Mt. Laurel rock band Shadowplay may finally be ready to step out of the shadows and into the spotlight.
The band, consisting of Mt. Laurel natives lead singer Andrew Corkery, lead guitarist Dan Holden, guitarist George Legatos and bassist John Sellers, is preparing for the release of its album on iTunes and a trip to the South by Southwest Entertainment Conference in Austin, Texas, in March.
Corkery and Holden formed Shadowplay in 2009. They partnered when they were in school and combined their song writing and melodies to start creating original music.
“We were playing in different bands,” Corkery said. We were just starting to write music and play songs. We started out in classic rock, and then we tree rooted in our different music instruments from that point on.”
Later on, the duo would partner with Legatos, Sellers and former drummer Tim Bear. Corkery said all of the band members didn’t really hang out in high school, but as time passed they joined together and are now very close friends.
Shadowplay is developing a sound all its own. While the band’s earliest influences harkened back to classic rock, Corkery said the band is searching to develop an original sound similar to The Beatles and Radiohead.
Corkery said the band encompasses rock, indie, folk and ambient post rock in their music.
“We try to not really put ourselves in a box with the sound,” he said. “We all kind of work off of one of another.”
The group released its first album, “Visions,” in 2011 on an online service called Monkeybars. The service allows Shadowplay and other bands to share music with others and receive commission on their music’s distribution.
As the group released its first album and began playing more shows, it used a lot of personal communication with its fans to spread the word about its music.
“We created an organic kind of thing where we built up kind of small,” Corkery said. “We keep in contact with a lot of our fans. We do a thing where we sign people up for our mailing list and send them two or three songs, and then I’d email them personally and ask what they thought.”
“It’s the one thing we really stress a lot,” he said. “Especially me as the lead singer. We definitely try to connect with people on a personal level.”
Shadowplay used fundraising to help pay for its tour and to record a single named “Sandy Eyes” after the hurricane in 2012. The band raised just more than $2,000 to help pay for expenses to record the single and pay for tours.
“We’ve been touring this past summer and the summer before,” Corkery said. “We’ve done rock club and music festivals before.”
For South by Southwest, the band is looking for two more sponsors to help pay for expenses. Corkery said he is reaching out in the community to try and find two more sponsors in the coming weeks.
There was a time a few years ago where Corkery would have to go to venues and festivals to get his band on stage. Now, he said people are coming to him to ask for performances.
“I used to have to look and beg for shows and now it seems like more people are coming to us and want us to do stuff,” Corkery said.
As proud as he is of the opportunity to travel to Austin, Corkery wants the band to continue its path up the musical spectrum. He named artists such as John Mayer and The White Stripes who made it big after their performance at South by Southwest. He hopes Shadowplay can follow in their footsteps and do the same thing.
