For the last four years Liftpoint has been on a very promising and focused road. Making stops at every possible club and venue in their hometown of Chicago proved that Liftpoint's live show, as well as their connections with the fans, was a main priority. Spawned in the early months of 1999, Liftpoint first hit the streets with a two-song demo after being together for a mere two months. "We wanted to hit with a big impact from the start. We pressed almost 6,000 copies of our first demo and spread it around everywhere we could. It was very important to us to get the word out and turn peoples' heads. If promoting meant bringing backpacks full of free stickers, demos, and flyers to tons of local and national shows, we were all willing to do it," says singer/guitarist Lucas.
After playing countless live shows, Liftpoint began to crawl up through the ranks. Playing in their hometown of Chicago was a priority but they also took it upon themselves to spread the word elsewhere. Landing one-off shows in Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, north and south suburbs of Chicago, Indiana, and radio-sponsored events in Iowa City helped spread the word beyond Chicago's city limits. The addition of the Liftpoint Footsoldiers Street Team also helped promote the band. "The street team members have helped do wonders for us. They sign up from all over the country to help promote us. We send them tons of free stuff and they will go out to local shows, malls, schools, and wherever else to pass out stuff to promote us. We have close to 800 members in Chicago alone," says drummer Dean.
As the buzz continued to develop, Liftpoint continued to develop a voice of its own. In early 2002, Liftpoint landed a slot on their first sold out show at Chicago’s very own Cabaret Metro. From here, Liftpoint began to rise again with the release of another street sampler containing the tracks, “Downer Ave.,” "Father,” and radio single “Together We Grow.” After only a few months, Liftpoint began frequenting the Metro and gaining remarkable airplay with their single “Together We Grow” on Chicago’s Q101 (101.1FM). “We didn’t really know what to expect from the new material. We were confident about it and knew it was strong, but the type of reaction we got from people and the doors it opened up for us was unreal,” says Kevin.
In mid-2002 Liftpoint found themselves being asked to open a string of dates alongside Chevelle and Pulse Ultra. Among these shows included a sold out show at the House of Blues in downtown Chicago. “The response we got from the House of Blues show in Chicago was unbelievable. There was something like 1,400 people there and we had almost 200 kids sign up to be on the street team immediately after the show. We got rid of close to 1,000 samplers alone at that show. By the time we got to the end of the tour in Cincinnati, OH we only had empty cd sleeves and no more samplers, but kids were still waiting in line offering to buy the cd sleeves to have them signed. When all was said and done we had another 3,000 samplers pressed which put us close to giving out over 6,000. It was overwhelming,” says the band.
After returning back to Chicago, Liftpoint continued to write and record new material. With plans to record a full length album, the guys joined up with engineers Mark “Mouse” Brunner at Reel Sounds Studios (Skokie, IL) and Manny Sanchez at Chicago Recording Studios (Chicago, IL). Pent up in the studio for close to a year, Liftpoint made plans to release another three song industry/street sampler containing the new tracks “Breathe Cycle,” “Ordinary Calm,” and a re-recorded version of “Together We Grow.” “We decided to release another three song sampler because we didn’t want to release the whole album right away. We wanted to see what kind of a vibe the new material would get from fans and labels,” says Dean. Armed with an initial pressing of 5,000 cd’s, Liftpoint found themselves gearing up for another string of dates alongside Chevelle and Kill Hannah. This string of Ozzfest off-dates took them down to Florida for a series of sold out shows and up along the east coast to Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
With the debut of the new sampler on this string of dates, Liftpoint sold over 500 copies in only 4 shows and nearly sold out of all their merchandise. With cd sales continuing to grow, the guys returned home with plans to continue writing and touring extensively. Lucas states, “We are very excited to be where we are right now. We have some of the best people in the business on our side at the moment and we all collectively understand that we need to continue to work even harder at this level than before. We know that the ball hasn’t even begun to roll half as fast as it will yet but we are all prepared for that time to come. For now we are just going to continuing doing what we do and keep working as hard as possible.” With industry curiosity continuing to rise, it is no surprise that Liftpoint is on a promising and focused road, and determined to continue turning heads.
For more information, visit their website: http://www.liftpoint1.com
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