The Subtle Way Aren’t 17 Anymore

The Subtle Way started out young. They got signed to Negative Progression after playing a show at their high school. "Starting this band so young has given us ample time to learn from our mistakes when we had the time to make them," vocalist Jamie Tahirkheli told Noisecreep. "Now that we are about to really start taking this seriously as our career, we have a humble idea of what we're taking on. The only thing is, we don't hear 'damn, those kids are only 17' anymore."

Armed with a new album -- 'Thus Far, the Channels Speak,' which is that 'right now,' deathcore spiked with vocoder sound that the kids love and the purists and elitists hate -- the Bay Area-based Subtle Way are about to hit the road for most of January and February with Look Alive, a new band featuring ex-members of MyChildren MyBride.

"With this record, we wanted to incorporate everything that we enjoy about music, while still trying to maintain memorable tracks that can be enjoyed regardless of what the listeners' musical or philosophical knowledge may consist of," Tahirkheli said. Each song was a brand new project that could be made into whatever we wanted. We had a vision of a really colorful record and I think we stayed true to that vision."

Despite their age, the band has toured the country four times in just two years. They self-booked their first tour in 2007, upon graduating high school. They trekked through the northern and southern parts of California and Arizona. They used one of their parents' minivans and pulled a trailer of gear. Within three hours, the van broke down and resulted in a missed first show.

Tahirkheli also recalled a particularly unruly show, saying, "I don't approve of fighting when it's not necessary, but we were in Yuma, Ariz., and after the show, we went to this party. There was this big drunk guy about to attack Marcelo [Sedano, guitar, vocals, keyboards, programming] and Trevor [Bauchou, keyboards], so before he had a chance, I threw him on the ground and put him in a headlock. The adrenaline got to me, and I was about to start beating him, but my girlfriend who came with us, pushed me off and took me out of the house.

"Before I knew it, someone yelled, 'You guys have to get out of here right now.' And I knew exactly what that meant. We all bolted to the van and when I looked back, I saw the dude loading a rifle and trying to figure out which vehicle we were in. Luckily, I drove off before he got a chance to fire."

Someone upstairs was looking out for the Subtle Way, so they could bring their music to the masses years later.