MORE ABOUT BACKWOODS
Backwoods started with one man under the name Explosion Hall. Steve Vitiello was only 12 years old when he began playing the guitar which was soon to become a musical career. At first, learning to play the guitar was hard and tiring, but soon enough, Steve was writing his own songs, musically and lyrically. After about a year of playing, Steve came up with the name Explosion Hall for a band name (don't ask where I thought of it, I was only 12, so I used my imagination).
Steve soon took in his father as a lead guitarist under the name Explosion Hall. Steve's father taught him the basics of guitar. After putting up numerous musician ads, a drummer and a bassist replied and they tried him out. They liked them so Steve and his father made their band Explosion Hall. After the first practice, the bassist never showed up again (at this time I was about 15 and both sang and played guitar). After about 3 months of practice with the drummer, they parted their separate ways due to the drummer's personal problems. Steve and his father continued on with not much progress, so around the age of 16, Steve went on his own. During this time Steve wrote some new intense heavier songs and learned other cover songs.
This is the point where Steve left a lot of his old songs behind to be replaced with heavier ones. For about six months Steve put up ads in music stores for a drummer and a bassist. To his surprise, not many interested people called, and the ones who did had very different musical preference or they were too much older (band members are not as easy to find as you think). After much discouragement, Steve received a note in his room from a 21 year old drummer (FINALLY).Steve called him the next day, and they decided to get together. They both thought each other sounded good, so they formed the new beginnings of Explosion Hall. Steve and the drummer practiced immensely for about a year together. During this time, ads for bassists and lead guitarists were put up but to no avail. Explosion Hall was finally ready to go, but with no bassist, it is kind of hard. At work one night, Steve was talking to one of his friends (Mike Johnson) who told Steve about a bassist friend he had, so Steve had Mike talk to this bassist friend. Steve ended up calling the bassist, Branden Makani, and Steve and Dan tried him out. After a few practices, they kept Branden because he fit the style perfectly. After practicing as a three piece, they decided not to search for a lead guitarist and just to stay as a three-piece band. Also, they decided the name Explosion Hall had to go. Many ideas were brought up (such as Sickened, Distant, Lost, etc.) but all were already taken.
Also, they decided the name Explosion Hall had to go. Many ideas were brought up (such as Sickened, Distant, Lost, etc.) but all were already taken. So, Steve went onto his computer and into the thesaurus to look up some alternate names to some of the ones chosen. When Distant was typed in, Backwoods was one of the synonyms, and it stuck.
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