Written by Veronica Crisler. Digital Media by Jessica Sturgeon.
The Madison Letter is back! After Tuesday night’s open mic performance at the Blackroom Café, the band returned to play
their first home show of the semester on Wednesday night. Doors opened at 8pm with local musician Tyler Merrill (guitar and lead vocals of The Bowtie Trio) opening the show for The Madison Letter. Cheers and applause filled the room as Merrill finished his set and welcomed The Madison Letter to the stage. The band kicked it off with one of their newer songs, giving the audience a taste of the new sound they created for their latest album.
In a recent interview broadcasted on MTV, band members of The Madison Letter wittily introduced each other. Phil Ortiz (electric guitar and background vocals) is the so-called “jokester” of the group, while Clayton Jones (lead vocals and guitar) is more business oriented (perhaps top strength is Achiever?) and likes to get things done. Drummer Tyler Ross describes himself as “the one who drives the van”, and Mitch Schrock, according to the other members, is “the one who sits there and looks pretty.”
Their second song, “More Beautiful,” is a song known by many GC students and kept the audience clapping and singing along. Afterwards, The Madison Letter played another newer song called “Nothing but a Chance.” During an interview with Phil Ortiz after the show, he commented that “Clayton [Jones] had the idea to write this song, and the way he describes it is not having a chance to have a chance. It’s about not knowing someone, but wanting to get the chance to meet that person.” After a few more songs and a couple of covers, the band closed with their newest single “In the Middle.”
The guys of The Madison Letter are all seniors and will be graduating in May. They are excited about the opportunities they will have as a band after they’ve left Greenville College. One of these opportunities has already shown itself in the form of the 2013 mtvU Woodie Award. The Madison Letter has been voted into the top final category, and is battling with three other emerging artists/bands to claim the award. Anyone who wants to support The Madison Letter can go to chevy.mtv.com to vote for them to win the 2013 Chevrolet Sonic College Artist Woodie. The Madison Letter’s albums are available on iTunes as well. Go ahead and give them a listen as you vote for them.
