Anthony Green and Maps & Atlases

Whilst still attending high school, Green formed his first band, Junction 232, with friend and classmate Tommy Dougherty. With drummer J.D. Foster, the band was renamed to Audience of One, and recorded and released the LP “I Remember When This All Meant Something” in 1999 on Break Even Records. After recording a four-song demo EP in 2000, due to members heading off the college and enlisting in the military the band was deemed to be on a break.

Subsequently Green recorded and performed with the hardcore metal band Jeer at Rome, and the pop rock band Zolof the Rock & Roll Destroyer. Green sung on six songs from Zolof’s debut album and has remained a loyal collaborator with the group. After this period the musician experimented with solo work and recorded the four track EP “High & Driving” in 2002, released online and later appeared with the deluxe version of the album “Avalon”.

The next project Green applied himself to was the scremo outfit Saosin, through which he earned immediate online success with the release of the EP “Translating the Name”, however quit the band before they signed to Capitol Records. From 2004-2008 Green formed the American rock supergroup The Sound of Animals Fighting, subsequently recording and releasing the albums “Tiger and the Duke” in 2004, “Lover, the Lord Has Left Us…” in 2006, and “The Ocean and the Sun” in 2008. Seemingly never satisfied, during this time Green also founded the group Circa Survive, an outlet for the musician's indie/experimental side.

As a solo artist, Green released the album “Avalon” in 2007, aided by the singles “She Loves Me So” and “Dear Child (I’ve Been Dying to Reach You)”, which peaked at No. 44 on the Billboard 200. This was followed by the EP “Jackie Haenn” in 2008 to help fund medical transport for his cousin-in-law. Green subsequently released “Beautiful Things” in 2012 which charted at No. 27 on the Billboard 200, and “Young Legs” in 2013.

For a good couple of decades now, the general feeling has been that non-classical bands and artists who play music with a high degree of technical proficiency have been exclusively heavy metal acts. You think of virtuoso guitarists and you think of Joe Satriani, or Dimebag Darrell, or Randy Rhoads and while those are all spectacular players, there are more than a few indie rockers that could hold their own against them. White Denim and Marnie Stern both incorporate mind boggling technical feats into their songs but no-one does it quite as successfully as Maps & Atlases, quite possibly the first math rock band to ever soundtrack a Nintendo DS advert.

The bands story begins in 2004 when the founding quartet met while studying at the Columbia College Chicago. Bassist Shiraz Dada, drummer Chris Hainey, singer/rhythm guitarist Dave Davison, and guitarist Erin Elders formed to try and play a kind of music that was as technical as it was organic. The group gelled immediately and began touring soon afterwards. In 2005, their earliest recorded songs became something of an unofficial E.P passed around by the bands earliest fans, earning it the name “Bird Barnyard” and the same year, their first official release came in the form of a split E.P with The Antenora.

Their first major exposure came with an interview with Guitar Player magazine in 2006. The interview, combined with the cult following they had gained around the Midwestern states of America, gave them enough momentum to record and self-release the E.P “Trees, Swallows, Houses”. The E.P was a massive success, adored by audiences and critics alike to the extent that they sold out two pressings of it by selling it at gigs and on their website. The success of that E.P meant that Friction Records picked up the band to re-release it on a separate vinyl pressing, which also sold out.

This kind of success secured the band a deal with the management company Sargent House, and not just any old deal either. The band meant so much to the company that they agreed to put out the bands records as well as a one off deal for Maps & Atlases only. The band continued to release critically acclaimed E.P’s with Sargent House until 2009, when they parted ways. When they released their first official L.P “Perch Patchwork”, they signed to Barsuk Records and it was, as everything the band had released had also been, highly critically acclaimed.

Since then the band have just gotten better and better. Releasing another acclaimed album with 2013’s “Beware And Be Grateful”, touring with everyone from mewithoutYou, The Fall Of Troy and Foals and slowly but surely making a name for themselves on the global stage. They could be a cult band for the ages, and where they go next is a very, very exciting prospect. Highly recommended.