- Katelyn

I think we can all recall a good, bad, or indifferent nickname affectionately given to us as children that occasionally haunt our thoughts, but usually become only a distant memory. For others nicknames can become a cute reminder of where we began. Now I'd like to introduce to you: "Ely the Wonderkid".

Ely, who I recently had the pleasure of speaking with, is the newest member to the band The Last Goodnight. Since he was eleven years old he was found heavily involved in music and working jobs such as weddings or parties behind the piano. Now all the hard work and dedication has paid off because this 'wonderkid' hooked up with a promising new band in a way that as he explains can be only be summed up in a bit cliché, but true statement: "it was meant to be".

The other members before the chance meeting with Ely were playing in the band Renata for eight years. Leif Christensen, Kurtis John, Mike Nadeau, and Anton Yurack all hail from Conneticut. It wasn't until Kurtis the lead singer walked into a studio in Los Angeles that the Conneticut boys would collide with Toronto born Ely.

Kurtis and Ely met in the studio where within five minutes they wrote the song Poison Kiss. Kurtis then decided that Ely would join the band. Although new to the band Ely expressed that everyone's become like family on tour and they all get along perfectly.

The band is touring to promote their new album Poison Kiss. While on tour Ely has found that, "We are having a lot of fun. I'm also realizing there is a lot of work, waking up, and radio stations to go to all the time and after some shows we don't stay we just hit the road again." But don't think that he is complaining when asked what else he'd be doing if not music -well the question was almost blasphemous-, but his response, "I can't imagine anything else I don't know if I'd be alive."

Ely is very passionate about all types of music and never one type he explains, "I was listening to anything from Michael Jackson to Guns n Roses to Santana." The band as a whole is very diverse in their music choices as well. So what can we expect to hear from this band? Ely explained that their diverse love and passion for music is why he thinks that "when we put everything together it comes out as a beautiful organized chaos."

The Last Goodnight met in high school. "I was at a house party where I ran into Mike--we both went to Enfield High in Connecticut," recalls John. "There was only one guitar at the party, and Mike was playing some Metallica-fast, impressive things--and the girls were like 'WOW!' When girls asked for Chili Peppers or Cat Stevens, I'd grab the guitar and play that. So Mike and I started a band with a bass player, Leif Christensen, also from our school. Our original drummer went to Enfield too, as did Anton. We were and are totally a band of friends."

Under The Last Goodnight's original band name Renata, the lineup earned kudos from the Hartford Advocate, including 2003's Best Original Rock band. Two indie releases under the Renata moniker earned airplay and opening slots for Lifehouse, Avril Lavigne, Howie Day, and more. Between college and jobs at T.G.I. Friday's, they played in Boston, New York and Connecticut---then piled into a van for more extensive tours. After a 2004 gig at the Whisky in Los Angeles the band slept in their van, woke up at LaBrea and Sunset and got a fortuitous call from A&R exec/producer Jeff Blue. A fruitful period of songwriting ensued, the band writing and demoing hundreds of tunes between L.A. and Connecticut, which led to a deal with Virgin Records/Capitol Music Group in 2006.

With Blue producing, the band set about achieving their sonic goals, using gear in unusual ways: "In 'Return to Me,' we ran guitar strings over a couch with reverb and delay," notes John, whose musical experimentation started early: "My father is blind, but he plays piano and loves blues and jazz. Growing up, we couldn't go outside and throw a ball like the other kids and fathers, but we had this special musical bond," John relates. "When I was 7, we'd listen to Dr. John and Billie Holiday and Guns and Roses, and my dad would teach me to hear things out on the piano. Because he can't see, he doesn't play in a schooled or traditional way. I still use the odd finger techniques I learned from him. So when we ran guitar strings over a couch with a reverb and delay on "Return to Me," it didn't faze me much. Back then he said something that stuck with me. He said, 'just keep it simple, K, and strike an emotion.' I think of that to this day when I'm writing."

The songs on Poison Kiss bear him out. "Pictures of You" is "a collage of life, a landscape of lyrics that paints a picture of 'what if,'" explains John. "What if a different path was taken, or someone was dealt the wrong set of cards?" With the empathy infusing Poison Kiss, it makes sense that The Last Goodnight isn't only about the music-"there's an energy the band has that I want to put to the best possible use," John explains. "It's about what we can do to change the world." It's not mere lip service: The Last Goodnight plays benefits and works for groups including the Children's Cancer Foundation, Children's Diabetes, food shelters and more. The Last Goodnight are integral pieces in the "collage of life" they write about. And they invite everyone from punkers to pop fans to partake of a Poison Kiss, as Yurack concludes, "I think our music has a universal appeal, because it's emotional and heartfelt and has beauty, all within a modern rock and soul context. It's about how you allow the music to hit your soul."