Channels
Biography
“Meet the Channels", beckoned the brochure accompanying J. Robbins' new satellite dish. As if "the Channels" had been waiting to meet him. As if, once met, they'd be friends for life, steadfast and true. Having been raised in large part by two television sets in the landscaped suburbs of the world's doublespeak capital, Washington D.C., he couldn't help thinking of Fahrenheit 451. He also couldn't help thinking of Meet the Beatles. And so the band name was born - although there's nothing so ironic or postmodern about Channels themselves.
In the 1990's, Darren Zentek moved to D.C. as drummer of the now-legendary Kerosene 454, providing the rhythmic push behind their tsunami of guitar power. Post-K454, Darren and the band’s vocalist Erik Denno moved into more experimental, leftfield territory with in the hugely underrated five-piece Oswego.
J. Robbins, then singer/guitarist in D.C. proto-emo workaholics Jawbox, was just embarking upon a career as a record producer and engineer, and was blown away by Darren's guitar style during the engineering sessions for Oswego.
Fast-forward a little to the turn of the century: Robbins, slogging through Europe with new band Burning Airlines, met future wife Jane Morgan while she was playing bass in UK indie heartthrobs Shonben.
And the various bands played on. As the millennium arrived, Robbins and Morgan tied the knot, Burning Airlines disbanded, Oswego broke up, Darren also married and even bought a house... and they all gently segued into "real life," right? Right, so long as "real life" means rediscovery and reinvention of what drove you all along; starting a new band that builds on the best of all the music you've made before and pushes it to new heights of invention.
The three members of Channels are bound by a shared love of music that embraces aspects of “alternative” and “pop” ethics, without being restrained by either; their latest record, Waiting For The Next End Of The World, is a wry commentary on the alarming power of the modern media and the waves of popular hysteria that increasingly grip the western world, neatly encapsulated within their characteristic shell of taut, compelling guitar pop.