Instead of giving up, Johnson chose to take a more optimistic approach and started writing and recording new material. His previous band had been a trio, thus all songs had been written for that particular format. Now, as a solo artist, there were no limitations to the music at all. Johnson wanted to take everything he had learned from the last ten years and utilize that experience to write songs that were strong, powerful, and more emotional than anything he had previously written. The results were the best material he had yet produced. Songs and ideas came quickly and before he knew it, there was a stockpile of songs that only needed a full band to play them.
Around this time, Johnson received a call from an old friend. Mikal Pierpoint had been the drummer in Johnson’s previous band, and was apparently suffering from the same emotional detachment as Johnson. Pierpoint wanted to get together and play some songs, and after Johnson played for him some of the new material, Pierpoint knew that he had to be a part of this new band.
So now Johnson and Pierpoint needed a few members to fill the line up. They knew that they didn’t want to be a trio this time around, because the new material was much more complex and a bassist as well as a second guitarist was needed to really round out the sound. They decided to call on two long time friends.
Alan and Casey Orange had been friends with Johnson and Pierpoint since high school. Alan had played a few times with their previous band, so they knew the talent he possessed. After seeing Alan and Casey play a show with their band Escape the Reign, Johnson and Pierpoint realized that Casey possessed just as much talent as a bassist. They had always wanted to work with the Orange Brothers, but the four were always involved in different projects. Now, the time could not have been more right. Upon being asked to join, Alan and Casey Orange accepted, and A Sound Theory was born.
Right away, the songs Johnson had written took on a new life as the four musicians rearranged and fine tuned the material. The songs were meticulously crafted and just as raw, powerful, and emotional as Johnson had hoped they would be. What sets A Sound Theory apart from every other band is the strong sense of melody that each song possesses. The members of the band have a large array of influences which help define the music that A Sound Theory makes. Johnson’s strong vocal melodies, Pierpoint’s thunderous drums, Casey Orange’s thumping bass, the sonic attack of Alan Orange’s and Johnson’s dual guitars; these are the things that make up the dynamic entity that is A Sound Theory.
