The Axe That Chopped The Cherry Tree

The Axe That Chopped The Cherry Tree was a band that formed in 2005 by students attending the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colorado that aimed to do one thing: Give glory to God by playing amazing music. As mentioned on their MySpace profile, "The glory will never be ours." The Axe was constantly on the move, playing either in Colorado or elsewhere. (A video of their last show is viewable on the group's MySpace.) The band consisted of: Lead vocalist Daniel Garza, an English major with an insatiable want to simply listen to music. His ability to sing in addition to his capacity to scream were essential to the group's style. Keyboardist and second vocalist Jay J Matott, an abstract art enthusiast whose manic stage antics were recorded by many a fan's camera. He is now in another project named Gardens with Garza. Playing guitar and also lending his voice, Marshall Usinger replaced the axe skills of Jonathan Stark, who in turn took the position of Andrew Shaw has mastered the art of lulling you into a false sense of security and then rocking your body into pieces. He continues to do so in his new group, Bad Mister. The most recent addition to the band was bassist Luke Osborn, (drummer from The Simple Discussion) who laid buttery, crunchy toast-style bass-line for your ears to enjoy. Finally, the drummer, Adam Halferty, brought his backing vocals and solid percussion skills to catalyze the grooves and breakdowns. He started his own project after The Axe called Young Coyotes. Andrew Shaw who then left the band in the summer of 2006 on good terms he and the band say. The reason of said departure is unknown to this author. Speculation abounds but it is suspected that his conflicting wish to continue with his schooling led to his exit. The next original band member to leave was Brandon, who also wished to further his education. This was announced on the band's blog on January 28, 2008, his last show scheduled for February 16 of that year. Hot on his heels was keyboardist Jay J, who announced on Easter 2008, also in a blog entry on the band's MySpace, that he too would be leaving the group because he felt God moving him in a new and different direction. Drawing their sound from bands such as Fear Before the March of Flames, Portugal. The Man, These Arms Are Snakes and mewithoutYou with a pinch of HORSE the band mixed in, you would expect a pretty hardcore sound with brutal breakdowns and vocals accompanied by piercing screams and synth playing. Perhaps it is all better described in the band's own words, "A LOT CRAZY" Their first album, Don't Step In The Lightning, was recorded with the band's own self-raised money and betwixt their college classes. Fans of the genre have widely agreed that this album is an amazing debut from a band so (relatively) young. In 2007, The Axe's second release, Moon Window Water, was a testament that the songwriting and skills shown on Don't Step had indeed progressed. Two songs from their first album reappeared with new mixes with added production. Rumors that another edition of this new album would be released were laid to rest when the band did indeed break out this new release in August/September of the same year with the addition of two brand-new tracks, A Conscious Decision, Unconsciously Decided and A Pair of Sights as well as re-masters of the other new songs. The Axe That Chopped The Cherry Tree played hard and continued changing peoples' opinions and gaining fans until their eventual (but possibly not their eternal) end, officially declared on 9 June, 2008. They regrouped about a year later, in mid-June of 2009, playing as hard as they ever had to great reception by the public. The band was slated to preform three shows in as many nights but Garza's voice only made it through two. It's not known if he had been keeping his vocals in practice but a message went out several hours before the third concert citing possible laryngeal bleeding as the reason why the band would not be playing. If any other reunion is to occur, it will probably not be for quite some time.