The A-Sides

History

Barthmus, Fleming, and Cosentino were roommates at Drexel University in Philadelphia around 2000. At the time, Barthmus and Fleming played in a hardcore punk band called Go Time. By 2001, Barthmus had lost interest in hardcore and wanted to write melodic, Beatles-style pop rock. Late that year, he brought Fleming and Cosentino into a new project for that purpose. The three spent nearly a year trying out different drummers before settling on Marsceill, a Drexel sophomore, in August 2002. That lineup became the official start of The A-Sides.

The group cut a demo in Marsceill's basement and started playing shows around Philadelphia and Allentown. After one Allentown gig, Prison Jazz Records founder Chuck Keller offered them a chance to record a 7-inch single. The label put out "Seeing Suzy"/"Going Gone" in November 2003. In August 2004, the band went to Miner Street Studios in Manayunk, Philadelphia to record their first album with producer Brian McTear. Prison Jazz released Hello, Hello in February 2005, and it got generally good reviews.

Work on a second album began in May 2006, again with McTear, this time at the relocated Miner Street Studios. The band, along with new manager Dryw Scully, spent the rest of 2006 and early 2007 talking to labels about putting out the record. On May 15, 2007, The A-Sides signed with Vagrant Records. Their second album, Silver Storms, came out on September 18, 2007, and they toured behind it that fall. On October 6, 2008, the band posted a MySpace blog announcing their breakup. The post included links to Sun Airway, a new project from Barthmus and Marsceill. Surrealist filmmaker Yanni Osmond later licensed some of the band's music for his upcoming cartoon, Living Evil.