Band: Beijing

Location: New Haven, CT USA

Styles: Indie Rock, Alt Rock, Garage Rock

Similar to: Sunny Day Real Estate, Silversun Pickups, Smashing Pumpkins, Jimmy Eat World, The Breeders, Jeff Buckley

CD: Night (May 7, 2013)

Bill Pruchnicki – drums

Eric Thornberg – vocals, guitar

Jack Hoppingarner – bass, vocals

Thom Smith – guitar, synth, vocals

Beijing is an American alternative rock band from New Haven, CT. The band is comprised of Eric Thornberg (vocals/guitar), Thom Smith (guitar/synths), Bill Pruchnicki (drums) and Jack Hoopingarner (bass). Their style has elements of a dark, melancholy, alternative rock sound made famous in the 90’s by bands like Sunny Day Real Estate and Smashing Pumpkins, fused with big choruses and spacey guitar reminiscent of modern bands like Jimmy Eat World and Kings of Leon.

The band formed in the Spring of 2011 and released their debut EP, ‘It’s Not So Simple’. The four song EP consisted of simple and unique grunge rock inspired pop songs characterized by Thornberg’s unique vocal style set to a soundtrack of layered fuzz and amplifier feedback. The EP quickly catapulted Beijing to a national level with countless bloggers reporting on the EP and culminating the year by being named the underground band of the year by Beatcrave.com.

After spending most of late 2011 and early 2012 maturing together as a band and writing a massive amount of new material, Beijing headed into the studio to record their full length debut, ‘Night’.  The album was released on May 7th, 2013. Inspired by feelings of love, loss and hope, ‘Night’ showcases the sound that Beijing has become. Dark and spacey melodies collide with huge distorted guitars, provoking emotion and thought inside of a dark and dense, yet beautiful atmosphere.

Beijing is currently supporting ‘Night’ and have begun writing a follow-up album to be released in early 2014.