Opportunist - ‘Vapor’
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op·por·tun·ist - A person who exploits circumstances to gain immediate advantage rather than being guided by principles or plans.
A few months ago this new Arkansas band called Opportunist sent me a few rough demos that I got super into. Their sound isn’t so easily definable as the guys mash elements of experimental punk, indie rock, and grunge together with angular guitar work and a punching energy. Then earlier this month I was surprised when the band sent me Vapor, their proper debut album, crafted around the skeletons of those early demos. The songs are a lot meatier this go around and it’s always cool to hear rough cuts blossom into a proper collection of tracks. I spoke a bit with their vocalist Drew Martin about how the band and the album came together. Here’s what he had to say:
In May I heard that my friends were starting a band and I was happy for them. Bobby has been in bands touring since he was 15 and is a wild guitar player, Ben has been playing music since he was little and can practically play anything put in his hands, and Mikey has always been great at drumming to anything presented to him. In June, they asked me to hop on board as lyricist and singer, and I gladly accepted after hearing the groundwork they had already laid for me. All I had to do was write lyrics and plug in my part. We solidified what we had and in November we went into Wolfman Studios in Little Rock, AR and in two days, we knocked out an album. Every song we had written at that time was now a part of recorded history. We were ecstatic and wondered what to do next. So we sat on this conglomeration of songs wondering where we could send them and who would be willing to release it. On a terribly stormy New Year’s Eve, Bobby finally said “fuck it” and decided to put the whole album out on Bandcamp. We hope to find a way to get it physically released in the near future, but in the mean time are playing shows throughout Arkansas, and are hoping to hit the road in March.
