRI with Sony Red Distribution, was added to Playnetwork.

Kerstetter said, “Playnetwork handles the music for most retail chains throughout the USA. ... It has helped us get more recognition nationally.”

The $1,000 grant will be used to release an independent digital album in October. The album, which is currently untitled, will include new music.

The new music is “heavier, yet still remains catchy and hook laden. ... (It) is more mature and has a better flow,” Kerstetter said.

The digital album will include songs recorded with Doug White at Watchmen Studios in Lockport, N.Y. In addition to his work with A Farewell Rescue, White has worked with platinum recording artists Gym Class Heroes on their album “As Cruel as School Children.”

Coming to New Berlin
Later this month, on Sept. 25, AFR will be playing at “one of the biggest DIY shows this area has seen in years,” according to Kersetter.

The show is at the New Berlin Legion and includes other bands such as The Wonder Years, Energy, A Loss for Wars and Tugga War. Showtime is 5 p.m. and entry is $10.

In January 2005, when other bands broke up, A Farewell Rescue was formed. “Our goal was to be a high-energy, all-original rock band. … And of course (we wanted to) tour the country,” Kerstetter said.

The band has played more than 300 shows, has been on three national tours and has shared the stage with bands such as Rise Against, Mae, Yellowcard, August Burns Red, and Coheed & Cambria.

Local support in central Pennsylvania for the band has grown.

“We’ve gained a lot of local support as the popularity of our album and band has grown. ... Often times, local, all-original bands aren’t taken seriously,” said Kerstetter. “We tried to make ourselves known elsewhere first, which has given us credibility locally.”

After these local shows, the band “plans to tour the south in the winter in support of the new EP, and our main goal is to write a new full-length album and support it with national tours upon release,” said Kerstetter.

“Never Meet Your Heroes,” the band’s first full length album, was released in July 2007, and is available at most digital retailers and national retail stores. A music video was released for the song “Pretty Cut and Dry” and can be viewed along with other information about the band at www.myspace.com/afarewellrescue.