Local Music Profile: Synesthesia

Backstage with ... Synesthesia

Base of operations Chesapeake

Style of music “We do have some rage vocals, but at the same time we are very melodic and very progressive,” said drummer, backup vocalist and founding member Mike Gotte. “Meaning we tend to have a lot more softer roots like in jazz and just some simpler rock ’n’ roll from back in the ’60s and ’70s.”

Bio In the mid-1990s, Gotte and guitarist Mark Flyge formed a band called VIII Fraud and moved to Southern California. When the group disbanded 10 years later, they returned to Hampton Roads with Matt Williams, who then played bass. The trio continued playing and brought on two former members of local band Conflict of Interest: bassist Sean Hanlon and keyboardist Kirk Ferguson. With Hanlon on bass, that freed up Williams to handle the melodic side as vocalist. John Clair handles the screams.

“One of our favorite bands is Faith No More. We try and do a little bit of what they do, which is kind of an eclectic mix of heavy music and also mainstream,” Gotte said.

Synesthesia recently played the Vans Warped Tour during the festival’s stop in Virginia Beach. “It was a great experience. Of course, we would have hoped to have been on one of the widely seen stages, but the experience itself was amazing.” The band released its four-song demo, “Cohesion,” less than a year ago.

Synesthesia took its name from a condition in which the senses intertwine: For example, the letter C might look green or sugar might make things taste rounder.

The band was watching a documentary on the condition when they came up with the lyrics for the song “Grapheme.” “This guy was saying that he can’t see himself having a relationship for too long because he just gets tired of the taste of someone’s name,” Gotte said. 

Website www.reverbnation.com/synesthesiava