Sequoyah Prep School is a five-piece band based out of

olanta, South Carolina Olanta is a town in Florence County, South Carolina, Florence County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 563 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, down from 613 in 2000. It is part of the Florence, South Carolina, Florence F ...

. Its members include Justin Osborne, Harrison Boyd, West Jones, Jordan Hicks, Joel Ivey and Johnnie Matthews. The band has a unique style that has influences from

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

, and

alternative Alternative or alternate may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Alternative (''Kamen Rider''), a character in the Japanese TV series ''Kamen Rider Ryuki'' * ''The Alternative'' (film), a 1978 Australian television film * ''The Alternative ...

musicians. The band has released several albums, including ''We Said Hello...'' and ''Ghost Town''. ''Ghost Town'' is their most popular release, selling over 20,000 copies in the first year. The band got their start in 2003, and have continued to produce until their most recent release in 2011, called "Spells". The two most popular songs that the band has produced have been "About Rain" and "Hurricane", as these songs have accumulated more than 800,000 plays on MySpace alone. The band was declared the number-one unsigned band in South Carolina in 2005 by the online music industry.

Influences and musical style

The band has been influenced by many of the 1990s great rock bands, such as

Matchbox 20 Matchbox Twenty (also known as Matchbox 20 and MB20) is an American rock band formed in Orlando, Florida, in 1995. The group currently consists of Rob Thomas (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Brian Yale (bass guitar), Paul Doucette (drums, r ...

Counting Crows Counting Crows is an American rock band from San Francisco, California. Formed in 1991, the band consists of guitarist David Bryson, drummer Jim Bogios, vocalist Adam Duritz, keyboardist Charlie Gillingham, David Immerglück, bass guitarist Mil ...

, and Third Eye Blind. Sequoyah has their folk influence from the band Old Crow Medicine Show, famous for their cover of "Wagon Wheel". The band has developed their own unique style that combines the rock influences with the folk influences to become a hard-to-define genre of music.

Name change

Sequoyah Prep School went on an 8-month break in 2010. During this time, the band looked back on a "life of sin" and said that they have now "entered the darkness and can no longer return" and have begun to dissociate themselves with the music produced when they were called Sequoyah Prep School.

Touring history

The band has toured the Southeast, Northeast, and Midwest. Sequoyah has shared the stage with artists such as Anathallo, Anberlin, Better Than Ezra,

Colour Revolt Colour Revolt is an American Rock music, rock band from Oxford, Mississippi. History Colour Revolt's members first played together while they were high school students at Jackson Academy (Mississippi), Jackson Academy in Jackson, MS under the n ...

Cool Hand Luke ''Cool Hand Luke'' is a 1967 American prison drama film directed by Stuart Rosenberg, starring Paul Newman and featuring George Kennedy in an Oscar-winning performance. Newman stars in the title role as Luke, a prisoner in a Florida prison cam ...

, Corey Smith, Phantom Planet,

Quiet Drive Quietdrive is an alternative rock band based in Hopkins, Minnesota, USA, that was formed in 2002. Quietdrive released their first album, ''When All That's Left Is You'', on May 30, 2006, on Epic Records. In April 2008, Quietdrive left Epic Records ...

, and

Umbrellas An umbrella or parasol is a folding canopy supported by wooden or metal ribs that is usually mounted on a wooden, metal, or plastic pole. It is designed to protect a person against rain or sunlight. The term ''umbrella'' is traditionally use ...

. The notable venues in which they perform include the

New Brookland Tavern New Brookland Tavern is a bar and music venue located in Five Points (Columbia, South Carolina). New Brookland Tavern is one of, if not the oldest, continuous running music venues in the Columbia area. It is known for presenting live music 365 da ...

in Columbia, South Carolina.

Instrumentation

* Justin Osborne - vocals,

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

* Harrison Boyd -

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

* West Jones -

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

, vocals,

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

, piano * Jordan Hicks - guitar, banjo, vocals * Johnnie Matthews -

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

Discography

; ''We Said Hello...'' (2008) # "On the Ground" # "I"ll Find You" # "I'll Stay" # "Hurricane" # "501" # "Eyes Closed" # "The Coast" # "I Saw You Walking" # "Love/Hate" # "On My Mind" # "Because of You" ; ''Ghost Town'' (2008) # "Apple Pie (Maybe Tonight)" # "Maybe I'm In" # "Holy City" # "Way Back Home" # "Magnolia" # "Too Late" # "Nobody but You" # "Live Forever" # "Lucille" # "Listening" # "Old No. 4" ; "Weights Are Heavy" (2005) # "Mike Mouzon" # "About Rain" # "Birch" # "Change Is Better" # "Drown" # "Hey Amanda" # "Sense & Sensibility" # "Something Special" # "Wait" # "Wanted Man"

References

{{Reflist American folk rock groups Musical groups from South Carolina