[ Genres: Rock / Pop / Pop Rock ]
Pop Rock has been missing one thing lately: a powerhouse female vocalist with more than just the voice. We want a vocalist with a commanding voice, charisma, and a certain gravitational pull that we can’t help but fall prey to. Well, music is giving us that with The Design. The Raleigh, NC based band is fronted by lead vocalist Katherine “Kat” Robichaud with Jonathan Fleck on drums, Robbie Dooley on guitar, and Keith Lewis on bass guitar and trumpet. In 2005, Bryan Smith decided he wanted to form a pop-rock band with a female lead to give Raleigh some new entertainment, but with a mainstream feel. He auditioned several female vocalists and settled on Kat, who grew up singing show tunes, and had only decided to sing in a band during her senior year in college where she was actually studying graphic design. Fast forward three years and The Design released its first album which sold thousands of copies. In 2011, their second album, Young America, was released. Kat’s voice can slay you with seduction one second and kick you in the gut the next. Sounding like a healthy mixture of Alannah Myles, Janis Joplin, and Paramore, The Design could possibly fill the lonely hole in mainstream music that No Doubt left behind and that Paramore can’t quite seem to fill all by themselves.
[ Sounds Like: Queen, No Doubt, Heart, The Darkness, Paramore ]
… read the rest if this author’s review below …
“Burn” by The Design rated on a 5 Star Rating Scale
Author Rating: 4.6/5
Composition: 5/5, Arrangement: 5/5, Performance: 5/5, Production: 4/5, Hit Potential: 4/5
Founder (Music Producer & Publisher) Rating: 3.8/5
Composition: 4/5 Arrangement: 4/5 Performance: 4/5 Production: 4/5 Hit Potential: 3/5
Young America is a bit better than the first album for sure. It lacks the variety I was hoping for after hearing their lead-off single “Burn,” which is quite well done. Overall, The Design is a party band rocking out on almost every single song. Whether or not they can tap into mainstream music remains to be seen, but as of now they remain an Indie band with all the potential of gracing at least one Billboard chart. The vocals are some of the best I’ve heard coming from a female pop-rock vocalist in quite a while. We hear a lot of drums, and the electric guitar is pretty mesmerizing in its solo parts. This is a female power anthem that would make Kelly Clarkson, the queen of power anthems, proud. The Design seems to be growing with each album and now that the third album is underway, maybe we’ll see them reach full potential.
Personally, I think they have a habit of sounding a bit like a 90s band that you might see performing at a high school party. Their album isn’t full of songs you might want to buy on iTunes, but they are definitely songs I wouldn’t mind hearing at a party. They kind of make me want to stand on someone’s parent’s furniture and just jump on, completely ruining the white fabric. “Burn” was inspired by the Hunger Games, and I wish it could have been on the soundtrack. It’s catchy and has tons of mainstream potential despite the fact that it takes almost a full minute for the vocals to start. I find myself tapping my feet along to the rhythmic beat; eventually, I starred it on Spotify. The vocals and the music production are there. They just need the right song and I have complete faith that they can find it. I give the song a 4 out of 5 rating. I’m definitely becoming a fan.
Katherine Robichaud – Vocals, Guitar
Kat wanted to be a singer since she was a little girl. Her early inspirations (and the ones that continue to thrill her) were Broadway shows and artists like Queen and David Bowie. Her first performances were with a children’s choir and her high school chorus, though she found these outlets lacked the passion of the musical heroes of her youth.
After high school, Kat attended the College of Design at NCSU for graphic design. She continued to share her stunning voice with others throughout her college years, including being encouraged by Kitty West (ties with Arlo Guthrie and his family) to sing with her at beach bars. After seeing the Yeah Yeah Yeahs live in concert, Kat knew that this was what she wanted to do for the rest of her life.
Kat bought her first electric guitar her senior year of college and answered an ad in the Indy Weekly for a female singer in a cover band. The person who posted the ad, Bryan Smith, is now The Design’s booking agent and manager. Together Kat and Bryan launched Sugar, a fun top-40s cover band that traveled up and down the east coast. After graduating from college, Kat became a full-time musician. In 2007 she began writing original music and changed the band name to The Design, in reference to her ties with graphic design and the concept that the best possible solution comes from collaboration.
The Design’s first album, Laziest Perfectionist, was released in 2008. With the added experience from writing and recording the first album, Kat and the band went on to write Young America, The Design’s second full-length album, in 2011. Young America was mixed and mastered by Grammy Award-winning Dave Way and Howie Weinberg. Kat is currently writing songs for the third album and expanding the band’s terrain in the US and overseas.
Robbie Dooley – Lead Guitar
Robbie Dooley grew up in central Ohio and began learning guitar when his parents bought him a cheap Strat at age 13. At age 15, he moved to Miami, FL and attended Miami Lakes Educational Center, where he studied music theory and modern recording technology.
At 18, Dooley returned to Ohio and engineered sessions out of a home studio, earning Grammy nominations for an album recorded with the Zak Domogalla Band. He moved to Raleigh, NC at 24 to work with the Zak Domogalla band, as well as teach private music lessons. He worked as a recording engineer at K House Recording, where he played a pivotal role in the recording of The Design’s latest album, Young America.
A few months later, Dooley responded to a craigslist ad in which The Design was seeking a new guitar player. After a few auditions, he was offered the gig and accepted. He looks forward to moving forward with The Design and working with an amazing group of musicians!
Jon Fleck – Drums
Jon Fleck grew up in Morristown, NJ. He started playing drums at six years old and was gigging with his first band, Of Fate and Chance, by age 12. At age 14, Jon started experimenting with home recording and over the following years he studied the recording arts, including everything from drum tuning, miking, and engineering and mixing techniques.
Jon has co-written and produced three full-length albums, two EP’s, and hundreds of unreleased tracks including one album where he co-wrote, produced, engineered, and mixed the entire record. He has recorded in some of the top studios such as South Beach Studios in Miami Beach.
Fleck’s live experience is extensive with touring credits, and he is well versed with using a metronome both live and in the studio. He currently has an endorsement deal from Dark Horse Custom Drums and stick, head and cymbal endorsements pending. He is a team player with exceptional skill and talent in his craft.
Keith Lewis – Bass
Keith Lewis first began his musical career when his grandparents shipped an old piano that was sitting unused in their basement to his family when he was eight years old. He immediately enrolled in piano lessons, but it wasn’t until he picked up a trumpet four years later that he really began to be inspired by music. Studying both trumpet and piano throughout high school, Keith noticed a lack of opportunities for trumpet players, so he began to teach himself bass on his own using his father’s old acoustic guitar.
After graduating from high school, Lewis went to Case Western Reserve University, where he studied classical trumpet, classical and jazz double bass, and jazz performance, arranging, composition, and recording. He performed in two symphonic wind ensembles, the school jazz band, a brass quintet, several pit orchestras, and an experimental jam/rock/hip hop band. He also worked for both Case and CIM as a recording and mastering engineer, recording over one hundred recitals, recording sessions, and concerts.
Keith has remained active in the music scene since graduation, touring internationally as a musician, as well as working with artists as an engineer, producer, and director.
“If Paramore and Heart were to have a child, it would be The Design. They deliver a fun pop rock sound with a touch of old school rock! That’s got to make for an entertaining LIVE show!” – Brody, Music Director at G105 (Clear Channel)
“Robichaud has one of those powerful voices that can punch you in the teeth one second and seduce you out of your drawers the next. She gives it all in this track and the boys backing her up hold up their end extremely well too.” – Victor Alfieri, Indie Music Reviewer
“…this woman is extremely hot, intelligent, and taking over the world. I strongly encourage going to see The Design.” – Rebecca Cane, Coolgrrrls Online Magazine
“The Design has taken a big step forward. Their lead singer, Kat Robichaud, is no angel nor is she a chanteuse when it comes to singing. Given her prowess behind the microphone it’s doubtful she’d have any trouble taking it on. She’s somewhere in between, with a heavy dose of guttural, soul wrenching timbre combined with a knack for slipping in the explosiveness of a Broadway performer.” – Brian Tucker, The WAE
“Intense, infectious, and inspiring.” – Hunter Elliot, Raleigh Music Industry Association
“Kat Whitaker’s voice has enough oomph to rock a hockey arena.” – Matt Wake, Metromix Greenville
“Rock’s new sound.” – LA Press
“The Design performs tunes that are straightforward and unironic but that deliver a palpable sense of fun.” – Cape Fear Music
“Most of the time, bands are pretty good, occasionally not so much, but sometimes they turn out to be very good or even exceptional. Now and again we’ll come across one that’s of the kick ass variety which is to exceptional what The Hulk is to May Parker. Recently we saw a band that was of the latter sort, a Raleigh, NC group called The Design.” – Chuck Cox of Spaceship Days
“An amazing bunch of guys in The Design made The Sunday Night Showcase a joy to DJ and I look forward to interviewing them again when they become rich and famous!” – Lonesamurai, The Sanitarium.FM
Achievements:
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Ourstage / Top 10 in Funk/ April 2012/ “Sing Girl Sing”
Ourstage / Modern Rock Winner/ January 2012/ “Young America”
Ourstage / Top 40 in Funk/ December 2011, January 2012, February 2012/ “Sing Girl Sing”
Discmasters / “The A List” Up and Coming Artists
Indie Overdose Winners for “Burn”/ April 2012/ Indie Music Reviewer, Atlanta, GA
Follow The Design on the web & these social networks
Reverb Nation – MySpace – Bandcamp – Youtube – Ourstage – Facebook – TheDesignMusic.com
