Aloud is an American, Boston-based indie rock band known for its songwriting and vocal prowess as well as using a two lead singer approach.^[1][2][3][4]

Founded in 2002 by Jen de la Osa (lead vocals, guitar, keys) and Henry Beguiristain (lead vocals, guitar, keys), the group is rounded out by bassist/backing vocalist Charles Murphy and drummer Mike Tucker. In 2006, Aloud created the Lemon Merchant Records label to release their own music and have been played on over 100 college radio stations around the United States.^[5][6]

Aloud is currently touring the United States in support of their third studio album Exile.

History[link]

Formation and early years: 2002-2006[link]

Aloud was formed in May 2002 by vocalists/guitarists Jen de la Osa and Henry Beguiristain out of an earlier version of the group named Feedback, which included bassist Roy Fontaine.^[7] Rob Acevedo was recruited to play drums^[8] for the fledgling band on an indefinite, but temporary basis, and the four spent the summer working on a home-recorded four song demo titled Don't Trust the Radio, which was released on July 31, 2002^[9] and sold at shows.

Aloud spent 2002 and most of 2003 performing solely in the Boston area. In early 2003 Aloud stepped into the studio to record another four song demo titled Pretty Little Picture. At some point in 2003 Rob Acevedo was replaced by another stand-in, Eric Anderson, on drums, before Ross Lohr was taken on near the end of the year as a permanent member.

With the addition of Lohr, Aloud recorded The Sooner It Comes, a six-song EP, with producer Ian Hughes in early 2004. Aloud also began performing well outside of the Boston area, expanding their touring area as far as Portland, Maine, and New York City.^[10] As of January 31, 2008, the most Aloud performances in any given year was in 2004 (74 performances).

That same year Aloud met with future collaborator Hugh Wyman (former guitarist for Baby Strange and The Luxury). Wyman would initially offer suggestions on improving the band's guitar gear before approaching them to produce their first album. They spent the first few months of 2005 organizing, refining, and rehearsing material before spending the Summer and some of the Fall recording.

Even though Aloud had been around since 2002, the band made its first real mark after releasing the debut album Leave Your Light On on May 2, 2006, to positive press and national airplay on college radio.^{[11][12][13][14]} Leave Your Light On was self-released through Lemon Merchant Records, a record label founded by Aloud with Wyman. Aloud toured the record through the Northeast United States till the end of the year.

[edit] Fan the Fury and a new lineup: 2007-2009

Beginning in 2007, the band has been managed by long-time associate Annie Burns, of annie*rock, a promotion/booking/production company based in New York.

In April 2007, Aloud made it to the semi-final round of the 29th annual WBCN Rock & Roll Rumble, beating out 15 other groups for the wildcard slot.^[15] In the same month Jen de la Osa was nominated for Best Female Vocalist by the Boston Phoenix.^[16]

Aloud spent the rest of 2007 writing material for a second album, eventually choosing to record it that Fall in New York City with Sony mix engineer Chuck Brody. In between recording sessions, Aloud also performed at the 2007 CMJ Music Marathon that October.^[17]

Fan the Fury, was released on March 25, 2008. A national tour to support the album followed. A film titled Hard Up In The 2000s, a documentary of the Spring leg of the tour, was released on September 12, 2008.^[18]

In October 2008, it was revealed Aloud had been developing a multimedia live performance of Fan The Fury titled I Just Want To Witness..., taken after a lyric in the songs Witness and Justice & Forgiveness.^[19] The show integrated Aloud's live performance of Fan The Fury in its entirety with corresponding films, and was developed with filmmaker Johnathan Carr. Films were contributed by Johnathan Carr himself as well as directors Erin Bowser, Mike Pecci, Chris March, and animators Kristin Osiecki and Timothy Scholl. I Just Want To Witness... debuted in Boston on November 18, 2008. While this has been the only full performance of I Just Want To Witness..., Aloud later performed most of the show in New York in 2009.^[20]

In December 2008, music from Fan The Fury was heavily featured in Bad Habit Productions' presentation of The Laramie Project.^[21]

The latter half 2008 also saw significant changes to Aloud's core lineup. Bassist Roy Fontaine parted ways with the group in September 2008. He is currently pursuing a career as a producer and audio engineer. Subsequently, Aloud toured as a three-piece during the Fall 2008 leg of the Fan The Fury tour. After the tour, former Baby Strange bassist Tim Hare began filling in on bass for live shows. Drummer Ross Lohr last performed with the group on January 29, 2009 in Allston, MA (although, in 2011, Lohr tracked drums on the Aloud single "The Cash and the Pearls").^[22] He still appears in the music video for the song "Julie". Elaborating in an interview a year later, Henry and Jen stated Lohr left the band "the day after we filmed the Julie video" because he no longer enjoyed performing with the band and amicably parted ways. Currently, Lohr is the director of Newton-Tanzania Collaborative, a Boston-area non-profit.^[23]

Aloud performed the third and fourth legs of the Fan The Fury tour with temporary members Jonathan Schmidt (from the band Morningwood), Rob Lynch (ex-Harris), Travis Richter (from the bands The Motion Sick and Naked On Roller Skates), Jesse James Salucci (The Lights Out) and Tommy Mazalewski alternating on drums; and Tim Hare, Ryan Majoris (from the band Keeping Riley), Matthew Girard (from the band The Motion Sick and The Future Everybody) alternating on bass. Since October 2009, bassist Charles Murphy (ex-Pyotr, ex-Comma) has been performing with the group, eventually joining as a full-fledged member of the band.

The free EP Live 2009 contains performances from one of the final shows of the tour at Howler's Coyote Cafe in Pittsburgh, PA on November 18, 2009.^[24] The live show was recorded, engineered, and mixed by Bengt Alexander. The EP was released to the public as a free digital download on December 31, 2009.^[25]

Exile: 2010-present[link]

From April 2009 - July 2010, Henry and Jen worked with producer Daniel Nicholas Daskivich on completing the next Aloud release, Exile.^[26] In interviews, the band has indicated Exile would be sonically different from previous Aloud releases.^[27]