The Touch

No other art form communicates so directly or intimately as music. The Touch uses this principle as the cornerstone on which to build a bridge- reaching out to all who listen. Formed in August, 1997, the band quickly realized the special connection of playing to an audience fed off the connections between the musicians themselves. Lee Caropresi, Jim Scott, and Ken Kirchen set out, not to show how well they could play, but to find out on what level they could work together to produce a work of art, reaching deep and pulling out some of their inmost thoughts and feelings, mixing their musical abilities and diverse styles to become a super-conducting antenna, broadcasting at an ever-increasing level. After about a year of fresh writing, learning how to integrate those styles and draw from sources as disparate as Dylan and Rush, The Beatles and Metallica, Live and Tori Amos, The Touch seemed poised to break into the Dallas music scene with a running start. They had studio time with Harvey Gerst (a gold record songwriter and producer). They had 12 new, well-written songs with strong vocals and stirring music. They had regular shows with enthusiastic crowd responses. Lee Caropresi had cancer.

With those four short words, The Touch stepped out of production and into survival mode. Roughly 10 Months of chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and intense prayer later, a weakened but upright Lee Caropresi began the difficult task of developing enough strength to finish his parts on the first album. Mixed in September of 1999, mastered in November and released on MP3.com in time for Thanksgiving, Dark Streets is a tribute, in both its making and its music, to hope and perseverance in the darkest of times.

Playing and promoting themselves through the year 2000 while slowly crafting new material, The Touch has developed a loyal, growing following around the Deep Ellum scene, with a great deal of appreciation for their fat sound and tight harmonies. All told, about two hundred copies of Dark Streets are on the Dallas streets (as well as a few in Houston, a few in California, and a couple in Washington D.C.) and hopes are high for the near future.

That future starts in late 2000. In addition to launching a new web page at http://www.hearthetouch.com, The Touch has added guitarist and singer Clay Tumey to expand their sound and bring fresh perspective. The long sought-after, elusive "fourth member", Clay brings a new approach to The Touch's songwriting and has already made an impact as they prepare to bring their second CD into being under the working title "A Moment's Light". Edgier, fresher sounds combine with more mature songwriting to create a project even stronger than their already impressive first release.