Cleveland was never a very popular place when it came to rock music, come to think of it, Cleveland was never a popular place for anything. But, recently Cleveland’s struggling rock scene has begun to flourish with a sudden emergence of quality metal bands that have been taking the country by storm. Bands such as Mushroomhead, Chimaira, Sinomatic and Switched have rose from Cleveland’s metal circuit in an effort to become larger than Lake Eerie thus giving their beloved city some much needed rock & roll credibility. "Cleveland has gotten better than it used to be by leaps and bounds," says Jon Sayre, lead singer of Cleveland’s latest metal export, Erase The Grey. "Before there wasn’t any real interest going on [In Cleveland] and then bands like Mushroomhead started getting noticed and then Chimaira and Switched and now the scene is absolutely great. There’s so many great bands that are getting label interest and its just incredible. You go to a Cleveland show now-a-days and you know you’re gonna see an awesome show."

Erase The Grey is the latest metal act to emerge from the ‘the heart of it all’ and flow into the countries main bloodline. The 6-piece band; (which includes guitarists Jeff Dickens & John Stepp, drummer Josh Adkins, bassist Josh Boyson and sampler Scott Rose;) have been thumping around their local scene since 1999 where they earned an industry buzz that soon led them to sign a major deal with Republic/Universal Records in 2002.

Instead of rushing a full-length album, Erase The Grey decided to take their time and hit the country with a 5-song EP entitled "27 Days." The EP showcases the bands emotionally driven music along with their intensity and diverse musical nature. Sayre is a true poet at heart who wears his emotions of his sleeve. He views the world through melancholic eyes and writes lyrics about what he sees and always stays true to his gut wrenching feelings. "Everything we write is from the heart," explains Sayre. "It’s all us, it comes from our blood, sweat and tears, man. Stuff that comes from our past, the positive things as well as negative things, it’s all us. There’s no fakeness involved, this is who we are. We’re true to what we do, we’re not a bunch of guys just trying to be rock stars."

"27 Days" proves that quality always wins over quantity for all five tracks on the EP were masterfully recorded and produced despite their time restraints. The label gave Erase The Grey one month to record and produce their EP and "27 Days" was literally recorded in just 27 days. With producer Jeff Tomie (Smashing Pumpkins; Alice In Chains) at the helm the band knew they were in good hands. "(Tomie) was an absolute great guy," says Sayre. "I’ve never met a better person in my life, he’s just cool as hell. The guy knows what he’s doing, he’s got such a creative mind and working with him was just a blast."

Sure making a debut recording can be a tedious task and with just one month of studio time available makes the stress even greater. A tough feat for any band, but Sayre insists that it was the coolest 27 days of his entire life. "We busted ass," he said, "we wanted to get things done and we knew we didn’t have a long time to do it so we went down there and had the mind set that we were gonna bust through this and get it done."

Like other nu-metal acts such as Trust Company and Chevelle, Erase The Grey use a variety of colors on their artistic pallet and paint intense portraits through their nu-metal music that bend from one extreme to another. "Every song is different, it’s a real unique process with us," explains the front man. "We wanted to connect on every level of emotion that there is. From love to hate to fear to just being heart broken and all of that. I want to portray those emotions to people and have that connection because I know that every day is not a bad day and every day is not a good day for anyone."

Tunes like "The Melting Side" ‘Second Chance" and "Pariah" are hard paced nu-metal tunes which demonstrate their anger and aggression by incorporating melodic vocals, angst soaked growls, crunchy riffs and concrete hook lines. However, the song "Waiting" is a much more melodically soothing track that brings out the bands tender side and opens the bands music up to a whole new element.

Their first single, "Rain," is a radio friendly song written about a girl Sayre once dated and the struggles and pain she had to endure through her life. "Her name was Vanessa, and she’s been through a lot of crap in her life and she used to always talk to me about it," Sayre explains. "She was one of those kind of people that really wasn’t emotionally sound, so she would get caught up in things and start crying and that would always make me feel terrible. So, one day, just to connect with her, I began writing these lyrics about her and the song began to form through that. She actually heard the song and she is so proud of it, she loves it and I’m really stoked that we made that song our first single."

"Rain" is the kind of track that will appeal to both the MTV and underground rock genre’s and may very well help elevate Erase The Grey into the national spotlight. Only time will tell the whole tale, for now we can only ponder the possibilities. "I’m not in this to be rich and famous," Sayre says, "But I do want to touch as many people as possible and get as many people as I can into our music. I don’t want to explode on the scene and then dwindle out quick, I want to stay around for a while.."

Erase The Grey’s first full-length off Republic/Universal Records is scheduled for a March 2003 release..

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