MOMTK is a local progressive metal band featuring guitar player Kyle Young, bassist Tom Bosco and drummer Joe Velocci, all Sachem students.
Their current lineup came together in January 2013, yet they sound as if they’ve been playing together for years. Upon listening to their music, you can tell they’re not just a garage band jamming for fun.
Young’s extensive music background definitely helps. A Sachem East alum from 2012, he is trained in jazz and classical guitar, often taking ideas from the styles and applying them to metal.
The band is heavily influenced by other progressive metal bands like “Between The Buried And Me”, “The Contortionist”, and “Periphery”, but they take influence from all types of music.
Bosco, who graduated from Sachem East in 2012, said he is a big fan of indie rock bands like “Two Door Cinema Club” and “The National” while Young really likes “Mayday Parade”, “Dream Theater”, “Imagine Dragons” and “Animals as Leaders”.
Velocci’s drumming influences are also wide ranged. From jazz legend Buddy Rich to Dave Matthews Band drummer Carter Beauford to “Between The Buried And Me’s” drummer Blake Richardson, he takes his chops from all different genres. He is a senior at Sachem North this year.
Young’s guitar playing style is influenced by guitarists like Guthrie Govan, Pat Metheny and Paul Waggoner
Despite what you might think, their song writing process is pretty bare. Most of the time it consists of either Bosco or Young jamming with Velocci and improvising until they come up with something they like, than they build on that.
A good chunk of the band activity goes on in Velocci’s basement. He has a full studio where the band often practices and records their material. The studio is fully equipped with a treated room, multiple mics, a drum set, countless amps and guitars and a plethora of other gear. An added bonus is both Young and Bosco are skilled at audio engineering, giving them clean, loud and punchy mixes.
Verlocci uses a Pearl Form Series five piece drum kit with a Ludwig Supraphonic snare and a set of Soultone Cymbals. Tom is rocking an Ibanez five string bass and Kyle plays an Ibanez RG7321.
They have a concept album planned for release in the future. The premise: a captain goes to war, comes back a victorious decorated war hero. Upon coming home, he proclaims himself a god, which starts a conflict between the captain and the actual gods in the sky. There will be five songs on the album that all come together into one cohesive piece. They stressed that when they play songs from the album live, they always play the songs in order.
MOMTK recently won the Sachem Public Library Battle of the Band.
The future looks bright for this group.
LISTEN! https://soundcloud.com/acramoc/momtk
-Written by Patrick Crawley, Sachem North journalism student