Beta State Glass EP

The story so far…

Bay Area natives Beta State returned to making music in 2013, releasing their album “#Friendship” with high anticipation to an ever growing Northern California fan base. After winning several Best Local Band competitions, receiving airplay on LIVE105, getting their songs featured on both Fuse and MTV, and opening arena sized shows with acts like Green Day, the band caught the attention of Linkin Park after entering a contest sponsored by the band's fan club.

Voted by the fans, Beta State won an opportunity to write and record with the members of Linkin Park. Vocalist Matt McDonald, drummer Adrian Robison, and bassist Justin Kastner went into the studio to continue their journey, this time with a helping hand. The resulting song, “Change”, was released in December 2013 as part of the Linkin Park Underground XIII disc, opening the band up to a much wider audience than ever before.

After recording the song, it challenged the band to take their songwriting to the next level in a way that hadn't been done previously.

"When you have the opportunity to see how a band at that level does things, you can't help but be affected. We learned so much about ourselves as a band and the art of making music from that session, it changed our approach on making new music.” said vocalist Matt McDonald.

Their new songs retain the atmospheric textures that have come to define the band's signature sound, but brings it into focus in a way previous recordings hadn't.

“This time around, the mentality is ‘vocals first’. We've started every song with a complete vocal before fleshing them out with instruments.” said bassist Justin Kastner. Drummer Adrian Robison elaborated, “This is quite a change from the standard ‘jam-in-a-room-and-see-what-happens’ approach we had been so used to. It has taken our songwriting to a whole new level.”

Drawing diverse influences from the ambient sounds of Coldplay and U2, to heavier acts such as Thirty Seconds To Mars and A Day To Remember, to the alternative/electronic hybrids Imagine Dragons and The Neighbourhood, the new songs show the maturation and confidence of a band that has a bright future ahead of them