The Lincoln Log

Chicago pop-rock band, The Audition, has been wrongfully dubbed a pop band like any other. However, their new album, “Champion,” released January 22, challenges this misconception and attempts to take them out of the shadows cast by other Chicago bands such as The Plain White T’s and Fall Out Boy.

Drummer, Ryan O’Connor has a great deal of pride in this new album.

“I think this album is the best one we have made and it’s more rock and soul influenced than anything. We don’t want to be seen as another cookie-cutter pop band following in the footsteps of Fall Out Boy or Panic! At the Disco or anything like that,” said O’Connor, the main songwriter of the Audition. “I think this album shows our unique sound and identity.”

The Audition hopes for an individual sound with “Champion,” as opposed to their more traditional first album, “Controversy Loves Company.” In this new album, you will hear proof that the Audition has matured as a band and even developed their own identity outside of their own “scene.”

“A lot of bands copy off other bands, we don’t want to do that, we want to be original,” said O’Connor. “Not to be cocky or anything, but the album title [Champion] is a statement of who we are. Our goal was to not sound like anyone, we didn’t settle and we did things our way. A song wasn’t ‘complete’ until it was perfect and we were completely satisfied with it. With this album, we’re just trying to create a name for ourselves by being original.”

With the diverse artistic influence of musicians who wouldn’t necessarily fit into the mold of the pop-rock genre, The Audition helped to expand themselves out of the creative rut they were in by bringing themselves outside of the limits of their genre.

“I listen to a lot of Stevie Wonder and Justin Timberlake and they influence our music. Listeners can definitely tell that Champion has a lot more soul than anything, but we still remain true to our rocky side. We write about love, sex, and what’s about to happen, just things in life that inspire us”

Though this band is serious on where they want to go with their music, O’Connor, one of the original members of the band is just another kid who has found a way to get out of the world of dead-end jobs and corporate cubicles by playing music.

“Me[O’Connor] and Joe started the band in high school, I was going to go to college- but this is my dream, I wasn’t going to let this opportunity pass. I thought that if I could keep a job in music, it would be great. I’d much rather be in a band than get a job,” said O’Connor. “I had just started college doing graphic designing, I didn’t like it at all I thought ‘this sucks, I don’t want to do this.’ After two weeks, I stopped going but I didn’t tell my parents so I just kept leaving my house at 6 AM and instead of school, I went to the library and read about music.”

The Audition started in 2003, put together by bassist, Joe Lusso and O’Connor. After many lineup changes, Seth Johnson joined and the band was signed on to Victory Records, last came the singer, Danny Stevens. In no more than two months, the band was to start recording their first album, “Controversy Loves Company.” Of course this rocky start would be something that would offset them on their first album. After finishing the album, the band was finally complete after admitting one last member, guitarist Tom Klepek.

After “Champion,” fans can expect the Audition to finally stand out from the shadows of the headlining bands on tours, and maybe even live up to the name of their latest album.