Endwell Bio

Even though they’re just now hitting America and the world with their debut album, Homeland Insecurity, the five members of the Queens, NY band Endwell are true survivors in every sense of the word. In October, 2005, after touring the country on their own a couple of times and releasing their own EP, the boys piled into their van for a trek to Chicago, where they would showcase their talents in front of Victory Records owner Tony Brummel.

“We were driving through New Jersey when we got hit by a truck,” guitarist Dan Puglisi recalls. “It flipped our van five or six times. Our lead singer at the time was ejected from the vehicle and spent a couple of weeks in the hospital. The rest of us were in the hospital for just a few days.” It took a while for everyone to recuperate, and there were some personnel changes in the interim, yet within a few months, Endwell was back in gear. They eventually performed that showcase for Victory, won the label over and were signed soon thereafter.

That’s quite an accomplishment for a bunch of very young kids (Puglisi is still the only band member of drinking age) who grew up together in Queens, New York. “Our first gig was in the fall of 2003, at a grungy club called the Red Zone,” Puglisi says. “Only a handful of people showed up, but it was a start.” The band started right off, writing and performing their own songs, a challenging blend of breakneck thrash power and tart melodic hooks.

They were able to refine their sound by performing in two markedly different club scenes—one in Manhattan, the other in Long Island. “Although Queens itself had a lousy music scene, the cool thing about it was that we were midpoint between the Manhattan and Long Island club scene, we were we able to do well in both places,” he says. “Long Island had a big pop-punk scene, while Manhattan had a little bit of everything. It got to a point where we almost had to laugh when we were asked what our home town was, New York or Long Island? Well, it kinda depends…”

Wherever they called home, Endwell started impressing people far and wide with their self-released EP and impassioned live shows. They won a Battle of the Bands, which earned them a spot on the Hellfest bill. They also won the respect of peers such as Bayside’s Anthony Raneri, who suggested they contact Victory Records. “There’s a ton of labels out there, but we grew up listening to Victory bands such as Earth Crisis and Hatebreed,” Puglisi notes. “We were big hardcore kids who were really influenced by that stuff. We knew Victory had so many great bands in the past, we thought it would be amazing to be a part of it.”

One near-death experience and a successful showcase later, Endwell found themselves in California, recording their debut album with producer Jay Baumgardner (Papa Roach, Evanescence, New Found Glory). “The album is all over the board,” Puglisi exclaims, “We came up with songs that sound like nothing we’ve ever done before, including some fast, energetic stuff really that makes you want to take a breather between songs. All of the songs were written to be played live. There are no filler or album-only tracks here. If we couldn’t pull them off live, it didn’t make the album.”

The first single is “Single & Loving It.” “I started jamming off one riff, showed it to everyone, and we worked on it further,” he says. “It developed into this powerful, energetic song.” The video, directed by Shane Drake (who won the VMA’s Video of the Year Award for directing Panic! At the Disco’s “I Write Sins, Not Tragedies”) was shot against the gothic skyscrapers of New York, promises to be as visually compelling as the song sounds.

Meanwhile, Endwell is chomping at the bit to return to the road to turn America on to Homeland Insecurity--one person at a time, if need be. “As a DIY band that book gigs day by day, you learn not to expect to have things given to you,” Puglisi concludes. “Just put on a great show, whether you’re playing to five kids in Alabama or a few hundred in New York City.