Where oh where has Madras been.. ?? The story kinda goes like so...

Despite being right on the heels of the release of the Great Wide Spinout video, by March of 2006, dan luperini (leader/songwriter) was suffering from a bit of burn out. Though things were going well for Madras, he was still splitting time between music and a day job as a computer programmer. To be brief, it sucked. Perhaps it was the job. Perhaps it was the “splitting”. In any case, it sucked. Exercising his flare for drastic measures, he decided it was time to break up the band.

His idea was to get out of the rehearsal/performance grind, and put all his time and energy into quitting the day job - hoping someday to make a living solely through work in music (and film). He was able to sock enough cash away to quit the programming job in the summer of 2006. From there, while taking some freelance work as an engineer, he would finish writing some new material and begin recording a demo cd. The hope was to use the recordings as a calling card – shopping them to film and television and seeking more work as a producer/engineer/player.

While all that unfolded, bassist Mark Tuminello, who had faithfully worked in Dan’s projects dating all the way back to the Seven Planet Sun days in Baltimore, decided to leave Los Angeles. Mark had come to realize that life in Hollywood just wasn’t for him, and with Dan shutting the band down, he decided to head off to greener pastures. He’s residing back on the east coast now and pursuing a new path.

Meanwhile, back at the bat cave, the winter of 2006 had arrived and Dan was completing the tracking on the demo cd. It was an indulgence of sorts – with dan playing bass on all the songs, and drums on a couple tracks too. He tapped ex-madras guitarist Marc Thomas and drummer Ryan Brown to play the parts he didn’t dare to try himself, and had the tracks ready to go by the end of the year.

In the months after, Dan would take some interesting turns. To replenish the thinning coffers, he accepted a short programming stint with his old company in the early part of 2007, but still stayed focused on getting the demo cd done. Ever the multi-tasker, he would also begin taking classes in film editing school – with the intent of rounding out his multimedia skillz. (Dan developed an interest in film/tv post-production while scoring a few films in years past)

..But a funny thing happened when that CD was finished (kinda like when the grinch’s heart grew 3 sizes that day) … be it from hearing the demo tunes all mixed and mastered… or simply from having been disconnected from live performance for more than a year … dan realized he missed making music on a stage. Still intending to carry on with his other pursuits, he felt he wanted to be out there performing again

After scoping out the landscape of bands in L.A., (considering hooking up with another project) and doing a bit of soul searching, Dan decided to have another go at putting his own thing together.

He put the call out to Marc (Thomas) and Ryan, and they were ready and willing. Of course, with Mark Tuminello having left L.A., someone would need to carry out the bass playing duties. After a few weeks search, Dan would find Iowa native, and tinsel-town newcomer, Chinmoy Panigrahy to take them on. The absense of Mark Tuminello no doubt meant that the band could never be as it was before; however, in Dan’s songwriting and voice, it’s essense would remain, and so the band would retain the name, Madras.

With a new CD marked for release in August of 2007, Madras will be hitting the stages soon thereafter.