Artist Profile: Paul McCoy [More Famous Than You Think]

Welcome back to Additive Noise.

First things first, a survey! Raise your hand if you've ever heard of Paul McCoy before. Anyone? Anyone at all?

Oh yes you have. You just don't know it yet. Never fear, boys and girls, that's what I'm here for!

Paul McCoy is the lead vocalist for a little-known Christian band called 12 Stones. I discovered them recently while I was listening to Pandora, and decided to do a little research. To put it lightly, I was amazed at what I found.

12 Stones is a four-man band out of a small suburb near New Orleans, and boy did they get lucky. Within fifteen months of forming, they were signed by record label Wind-Up Records (home of major players Seether, Creed, Evanescence, and Finger Eleven to start). Today, they have four studio albums and many many singles, most of which are very good.

Now for the things you may not know.

- The single "Photograph" was used for the movie soundtrack for Elektra in 2005.
- The single "Shadows" was used for one of the Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest trailers in 2006.
- Milwaukee Brewers fans, "Anthem for the Underdog" is Corey Hart's walk-up batter song.

And my personal favorite....

How many of us have listened to Evanescence's "Bring Me to Life" at least once a week since its record-breaking performance in 2004?
Well those Grammy-award-winning male lead vocals certainly aren't Ben Moody! That's right- the Linkin Park-esque rap alternations in the chorus belong to the talented Paul McCoy.
Bravo to you, Paul. Your words have penetrated the very heart of the rock scene for years, and most of your poor fans don't even know your name.

12 Stones has a bit of a different sound than Evanescence- they're a bit closer to Seether in their rougher vocals. Just from a bit of listening I hear less bass than Seether- almost as if they went Green-Day-punk in a hard-rock genre. The electric guitar solos are sweet, and McCoy's beautiful voice reminds me very much of Adam Gontier of Three Days Grace, or John Cooper of Skillet. It's almost as if all of my favorite bands got together and made a whole new hybrid!

For those of you interested in getting into 12 Stones, I highly recommend the songs "Bulletproof", "Lie to Me" and "Hey Love", as well as "We Are One", which I linked at the beginning of today's post.

So get out there and help me spread the word of this excellent group. They deserve more fame than they get!

Please leave questions or comments here- tell me what you want to have me review! I live for the people. You can also email me at rmmcaleer@valdosta.edu if you want to.

This has been your weekly session of Additive Noise...

[Listen Out]