Blaring guitar riffs barrage your ears. Booming drums decimate the crowd around you. What you are hearing is the latest addition to the small S.K music scene, the unique new group that goes by the name “Protector”.
The band, which formed in late summer, consists of three members: vocalist and guitarist Jake Figliozzi, guitarist Dan Bryant and drummer Philip Bold. All three are South Kingstown students and all three are entrenched in the limited South Kingstown music scene.
The members came together from three separate situations. Figliozzi, who formerly played drums for the infamous metal band Hogg, now broken up, began playing drums in middle school, and has since picked up guitar and vocals.
Figliozzi has also played with Satansemen and has released two albums under the moniker of Mooncreature, his solo project. Mooncreature, he claims is going to be his basis for applying to college in the musical arts class.
Bold, a senior, has been involved in one main band throughout his high school career, the well-known dynamic duo Phil ‘n’ Crew which he plays in along with senior Tyler Gilroy.
However, in the summer of 2008, he began playing on the side with Figliozzi, a longtime friend and classmate. They halted after a few weeks due to a lack of time to practice and compose music.
Bryant, also a senior, is fairly new to playing in a full band. He originally began by composing beats and melodies on his computer and has since ventured onto full albums of raging metal music. He has released a solo album, entitled “Gnar on Your Face” under the name “D-bizzle”.
Since then, Bryant has teamed up with Figliozzi and Bold and they have been playing and composing music for the last three months.
All three members have been drawn to the unique genre of metal music, and the three found that with their talents and ideas combined, they could piece together a very inimitable sound of metal.
Figliozzi describes the music as “melodically driven doom with technical riffs here and there,” while Bryant simply claims, “we are the gnarliest band ever”.
The music combines slow, laid out melodies with fast, distorted metal guitar riffs. Bold backs up the dual guitars with a balanced drum spectrum, ranging from hard fast combos to slower beats.
The lyrics, which Figliozzi composes, have a variety of themes to them. The foremost theme is religion, or rather Protector’s disdain for it.
Figliozzi also writes lyrics about a cornucopia of other subjects, including progression of the human race, the prehistoric era, and what he calls “the growing epidemics” which he describes as topics like pollution, racism and genocide.
Although some lyrics are controversial, Figliozzi claims, “I don’t write about horror because its too generic. Love songs are a dime a dozen. I try to stay away from those topics and focus on themes and beliefs that I feel strongly about.”
Although the band has just joined forces a few months ago, they are already gearing up to play a glut of shows.
Protector was one of the headlining bands in it’s first live concert, at the Elks’ Club in Wakefield.
They plan to play at least two more shows in the coming weeks, as the trio will unveil themselves to what could be their largest audiences yet. A concert is scheduled for December 19th in Figliozzi’s basement along with Phil ‘n’ Crew and Pariah, fronted by S.K junior Andrew Shea.
They will also play a concert in January at the Gilroy family’s basement, also known as the infamous Ant Hole.
Despite the fact Protector will play these shows, Figliozzi doesn’t expect to play much larger venues.
“We’re all college-bound, so we’re not expecting to make it big,” says Figliozzi, who remains pessimistic about the state of the current S.K music and art scene but optimistic about the promise of Protector.
“The disadvantage is that nobody cares. But that won’t send us away. We’re making music that we love”.

       On Friday December 12^th the Students for Justice will be hosting an open mic night in the SKHS cafeteria. All the food sales from the night will benefit the Jonnycake center food pantry. This year the pantry is low on food due to the increase in unemployment in Rhode Island.

     According to the center’s executive director, the number of families has skyrocketed from 567 to 1,009 over the last year.

     “In July of last year we had already provided the same amount of food as the entire 2007 year,” said the director, Susan Gustaitis.

     Students from around the community are making an effort to help the Jonnycake center meet the growing demands.

     “The best way to change the world is to start in your own community,” said senior, Elena Krajeski, a member of Students for Justice.

As the band takes the stage, the crowd erupts in applause and cheers. The music begins to play and the show starts. One member of the audience snaps photo after photo of the band, trying hard to get the best shot of the group as possible.

  The  photographer is none other than SKHS senior Sam Litwin.

  Litwin goes to dozens of concerts each year, taking photographs of the musicians while they perform, and sometimes interviewing them. Litwin also operates his own website called “Arsenal of Sound.”

  This website documents concerts from around New England through photography and reviews. Litwin attends concerts of many musical genres, including rap, hip-hop and rock.

   “About 98 percent of the time I spend photographing. Sometimes I’ll interview bands before or after the show, and sometimes I write reviews,” Litwin said of his experience at most concerts.

  Litwin said he also goes to some concerts for the pure enjoyment

  Litwin’s talents have been recognized by many, including Rolling Stone, which featured his photograph of Ben Gibbard, the lead singer and guitarist of Death Cab For Cutie. Litwin took the photo for a Rolling Stones article titled “Death Cab For Cutie Dry Off New Songs In Providence.”

  In addition Litwin has also sold photographs to newspapers like the Providence Phoenix, as well as various record labels.

  According to Litwin, he averages about ten to twelve concerts per month, all while keeping up with his schoolwork and a job at Colvitto’s, not to mention other activities.

  “I like to do the same stuff any teenager,” said Litwin, adding that he plays some guitar and enjoys going on bike rides.

  Litwin says that he got into concert photography when he was 13, after talking to a photographer at a concert. After this, Litwin’s interest in concert photography grew, and eventually became a major part of his life.

  Litwin’s biggest influence as a photographer is a man named Jeremy Saffer, a fellow concert photographer.

  “He was at the first concert I ever photographed,” said Litwin. “His work is fantastic.”

  Saffer has photographed many bands, including 30 Seconds To Mars and Atreyu. He also photographs models.

  After taking the dive into concert photography, Litwin set up his first website, titled Entertain New England. The website was successful, and he kept it up and running for two and a half years. His current website, Arsenal of Sound (www.arsenalofsound.com) was set up a year and a half ago, and it now holds all of his concert photos, along with interviews, reviews, event schedules for Southern New England and information on local bands.

  Some of Litwin’s most recent concerts have included such bands as Boys Like Girls, Good Charlotte and Gogol Bordello. For each of these concerts Litwin takes many photographs in an attempt to capture the passion and excitement of the musicians as well as those attending the event.

  There are certain perks to being professional concert photographer according to Litwin, such as the free tickets.

   “The band just puts me on a guest list. It’s a nice little perk,” he said.

  Even though he technically works at the concerts, the SKHS senior said, “it’s lots of fun.”

  Though Litwin had intended to take the photography class at SKHS, he decided not to when he discovered that the class does not focus on digital photography

  Litwin plans to go to college for photography and eventually turn his passion into a career.

  “Columbia University and the Barton Institute are the big two schools for me now,” said Litwin, who hopes to one day take pictures across the globe.

  Though Litwin mainly focuses on concert photography, he does reviews and interviews as part of his website.  He said that though he likes to meet and interview musicians, he finds it to be “a little more tedious than photography, because you have to transcribe everything.”

  There are not many people who can say that they had a teenage life similar to Litwin. He goes to more concerts in one year than many can say they have gone to in their whole lives.

  Litwin has done something that many teens dream about. He has turned a hobby and a passion into a career.

  As a photographer, Litwin has done many things and taken many pictures. But, when asked what his biggest success has been in photography, Litwin replied, “probably that I’ve been able to do it all by myself.”