The Actual

“We never let starvation or icy roads get in our way”,

muses Max Bernstein, singer/guitarist of The Actual.



Indeed, the ultra-literate rock combo, rounded out

by guitarist + singer Ben Flanagan, Jeremy Bonsall on bass

and Rob Obee on drums have covered many a

mile on little more than a healthy dose of

we-think-we-can and an '82 Econoline that thankfully

shares that sentiment. Shortly after their first show

on Easter Sunday of 2001, The Actual have spent most

of their time on tour playing pretty much to anyone

who would listen at just about any place that would

book them, sometimes with questionable results. "We

played to a room full of angry bikers in Idaho once.

That caused me to rethink my booking policy," says Max.



Thankfully, people DID start to listen, and one of

those people was rock legend Scott Weiland of Stone

Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver, who promptly signed

the band to his new RED/New West/SonyBMG co-venture Softdrive

Records. Scott took the band out of the bars and

basements and onto a string of arena shows with Velvet

Revolver, and co-produced the bands new album. "We

played a hotel bar in Nevada to 12 people one night

and the next night pulled our van up to the Aladdin in

Las Vegas and played to 4,000 people. It was pretty

ridiculous." adds Max.



The album, "In Stitches" is a fantastic 13-song

juggernaut of smart, catchy post-punk that while sung

from the heart is obviously carefully filtered through

a serious set of brains (Max is the son of writer Nora

Ephron and Watergate journalist Carl Bernstein - the

band's literary complexity is pretty unavoidable.)



The leadoff single "This Is The Worst Day of My Life

(Do You Want To Come Over)" might be the catchiest

song since "It's a Small World" until it morphs into a

grandiose Queen-esque outro. "Dancing On The

Perimeter" channels Placebo, The Go-Gos and Husker Du

into a dance-punk anthem about being afraid of

dancing. "Stay In My Rectangle" sounds like

Alkaline Trio taking a shot at Dinosaur Jr.'s best

work. Jeremy’s stacatto lines weave around Max and Ben's raspy vocals which thankfully nothing like the typical over-earnest emo

whine that has become inescapable.

Listen up for The Actual stopping by your town soon look for "In Stitches" in stores everywhere.



Booking: Brian Ahern // William Morris Agency

Management: Danny Goldberg + Jesse Bauer // Gold Village Entertainment

Press: Patti Conte // Plan A Media (National)

Amanda Charney // Plan A Media (local)



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