Loud Division enjoyed years of ‘wasted time’

Here are the basics: the hard rock band Loud Division is a Gold Top Music Group artist; Gold Top, which operates out of the School of Music at Purdue University Fort Wayne, attracts and teaches students interested in various aspects of professional music; and Loud Division just released its first album titled “Wasted Time.”

Even though it took more than eight years and three different versions of the band to get there, the considerable amount of time that was spent to reach this point appears to anything but wasted. And as the band continues to improve, an alternate title for this record could have just as easily been “Had Fun Doing It.”

Before the name Loud Division came out of a band name generator and stuck, the group started as buddies growing up in Kentucky. The four even wrote songs as eighth graders, a few of which like “Ashes” have endured long enough to make the debut album.

Back in the early days, when their original lead singer couldn’t attend a gig, the remaining four—Chase Fritz, Connor Hogsten, Austin Adkins, and Aaron Stephens—decided to play anyway. Then, later that night, they entered a festival talent contest and won.

As Hogsten said, “Loud Division was supposed to be a one-off show, but it went so well we just kept playing together.”

Fast-forwarding a few years, Fritz and Hogsten enrolled at PFW, while Adkins and Stephens remained in Kentucky. Today, there’s usually someone driving one way or the other most weekends depending on where there’s an opportunity to play. Long-distance relationships are hard, but what about a long-distance band?

“Usually, if we have a gig up here, they’ll come up the night before and we’ll just rehearse our butts off until we can’t anymore and hope for the best,” Fritz said. “Trying to keep people on the same page is a little difficult sometimes, but we’ve made it work. They are my best friends in the world.”

The group signed with Gold Top more than a year ago, with Fritz and Hogsten, who are now seniors, continuing to take classes and polish their craft. Loud Division has twice-played PFW’s annual Goldstock event, and this fall were co-headliners at the Concert on the Lawn at Student Housing on the Waterfield Campus.

The foursome recently added a fifth member, PFW senior Tyler Crisp, whom they asked to play in studio sessions for the album because they needed a third guitar to add extra parts. He’d already played in many ensembles with Hogsten and Fritz on and around campus.

“I’ve been secretly waiting for my spot in the band for four years, and I jumped on board with no hesitation at all,” Crisp said. “I had a couple of peeks at what the album was sounding like, and I was like, `Oh, my gosh, please let me be a part of this!’ They are the warmest group of people, and this one is a labor of love.”

Fritz said the band is probably 20% better with Crisp along for the ride. It helps that Crisp also runs the soundboard for the band at the PFW Sweetwater Music Center and has been mixing the album all along.

“Tyler felt like the perfect addition when the idea came up,” Hogsten said. “I’ve played on stages and been in many rehearsal rooms with Tyler, so adding him to the mix just felt right.”

Though they formed in an area drenched in southern rock and country, Loud Division leans more toward heavy metal and hard rock. Fritz said the Fort Wayne music scene is a lot more versatile and fun than at home, and they love showing off what they’ve learned at PFW.

The last song on the album is called CRS, which stands for “Connor’s Riff Salad.” It consists of almost 17 minutes of Hogsten’s favorite riffs that his buddies wrote a song around. The lyrics came together in less than a day.

“I love that we got those songs on the album,” Hogsten said. “`Wasted Time’ has changed so much over the years, and I was pumped to complete it. Playing in the band has been great. I have a lot of great memories with these guys.”

To learn more about Gold Top Music Group, email [email protected].