Codebreaker's Steven Hawley admits that when he and Sage Schwarm started to ingest the overwhelmingly positive feedback from both press and fans after releasing 2005's "What is this Earth Love?," the experience was unexpectedly emotional.
Suddenly Codebreaker was saturating the blogs, clubs and airwaves of places like Italy, Norway, France, and Germany -- each spot accompanied by acclaim and the occasional, "This comes to us via Milwaukee?!"
"It choked me up a bit -- being so insular for all this time in a studio, working so hard on your vision. To watch it take flight on it's own is really nice," says Hawley.
With a brand new video out and the possibility of more to come, he had better get used to it.
The video for title track "What is This Earth Love?" -- directed by Milwaukee filmmaker Tate Bunker -- is a futuristic visual journey through the funk-dance charmer of a song, creatively marrying sound with aesthetics. You can watch the video here.
"(Tate) did an incredible job and we worked really well together," says Hawley. "He took a lot of time listening to our stuff and observing us before constructing the video. I have to say, it turned out really representative of us conceptually. It makes a real strong emotional/aesthetic impact in four minutes. Everyone I've talked to that's seen it so far has expressed that."
It's the first video for the band; or, the first that Hawley's seen anyway.
"A few years ago this girl made a documentary on us, I heard it was great. I never saw it cause I was too shy to watch all that footage of myself. I still feel bad about that and I'm a lot better with that stuff now though."
And he would have to be as the chance for Codebreaker to become the first unsigned band to launch its career on a wireless phone is fast becoming a reality. As a top 15 finalist in "Calling All Bands," the contest brainchild of Verizon Wireless and Myspace.com, Codebreaker is facing the opportunity to have its song, music video, ring tone and ring back tone released on Verizon Wireless.
"We were selected by a panel of judges and people can vote for their favorite until March 22. Once it's narrowed down to the top five, the judges pick a winner." People can vote here and the winner will be announced on Myspace.com on March 29.
"A lot of great things have happened so far this year and I'm just gonna keep working as hard as I can," Hawley says of the future. "We're going to stay productive, come out with a follow-up EP within the year and lose a few more thousand dollars doing it." He adds, "DIY and the beat goes on."
Codebreaker plays the Cactus Club on Tuesday, March 21 with Hot Chip and Bts. Wrkng. Doors open at 9 p.m.
The band's Web site is codebreakermusic.com.
OnMilwaukee.com staff writer Julie Lawrence grew up in Wauwatosa and has lived her whole life in the Milwaukee area.
As any “word nerd” can attest, you never know when inspiration will strike, so from a very early age Julie has rarely been seen sans pen and little notebook. At the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee it seemed only natural that she major in journalism. When OnMilwaukee.com offered her an avenue to combine her writing and the city she knows and loves in late 2004, she knew it was meant to be. Around the office, she answers to a plethora of nicknames, including “Lar,” (short for “Larry,” which is short for “Lawrence”) as well as the mysteriously-sourced “Bill Murray.”
