Redding

by J. Scott McClintockBelleville, IL-based Brit-rock disciples Redding got their start back in grade school, where Joseph Graves (lead vocals, guitar), Daniel Gula (guitar), and drummer Jon Stamm spent long creative hours tinkering in Graves' basement studio under the name For the Moment. The group morphed from a capable garage band to a more serious affair when bassist/keyboardist Jeff McCullough (Graves' first cousin) came on board in 2004. With a working lineup firmly in place, the band spent three months recording the four songs that would eventually appear on the 2004 debut EP Sinclair Aircraft, under the group's original name. The Sinclair Aircraft EP caught the ear of Rock Ridge Music's Tom Derr and Chris Henderson (of 3 Doors Down), and a deal was signed at the end of that year. Discovering that the For the Moment moniker was already in use, the band decided on the name Redding, a nod to Ellis Redding, Morgan Freeman's character from The Shawshank Redemption, and began their next recording stint at Rivergate Studios in Biloxi, MS. Halting recording to play a series of high-profile live dates, Redding returned to recording duties in the fall of 2005 (this time at Greenville College) and, by October, completed tracking for their self-titled full-length, which was released in July of 2006.