Telepathy

Telepathy (n) - Communication through means other than the senses, as by the exercise of an occult power…

“Telepathy is a way of expressing anything through thought and the power of the mind. The music I create comes to me from something greater than I can even comprehend. I hear it when I lay my head down to sleep in silence, when I drive my car somewhere with the stereo off, when I’m cut off from noise in complete silence. The notes and sounds reverberate in my mind and summon me to transpose them into audible sounds which I can produce with my band-mates. This is why I chose the name…”

~ Charlie Drayven

Telepathy is essentially a band that rose from the debris of another band formerly known as “Death To Penny.” Former singer/songwriter, Garett Gazay, and guitarist/songwriter, Charles Drayven, were both in a very similar situation. Both musicians had bands which had been a hit in San Jose only to fall apart. In an almost “relapse” stage of songwriting, the two musicians met each other in December of 2006 after Drayven’s band, A Bleeding Epiphany, came to an abrupt halt. Gazay and Drayven both wrote music for six months in Gazay’s garage, recording and sampling original ideas and ways to create a new sound to attract musicians to their revolution.

It wasn’t until May of 2007 that the band was finally complete. Gazay had finally found the missing pieces to the puzzle, Chadd Kenney and Manu Pena. Kenney had been in several bands over the past decade as an exceptional nomad percussionist, traveling from band to band until he found one that he saw great potential in. Under a lucky star, he found his place with Gazay & Drayven. Pena had been playing bass for a few bands in the Bay Area, including Alabaster. He originally lived in the Philippines and moved to California when he was 13. His passion for music had been with him from the very beginning and up and joined Gazay & Drayven’s project shortly after Kenney.

With the band finally complete, the band ventured to Redwood City where they found solitude in a cozy practice space at the RHL Facilities. For a month, the band contemplated a name and pieced together a set list to get ready to play gigs. The name was finalized as “Death To Penny” for Gazay’s secret hatred towards the song Penny Lane by the Beatles.

“I used to tell people at shows that Death To Penny meant death to currency; which symbolizes order and structure in our capitalistic society. Without currency, there would be anarchy. I hated the name to be truly honest because Garett was making a mockery of The Beatles. In the music industry, if you f@% with the Beatles, you’re basically f&%ing with god: something Oasis failed to comprehend.” ~Drayven.

Death To Penny played their first show on July 27th of 2007 at the Rooster’s Roadhouse in Alameda, CA. After headlining an hour long set and an encore, the crowd and the bands we’re astonished at this “diamond in the rough.” Ironically, after a few shows, the band slowly began to disintegrate.

After playing a few shows booked by Victor Montes of Belladona Booking and Management, Montes began to show immense interest in managing Death To Penny. Gazay & Drayven were hesitant at first, but eventually decided to give in to Kenney & Pena’s reasoning behind management. Shortly after Montes took control as manager of the band in September of 2007, Gazay abruptly quit the band and took with him the songs and the style of Death To Penny to form his own project, EDEN. Broken and without songs to play, Drayven, Kenney, & Pena all showed up to the practice space frequently to jam around and rekindle the flame that had been reduced to ash. Drayven finally found the strength inside himself to walk up to the microphone and lead his band-mates down a different path of edgier and more heartfelt music.

The first song that was created by the remaining members of Death To Penny was written by Drayven when he was fifteen years old; Dymethyltriptamine (D.M.T.). After the three band-mates realized the sound they had created, they only strived to produce more. Soon enough, Drayven, Kenney, & Pena found a new style and name: Telepathy.

With a 6 week timeframe to work with, Telepathy had to complete an entire set in order to play a show previously booked in San Francisco on Halloween at the Rockit Room for Death To Penny. With drive and sheer determination, Telepathy proved to conquer the impossible and relit the flame that Death To Penny had once burned so brightly.

During the six week period of creating songs, Drayven constantly complained about the music sounding “empty” without another guitarist. Telepathy began to search for other guitarists in order complete the band. There were few guitar players that fit the standards of Drayven until the band met Paul Krakow.

“I remember the day we met Paul. Chadd, Manu and I were at practice one day and Manu left his bass in his truck over night, so the strings stretched and snapped when he went to play it. Chadd mentioned going to a local music store called Gelb to get some new strings because there was a big sale going on. Unfortunately, he was right and supposedly there was a line out the door. Manu freaked out and tried to persuade his way to the front of the line because he only needed strings. Fortunately, Paul heard his cry for help and escorted Manu to his house and gave him some strings. Paul then came to the practice space and we gave him a call back. I’m glad we met that guy. It’s not everyday that you encounter someone with such an uplifting spirit, not to mention his skills as a guitar player.” ~Drayven

Krakow’s arrival finally completed Telepathy and the band has been writing music and playing shows ever since. The band just released their debut EP and plans to play shows nonstop anywhere that will book them. So keep an eye out, they just might speak to you in silence…