Get Off the Roof because More Weight is here!
Written by Anna Wolf
You may remember the band Get Off the Roof from last year, but this year there’s a new band with an East Ridge member.
Carter Opsahl, a senior at East Ridge, plays guitar in a local hardcore band, More Weight. They recently had their Split EP Release show on October 29th. More Weight and Straightjacket, the band they did their split EP with, headlined the show. The concert was at the nStar Club, a venue in Brooklyn Park that promotes up and coming local hardcore bands. It’s also where they played their first show back in April, the grand opening of the venue. The band first formed last November, and have played 15 shows since then.
This show was one of, if not the biggest show they have played. It had a great turnout and Patrick Harris, a budding videographer, recorded all the bands. More Weight was pumped up and had amazing energy throughout their entire set. When I asked them about how they thought they did, Daemon, the band’s bassist, said, “Terrific! I believe we were very concise and played super well together.”
Their split EP officially debuted a month before the Release show, so they were very excited to play their new songs for a live audience. Their first self-titled demo was released back in March. I asked the band to compare the demo and the split, and Daemon said, “The demo was more of a precursor and it was completely written by Gabe and Carter, while the split has more depth to it and compiles the whole band’s ideas.” Grace, the drummer, shared her comparisons as well. “Considering the demo took a lot longer to produce, I feel like it was us dipping our toes in the water and deciding what things we do and don't like. The split on the other hand, is our personal struggles over the last few months put into songs. It’s something our whole band relates to which definitely makes me feel like it's our better work.”
More Weight and Straightjacket are both rising bands in the local hardcore scene, and they are good friends. Carter explains the motive behind the split with Straightjacket. “Our band knows they are talented musicians in the scene, and we are close with all of them. It was honestly kind of spontaneous, but we all wanted to do it and the split turned out awesome.” The split resonates with the band as a whole, and has brought them closer since it is written based on their hardships.
The band plans on releasing more music soon, and they have a couple of shows lined up for the next few weeks. Next week they will be playing in Iowa, which is a big step for them. More Weight is very excited about it. When asked about how the band came to be, Carter said, “I wanted to start a band because playing music is a passion of mine, and I wanted to created music as a group with my friends.”
