The three members of Apollo Up! have spent a decade playing with and without each other in various combinations (Shiboleth [sic], Lotushalo, the OCG, the Shakedown Cruise, et al). At the end of the summer of 2002, Jereme Frey (drums, percussion), Jay Leo Phillips (guitar, vocals, keys), and Mike Shepherd (bass, vocals) decided to make an attempt at finding a middle ground between post-punk pop and progressive rock precision.

Under the influence of books that people don’t finish (Joseph McElroy’s the Lookout Cartridge, Thomas Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow, etc.) and East Nashville’s plentitude of discount beer & tobacco stores, the pieces fell quickly into place. Songs like “My Real Baby” and “Distance/Difference” erupted, fully formed, as fiery bursts of window-rattling riffery; “Ticonderoga” and “Escalator Broke Down” are two-and-a-half minute shards of jagged pop. Their efforts were first documented, self-recorded and self-released, on the 5-song Demonstration Recording EP (January 2003).

From there, Apollo Up!’s song writing continued to develop in wider, more varied directions: “#8 (I Still Love You But I Want You To Die)” is an instrumental workout with a unique vocal approach; “Magnetic South” matches a poignant family history with soaring guitar heroics; “Saw Her Standing There” adds analog synth to the mix for even greater textural flavor; “Some Kind of Washington” and “Jagged Eisenhower” push the mixture of technical musicianship and melodic splendor to new heights.

In August of 2003, just a year after their first rehearsals, Apollo Up! began recording their first long-player with Jeremy Ferguson at Battle Tapes in Nashville. Nashville’s Theory 8 Records will release the resulting 11-song CD, Light the End and Burn It Through, at the end of November.