My name is Molefi Ramos
I created this blog for the same reasons anyone else has ever created a blog...
because FUCK YOU thats why
My grammar blows (oh well) thats all I'm going to say about that
I am not here to educate...obviously
I am the guitarist/vocalist/writer for a band called Iselia
That's me on the right with the black shirt and the fake ass Lenny Kravitz afro
On the left is Corey King with his forehead veins and mouth agape
(yes we're both African American. no we're not related)
I've known this guy since we were in marching band together back in 2006
Corey played sax, I rocked the trombone. Deal with it.
[Corey is straight edge, he likes The Smiths and his dog Mika]
I watched Corey go through many different bands from his "deathcore" days in We'll Kill Jen
A Scenery In Motion
I fully supported both of these kinda awful kinda awesome bands while screwing around with my own kinda awful kinda awesome projects myself.
Before starting Iselia we all just sorta played whatever we wanted. Ashwood was a kind of math/grindcore band we started in 08' that introduced us to using a synthesizer which at the time was played by Iselia's old vocalist Jason Cruz. Behind Trees was another project we did soon after that was more hardcore. Both bands consisting entirely of members that were/are in Iselia.
Our jams were mainly limited to our good friend Josh Bengston's attic, only playing "shows" for anyone who just wanted to come over and hang out. and get wasted....not really.
Eventually after hundreds of noisy, crowded jam sessions and the same group of people flip flopping to different instruments Iselia happened. On the same day that I wrote our first song Restless.
Back then the lineup was Me on guitar, Corey also on guitar, Jason on vox, Tyrelle Wells on bass sometimes, Colby Neblett on synth and a long time friend of mine and my usual jam partner Brandon Pittman on drums.
Shit happens, we got new members, we're all still really good friends.
ex members went on to start a band called ...blackbear
Today Corey and I are the only founding members still left in Iselia though anyone who has been a member has been with us from the beginning.
Christian Powers, who is now our keyboardist, had been tight with me and Corey since highschool. He doesn't really have any previous band history but he's always been the go-to guy for booking shows in our area. SIbooking I believe is what he calls it.
[Christian likes Slipknot, wrestling and the Big Bang Theory]
He's been with Iselia since our 3rd show ever played.
Our bassist Brian Lutz aka Brian Bluntz aka Brian Klutz aka Bad luck Brian
[Brian is straight edge, he likes fixed gear bikes and anything loud]
On the left is Corey King with his forehead veins and mouth agape
(yes we're both African American. no we're not related)
I've known this guy since we were in marching band together back in 2006
Corey played sax, I rocked the trombone. Deal with it.
[Corey is straight edge, he likes The Smiths and his dog Mika]
I watched Corey go through many different bands from his "deathcore" days in We'll Kill Jen
 |
| aka xWKJx |
(btw Jen Barwick is a real person from Lumberton NC, she's a nasty chick and Im calling her out)
Down to his days in the super extremely awesome and extravagant pop punk that isA Scenery In Motion
I fully supported both of these kinda awful kinda awesome bands while screwing around with my own kinda awful kinda awesome projects myself.
Before starting Iselia we all just sorta played whatever we wanted. Ashwood was a kind of math/grindcore band we started in 08' that introduced us to using a synthesizer which at the time was played by Iselia's old vocalist Jason Cruz. Behind Trees was another project we did soon after that was more hardcore. Both bands consisting entirely of members that were/are in Iselia.
Our jams were mainly limited to our good friend Josh Bengston's attic, only playing "shows" for anyone who just wanted to come over and hang out. and get wasted....not really.
Eventually after hundreds of noisy, crowded jam sessions and the same group of people flip flopping to different instruments Iselia happened. On the same day that I wrote our first song Restless.
Back then the lineup was Me on guitar, Corey also on guitar, Jason on vox, Tyrelle Wells on bass sometimes, Colby Neblett on synth and a long time friend of mine and my usual jam partner Brandon Pittman on drums.
 |
| Molefi, Corey, Brandon, Jason, Christian, Tommy |
Shit happens, we got new members, we're all still really good friends.
ex members went on to start a band called ...blackbear
Today Corey and I are the only founding members still left in Iselia though anyone who has been a member has been with us from the beginning.
Christian Powers, who is now our keyboardist, had been tight with me and Corey since highschool. He doesn't really have any previous band history but he's always been the go-to guy for booking shows in our area. SIbooking I believe is what he calls it.
[Christian likes Slipknot, wrestling and the Big Bang Theory]
He's been with Iselia since our 3rd show ever played.
Our bassist Brian Lutz aka Brian Bluntz aka Brian Klutz aka Bad luck Brian
[Brian is straight edge, he likes fixed gear bikes and anything loud]
played guitar in this power violence band called Burma.
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| photo of burma |
We all knew Brian from him just being at any show in North Carolina that was worth going to and we've booked shows with Burma since day one. Before Brian joined we had Tommy Maxwell as our bassist for most of our early touring days. He got a conventional job and left the band taking a lot of old footage from our past tours and recording sessions. Water under the bridge.
Brandon Pittman our original drummer, left us soon before we recorded our first full length album Life From Dead Limbs. Drummer for the band My Epic, Matt Doran filled in for drums on that record and shortly after Harry Godwin joined us after his long history playing drums for Phuket Underwater and Kaustic.
[Harry likes hockey, skittles and his dog Wilfred]
Brandon Pittman our original drummer, left us soon before we recorded our first full length album Life From Dead Limbs. Drummer for the band My Epic, Matt Doran filled in for drums on that record and shortly after Harry Godwin joined us after his long history playing drums for Phuket Underwater and Kaustic.
[Harry likes hockey, skittles and his dog Wilfred]
 |
| photo of kaustic |
Harry now also plays drums for Drayton Road.
We all got attached very quickly. We're all closer than most families.
More recently our vocalist Jason Cruz went on to serve in the US Marine Corps.
[Jason likes free food, indie games and his hoss crew]
We went through a few different people trying to find another vocalist after Jason and for a while we had Ben Blevins who use to do vocals in Nilbog, Tommy also played bass in Nilbog. After a few months we all felt that Ben's vocal style wasn't meshing well with our type of music and we decided to continue looking. Ben now lives in Wilmington North Carolina studying film. Eventually we had the idea to just have Corey and I do vocals. We tried it, it worked exceptionally well and we just rolled with it. Our first test on vocals happened to be when we recorded our split with the guys in Foxes.
Since then we've done a few weekend tours around the east coast and recorded a whole new full length album based on the RPG Tales of Symphonia 2: Dawn of the New World. I am deathly obsessed with this game. This album hasn't been released yet, we're still trying to figure out exactly what it is we want to do with it.
From the start of this band we've shared the stage with countless other bands with real humble genuine people. I plan to elaborate more specifically on some of our experiences through other posts but for now that is everything Iselia from the start to present day.
Jason
We all got attached very quickly. We're all closer than most families.
More recently our vocalist Jason Cruz went on to serve in the US Marine Corps.
[Jason likes free food, indie games and his hoss crew]
We went through a few different people trying to find another vocalist after Jason and for a while we had Ben Blevins who use to do vocals in Nilbog, Tommy also played bass in Nilbog. After a few months we all felt that Ben's vocal style wasn't meshing well with our type of music and we decided to continue looking. Ben now lives in Wilmington North Carolina studying film. Eventually we had the idea to just have Corey and I do vocals. We tried it, it worked exceptionally well and we just rolled with it. Our first test on vocals happened to be when we recorded our split with the guys in Foxes.
Since then we've done a few weekend tours around the east coast and recorded a whole new full length album based on the RPG Tales of Symphonia 2: Dawn of the New World. I am deathly obsessed with this game. This album hasn't been released yet, we're still trying to figure out exactly what it is we want to do with it.
From the start of this band we've shared the stage with countless other bands with real humble genuine people. I plan to elaborate more specifically on some of our experiences through other posts but for now that is everything Iselia from the start to present day.
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| Tommy, Molefi, Brandon, Corey, Jason, Christian |
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| Harry, Christian, Molefi, Corey, Tommy, Ben |
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| Harry, Christian, Corey, Brian, Molefi (most current) |
