Point Park University's Student-Run Newspaper

Point Park Globe

Point Park University's Student-Run Newspaper

Point Park Globe

Point Park University's Student-Run Newspaper

Point Park Globe

The Compsure gains popularity

For Paul Menotiades, playing in a band was something he always wanted to do. When his older brother started a band, Menotiades wanted to follow his footsteps and be in a band as soon as possible, so he started his own band, Disturbed Youth, at the age of 10.“I always said I wanted to be in a band,” Menotiades said sitting on a black leather couch in the old AltarTV office in the Strip District with the band on Oct. 18. “I have never not been in a band.”When he was 15, he joined Pittsburgh band Punchline. Then, once he started driving, the band started to tour.After being with Punchline for years, he started a new band called the Composure with his friend Cory Muro in 2007. In the early stages of the band, there were several line-up changes, until they were finally left with the four current members: Menatiades on lead vocals and guitar, Muro on drums and background vocals, Seth Milberger on guitar and vocals, and Johnny Grusecky on bass.The Composure came a long way since then, releasing a full-length album “Strings Attached” in 2010 and an EP “Stay the Course” in March under record label Modern Short Stories. The band most recently made a music video with AltarTV and Quanti Studios for their single “The One,” which they shot in Schenley Park. They will be touring this month with Sparks the Rescue at three dates in Pennsylvania and one in New Jersey. But before that tour begins, they will be opening for Bayside at Altar Bar on Nov. 15.The members of The Composure are excited to be performing with Bayside and will be playing songs off both albums. While they have been working on and recording a new album, they might not play the new songs.“We want to play the newer music, but we’re going to have to try to not play it,” Menotiades said.The Composure’s sound is a culmination of all four members’ backgrounds and musical inspirations. Menotiades said he and Muro were influenced by Rancid, Milberger loves Blink-182, and Grusheky has a strong rock ‘n’ roll background. Muro, a blond-haired, blue-eyed, tattooed young man, began playing piano as a child, then started drums when he was in eighth grade. Sitting on a director’s chair at a large glass table in the AltarTV office, he explained that his family was very religious, so he listened to Christian punk music growing up. As he got older, he strayed from that and started listening to Blink-182 and Rancid, something that often got him grounded.Milberger started playing guitar because his dad did, then began his own band, a Blink-182 cover band, in seventh grade. He said Blink-182 was the band that really got him into music. When he was 17, he moved to North Carolina and started another band. After moving back to Pittsburgh, he joined The Composure.Grushecky said he played music all his life, as he grew up in a very rock ‘n’ roll family. His dad had a band, Iron City House Rockers, so Grushecky grew up playing music with them.             He pushed back the purple and yellow beanie he was wearing and recalled playing with his dad and Bruce Springsteen when he was 8.“That really made me look at music differently,” Grushecky said.As Milberger put it: “Paul and Cory are more punk-rock. Me, I’m pop, and Johnny is old-school.”Collectively, the band said its sound is more punk/pop, or power pop. They have been compared to Weezer, Green Day and even the Beatles because of their three-part vocal harmony.“Our songs have a lot of punk represented as pop. All of our songs can sound great as punk,” Muro said.Menotiades said pop/punk is his favorite music, but they do not want to be kept in one genre or one fan base.“We don’t want to pigeonhole ourselves, but we do need direction,” Menotiades said.The band writes all of its songs, taking ideas from each member and putting old and new ideas together. The Composure said girls, life and other songwriters influence their songwriting. Menotiades said when he hears good music, something he wishes he had written, he is inspired to write something like that— a song he would want to listen to.“Different situations in life, even other people’s lives [inspire me],” Milberger said. “Like when I met a girl in LA and her dad was sick and dying, so I wrote a song about that.”

Leave a Comment
More to Discover

Comments (0)

All Point Park Globe Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *