We are a full band effort from Norfolk, VA comprised of Brad Rosenberg, Bobby Rangel, Daniel Driskell, Luke Ponessa and Gordon Bradley. Brad Rosenberg is the lead vocalist and also produces, engineers, writes and performs on multiple instruments for 1888. Rosenberg also owns and operates the band’s home base – Clay Garden Studio. Bobby Rangel performs on drums and percussion for as well as does most of the artwork and design for band. In addition to writing material for the group Daniel Driskell performs as lead guitarist and vocalist. Luke Ponessa is one of the original members of 1888 and rejoins in 2007 to take on the bass duties as well as percussion. Brad, Bobby, Daniel and Luke each have very unique stories to tell through the medium we call 1888. A place to create music and perform original music from the heart…Sometimes for joy…Sometimes to heal sorrow.

Born out of the desire to engage in a musical spectrum of unlimited boundaries,1888 have slowly grown into their own. The band have created a body of work that has its own nervous system and pumps its own blood. The main artiries consist of Rosenberg, drummer Bobby Rangel and contributing singer-songwriter Daniel Driskell whose performances live and in the studio define the 1888 sound. There are voices within this music that call out to you from your past, plead for your return. Leaving you chilled or comforted, sometimes in a hysterical way, the answer is almost clear. Happiness and sadness seem to no longer have an emotional explanation. This musical experience is definitive; the theme is infinite.

Bios

Brad

Brad Rosenberg is a 29 year old engineer/producer/songwriter from Norfolk, Virginia. In 1998, after attending The Recording Workshop, Brad began his career working as an intern at Windmark Recording Studios in Virginia Beach, VA. During his internship he was fortunate enough to work on fantastic projects with clients ranging from Bruce Hornsby to Dave Hollister. Brad always had the intention of opening his own facility in Norfolk, VA . He wanted his studio to be a very comfortable, relaxed, low-key facility where artists would feel at ease and be able to realize their full creative potential. In the summer of 1999, Brad began construction on what is now Clay Garden Studio. He has since had the pleasure of working with a wide variety of talented songwriters, bands, and artists from the Hampton Roads area, as well as international and major label clients. Brad is a skilled audio engineer, writer, performer, and producer. His work at Clay Garden has won the studio two Virginia Music Awards for Best Recording Studio. When he is not working at CGS, Brad can be found with with his wife, Jennifer and son, Cole or performing with his very own musical group – 1888.

Bobby

Born in Del Rio, Texas with the name Robert Lee Rangel. Started playing the drums as a child thanks to 3 of my uncles who also play the drums. My uncle Randy would sit me down on the drums and have me play to the radio…usually beatles tunes. The first real drum pattern I learned was from a Beach Boys tune…you know the one with the floor tom roll…Then the teen years came, moved several times, and ended up in Virginia Beach, Va circa 1991. Around that time my big bro Adam bought a drum kit and started playing in local VA BEACH bands(LIFT, DWELL, COLLIDER, THE CANDYLAND CARCRASH)…so as little brothers do, i hijacked his drum kit and started a band with best friends Aaron Burgess and Lewis Maye called ELEFUNT GREEN. Thanks to my amazing parents our garage became the premier practice spot for many bands in the VB area. Influenced by vastly different bands such as Camper Van Beethoven, Fugazi, Dag Nasty, R.E.M., Happy Mondays, the list goes on and on…I continued playing the drums to my favorite bands with headphones on just as uncle Randy had showed me. It was somewhere between playing Jr. High football, skateboarding, girls, and being delinquent as hell that music started to become the center of my life. After Elefunt Green came Happenstance…Homeless…22 SPOKE…Words A Game…Owltian Mia…Hundreds and Thousands(THE O) and finally 1888. The first real recording I took part in was for Words A Game, who released the full-length Album “Ides of March” in 1994. Simultaneously, I discoverd Fine Arts and began to learn all types of new ways to express myself through music, performance, sculpture and drawing/painting. There was a very creative community of musicians, artists, graf writers, and spiritual leaders in the area who influenced me to do as much good as possible during my youthful years…well…needless to say these were the high school days and innocence was at its peak!
Then came the college years….
Words A Game was sort of on the outs and actually Brad Rosenberg(1888) moved to VA to take over my spot on the drums for WAG. Owltian Mia was then created and became sort of a Winter Break and Summer Project because both Brock Enright and Myself were to leave VA for Art schooling. Brock went to Baltimore and I went to NY. It was in Baltimore that Brock would land a deal with Tree Records to release the internationally acclaimed double 7″, “The Greatest Games Ever Played” in 1996. We cut the record on a weekend at Wintersound Studio in Yorktown, Va. Since the rest of OM still lived in Va Beach, In 1997 my bro Adam, Jayson Bautista, Brad Rosenberg, Brian Collins, and Jason Shipman formed the band THE CANDYLAND CARCRASH to fill the void that was created when Brock and I were away. It was Candyland that would bring Brad Rosenberg closer to the hampton roads scene and soon become his avenue for being on top of it. After Candyland toured the U.S. with unpredictable circumstances, Brad created a business plan for what is now the renowned Clay Garden Studio.
Owtian Mia was to record their first full-length album at CGS during the summer of 1999…but the build-out for the studio took a little longer than expected and the summer came and went. Brock pursued his masters degree in NY and I stayed here in Virginia, sort of disappointed from the Fine Art world of NY and more excited about Brad’s oasis that is Clay Garden Studio. CGS opened in the year 2000 and I was still amped on recording the Owltian Mia songs even though most of OM were not even in VA. It was on 9-11-2001 that I laid down 5 drum tracks for what is now the unreleased Owltian Mia/1888 EP…which can be heard at www.myspace.com/owltianmia
This last attempt to capture what OM was all about was my solo effort to make something of the beautiful songs we had. Unfortunately OM died out and many complications made it impossible to continue.
So I ruffed it for a while delivering pizzas and bussing tables just to get by and one day Brad and I had a conversation about starting a new project…This project would become “Jacks” then “Panda” and then finally “1888.” 1888 actually coming from a collective conscious decision among friends to associate the number or figure “1888″ with a specific time or moment…a sort of coincidence of association. And then there is the reference to the year 1888. Honestly, you make what you want of the number….we just love to play music.

Daniel

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Luke

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Gordon

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