By Gary S. Angelo

Youngstown noise rock collective Exit/Exit lured the recent Nouveau Rock festival crowd with discordant shoegazery; the band has grown from a well crafted indie pop act to a conceptual abstract work of art.

Formed in 2007 as a solo project of guitarist/synth-master, Brad Bocook, Exit/Exit intertwines proto-psychedelic French pop elements and the late 80s shoegaze song writing ethic  of The Pale Saints, My Bloody Valentine and Japan’s High Rise.

Joining Bocook now are Nick Skowron on guitar, drums and keyboards, Derek Winkle on bass (and occasionally drums), and Adam Magana on drums and keyboards. Bocook and Skowron formerly played in the outfit Hank! On Ice! While Winkle and Magana played in Ten Cylinder Typewriter. Bocook and Skowron also play in a shoegaze project called Megachurches.

Like many modern post rock, noise and experimental bands, the members of Exit/Exit move around between instruments on stage, and, in many cases, the instruments are built or modified to fit a specific aesthetic.

Bocook says, “In our music, stylistic borders are often blurred.” He describes the music as a pigment of artistic expression, explaining that experimental noise and drone, “Is very gratifying in a tribal way. When we perform, instinct takes over, and nothing else matters outside of the small bubble of tools surrounding us.”

“Exit/Exit will always be an outlet for releasing ideas and emotions and trying to always achieve a level of personal completeness and perfection,” Bocook says.

(Editor’s note: JamBrain welcomes independent submissions on the live, local music scene, reserving, of course, editorial privilege.)