This article was originally published in the summer 2012 Harker Quarterly.
Since graduation, Grayson Hurd ’07 and Michael Keller ’07 have been busy carving out music careers with their band, Park Lane. Recently, they finished recording a new EP (“extended play” – a short album with two or three songs) with producer Ben Moody, a founding member of the Grammy winning, multimillion selling rock band Evanescence, and engineer Josh Newell, who has previously worked with Linkin Park and Lacuna Coil.
Hurd and Keller started Park Lane while in high school and continued pursuing music through their college years. Hurd graduated from Saint Mary’s College in 2011 with a split degree in business administration and music. Keller attended Santa Clara University. Last summer the band added vocalist Carley Coma, formerly of the seminal New York band Candiria, after sifting through nearly 2,000 applicants for the position. With producer Michael Rosen, whose credits include Papa Roach and AFI, Park Lane recorded and released their first album, “Letters From the Fire,” on iTunes and toured extensively throughout the United States.
“Now that the recording is complete, we are going to be signing with management in the coming months and should be signed by the end of the summer, fingers crossed!” Hurd said. The band has stated on their Facebook profile that, “if all goes as planned, there will be a full-length [album] after” the release of the EP. Currently, the band is deciding on a different name due to trademark restrictions, but for now they can be found under the name Park Lane on iTunes and at www.facebook.com/plband.
