THE COMPONENTS – Saddle Brook, NJ
Back in 2016, I wrote about a great rock band out of Paramus, NJ called Asphalt Grey. Well, two years later, guitarist Ronnie Sena and drummer Zoe Ekonomidis have unleashed a new project of theirs called The Components. Zoe, whom I learned is from my hometown of Saddle Brook, NJ, hit me up on Facebook and sent me a link to give their new CD, Continuum, to listen to, and because she’s from my hometown, I gave it a listen without even blinking. Now, the unique thing about this new project The Components is that it’s only Ronnie and Zoe in the band. They’re a two-piece power duo. Hey, it worked for the White Stripes, right? After giving Continuum a listen, this duo packs quite a punch on songs like “Parliaments and Witchcraft,” “Filthy,” “Ill Bandito” and “Glass Haus.” This stuff wasn’t bad for two people.
As I stated earlier, The Components are a two-piece rock band from Saddle Brook. The band is made up of only singer and guitarist Ronnie Sena and drummer Zoe Ekonomidis. As soon as that first thunderous chord hits, The Components are dead set on making that performance as powerful and passionate as possible, pulling no punches as they put everything they can into every strum, every scream, every swing. The band’s live presence has described as electrifying, drawing inspiration from older bands like Nirvana and The Dead Boys, to more modern artists like Frank Iero, My Chemical Romance, and Senses Fail. The idea of The Components originally began as a solo project. Even though, Ronnie and Zoe were actively playing in Asphalt Grey still, he was writing and recording a bunch of songs alone at home for months just for himself. Soon Ronnie realized that he had enough songs to release some sort of EP on Bandcamp, but he didn’t want to put it under his real name so he decided to make up a “fake” band called The Components and released the EP, Chasing Colors in May 2015. Eventually, in late 2016, Asphalt Grey took a hiatus and during that time Ronnie and Zoe decided to get together for the sake of playing music, and started jamming on songs from the Chasing Colors EP and everything just clicked. It was that moment when the two decided to continue writing and performing under the name The Components.
Seven months into focusing on The Components project, Ronnie and Zoe signed with Mint400 records to release their latest CD Continuum, which can be heard on Spotify, iTunes, Google Play, Soundcloud, Amazon.com or wherever songs can be streamed or downloaded. The Components are certainly worth the listen. To find out where this dynamic duo is playing next or for more info on The Components, visit Facebook.com/TheComponentsBand.
NORTH JERSEY NOTES UPDATES:
Metal Life Crisis will be playing a killer show this Friday night (4/6) opening for the legendary Udo Dirkschneider, who you will remember as the former frontman of Accept who is now fronted by Jersey’s own Mark Tornillo, who fronted popular Jersey band T.T. Quick. See what I did there? Neither do I. Anyway, Metal Life Crisis will be opening for Dirkschneider this Friday night at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park. If you haven’t checked out Metal Life Crisis yet, do it now at Facebook.com/MetalLifeCrisisNJ, and keep an ear out for an upcoming new song from MLC featuring Negative Sky singer Dan Caputo.
Speaking of Negative Sky, who knows what the future holds for the band, but bass player and my bass brother, George Pond, is not sitting around and waiting. He’s been working on a new project, which “might” feature Living Colour singer Corey Glover and Sevendust drummer Morgan Rose. When I say “might,” I really mean they will be performing in this project with George. I really can’t wait to hear this project. There’s not link to send you to yet because this project is that new!
And finally, another shameless plug for my band Rahway, who killed it at Starland last Friday night with Monster Magnet. Rahway will be bringing their dirty Jersey rock ‘n’ roll to Upstate New York this Saturday night (4/7) as we open for the ultimate Tool Tribute band, Schism, featuring my bass brother Sean Patrick Murray from the band New Theory. We’ll be performing together at the Upstate Concert Hall in Clifton Park, NY. For more info on Rahway, visit Rahwayband.com.
That’s all for now! If your band is from North Jersey, and you want some exposure, send your press kits to Arts Weekly, c/o Tim Louie P.O. Box 1140, Little Falls, NJ 07424, or you can email me at tim@theaquarian.com, where you can also let me know where you’re performing next!
Just remember…We’re all in the same boat, so every little bit of exposure counts!
Tim Louie is the Author of S**t Happens.
NJN Concert Calendar:
4/4—Krosis/Silent On Fifth Street/Terrform/Subverse/The Inversion Circus—Dingnbatz, Clifton, NJ
4/6—Metal Life Crisis/Elm Street /DIRKSCHNEIDER—The Stone Pony, Asbury Park, NJ
4/6—Jersey Campfires Presents Corevalay/Sunday Brave /Low Roads Ghost/Amigos, Amigos!/Prodigal Sons—Debonair Music Hall, Teaneck, NJ
4/7—Rahway/Schism “A Tribute to Tool”/Frozen Sun/One Day Waiting—Upstate Concert Hall, Clifton Park, NY
4/13—Buckcherry/Another Day Dawns/War For The Crown—Sherman Theater, Stroudsburg, PA
4/14—The Dark Matters (Reunion Show)/In The Presence of Wolves/Reese Van Riper/Comb The Desert/Black Lagoon—Dingnbatz, Clifton, NJ
4/14—Hodera/Have Mercy—SUNY Oneonta, Oneonta, NY
4/18—Life Of Agony/Borgo Pass—Saint Vitus, NYC
4/19—Life of Agony/Pain Method—Saint Vitus, NYC
4/19—Jason Richardson and Luke Holland/Cryptodira/Sentinels/Divinex/Planetary Alignment/Who I Once Was—Dingbatz, Clifton, NJ
4/20—Queen V’s Spring Fling—The Cutting Room, NYC
4/20—Don Jamieson/Shiwan Khan/Bionic Monkey/Tilted/Ripped/Johnny Zostant/Second Sin—The Brighton Bar, Long Branch, NJ
4/20—Punchline/The Stolen/Tell Me Tell You/Automatic 253/Owl Kill—Dingbatz, Clifton, NJ
4/21—Janet Gardner of VIXEN/SINERTIA/Loaded Gun/Sunday Brave/Knightlife/Alden—Dingbatz, Clifton, NJ
4/21—Lieder—The Parkside Lounge, NYC
4/26—This Curse/Call It Home/A Boy Named John/Indighxst/Hollow Bones/The View From Here/Concrete Dream Music—Dingbatz, Clifton, NJ
4/27—Psychoprism/Sunless Sky/Legion/Imperial Crypt—Dingbatz, Clifton, NJ
4/28—Missi Fieretag’s Birthday Bash featuring KILLCODE/Arc’d Angel/Baelfire/Resurge/COMMON WEALTH—Stanhope House, Stanhope, NJ
4/28—Blind Revision/Deadly Nights/Lunatic Fringe/The Nectars—Dingbatz, Clifton, NJ
4/29—Powerman 5000/Lullwater/Deadtide/Riverside Odds/Under Blood Red Skies—Dingbatz, Clifton, NJ
5/4—Last In Line—Debonair Music Hall, Teaneck, NJ
5/4—Symetria/Arc’d Angel/Obsidion/Voidless/Shutter/Call of Sirens/Conquer At Will—Dingbatz, Clifton, NJ
5/5—Hodera—Montclair Center Stage, Montclair, NJ
5/12—Out of Bounds CD Release Party/Metal Life Crisis/Don Jamieson—The Brighton Bar, Long Branch, NJ
