When Jeff Prentice and Rob Nishida teamed up in Redondo Beach, California in the summer of 2001, they wanted to create a new sound based on what both musicians believed was an almost forgotten music genre in the US: melodic AOR rock.
Both Prentice and Nishida felt that most new American music lacked inspiration and wanted to develop a fresh sound that still evoked their favorite rock era of the late ’70s and ’80s. With influences ranging from Boston to Night Ranger to Survivor, Prentice and Nishida wrote four full songs on day one of their collaboration. Nishida: “We just wanted to write some songs that we would both enjoy. It got to the point where I just wanted to listen to the music I grew up with. Later we found out that there were some great new bands , who were producing AOR music on independent labels around the world, but Jeff and I originally teamed up to create this new, old American rock sound to play with when we started refining the early material , some of our friends like Rob Johnson from the band Magnitude 9 started to encourage us and gave us the confidence to write more songs.” Featuring Jeff Prentice, lead vocalist and guitarist for popular Metal Blade Records band Predator and recently MP3.COM’s most downloaded instrumental artist, on lead vocals and most of the lead guitar, and Rob Nishida, a multi-instrumental member one of the top rated GARAGE BAND.COM bands of 2000. Weed, who plays bass, guitar and keyboards, the band’s sound was quickly defined. Of the lush backing vocals, extreme guitar playing, and hooky harmony guitars, Prentice says, “We wanted to take the elements we loved most about our favorite melodic AOR rock, kind of make them our own, and eventually create a create a band around it.” After writing eight proper songs, the duo recruited drummer Lance Tamanaha, formerly of Hollywood-based Triple X Records band Human Drama, and released a demo. This demo was praised by online magazines and attracted interest from labels around the world. The positive response prompted the newly-christened Outland to record their debut album Outland – Different Worlds in late 2002 and Long Way Home in 2004, both released on Avalon.
Turning the clock back to 2022, Outland are back in the studio and have finished a new album,
Where Do We Go From Here, which will be released on MR Records.
01 One More Time
02 Wrong Side Of Town
03 Lost
04 This Broken Heart
05 One Good Reason
06 Heart To Heart
07 Where Do We Go From Here?
08 Good Enough
09 Heart On The Line
10 Our Love Is A Lie
11 So Close
12 Waiting Such A Long Time
13 Ordinary Life