When you write great songs it doesn’t take long for the world to find out. Formed in 2005 (although a few of the members have known each other since high school), Kessler was just another Dallas band trying to get their songs noticed until an opportunity arose to record a track for a local CD released by Coca-Cola. That one song on their MySpace page was enough to not just get them noticed, but land them a record deal with then-fledgling label YMA Records. “We’ve been writing this record our whole lives,” drummer Jonathan Ogle says. “I think with your first record you just try to write singles because you want to get signed. It’s always ‘We gotta write a better song.’ We did that until we found the song that got us signed.” The band lost no time translating the songs they’d been writing and performing over the years into their debut album. Before the ink on their contracts had even dried, the band was off to begin recording in September of 2006. “Within a week we had all quit our jobs and were in LA,” says Mike Mitchell, lead vocalist. “It was really fast.” There, the fivesome began work with producer Jim Wirt (Hoobastank, The Rocket Summer, Jack’s Mannequin), who bolstered the group’s already-engaging songs into the eleven impassioned, streamlined tracks that appear on the dynamic I Know Your Voice. “He did a phenomenal job,” Mitchell says of Wirt. “He brought a really good ear to our songs. He made the songs that were not as bright just jewels on the album. That was really helpful to us. We sat down and discussed and how we wanted a lot of strings and pianos all over it. We’re not really a string and piano band, but we thought it would be so epic and big. He really encouraged that and organically put that in where it meshed with what we were doing and made good songs into epic songs.” These epic songs, which range from the undeniable debut single “Outside Your Window” to the propulsive, soaring “Dallas” to the massively catchy “Love Is War,” reveal the group’s talent for crafting compelling pop rock numbers that resound with universal appeal and hit potential. Throughout the album Kessler proves that the most important thing is writing a great song.
“I think that’s a lost art these days,” Ogle says. “Everyone trying to do something different and new, but we just set out to write great songs that people want to sing to. I think we really did that.” After completing the album in early 2007, Kessler spent much of the year on the road where they proved just how much passion and energy are behind their songs. The guys have shared the stage with countless bands, including My Chemical Romance, Flyleaf, Forever the Sickest Kids, The Academy Is, and Rooney, acquiring more and more fans at every show. Touring has also given the band the opportunity to share the spirituality of their music with audiences, revealing a greater importance to Kessler’s songs and reason for being a band. “We want to convey some sort of truth,” Ogle says. “We’re still trying to figure how to do that, but it’s very much on the top of our minds. We want to leave an imprint of our songs on people. Hopefully that also leaves some kind of impression of who we are as people.”
