Pagoda

Grunge

Pagoda is a band from Brooklyn, New York with Michael Pitt as vocalist and guitarist, along with new additions: Reece on drums, Willie on bass, and Chris on cello. Their first self-titled album was released in 2007. The name Pagoda comes from the asian-type building style. As Pitt put it, It was really just one of the names that didn't suck as much as the others. Until early 2007, Pagoda shared its name with the Washington DC indie rock band now known as Roofwalkers. Pagoda founders Michael Pitt and Ryan Donowho met at a mutual friend’s house one day in 2001. Knowing that Michael was a musician, Ryan asked him to play one of his original songs. He did, and soon Ryan began playing drums on it, and a visible musical chemistry was apparent from the start. Though showing signs of promise, Michael had never taken guitar lessons in his life. His friend Rodrigo of the band The Hermitt, was the one who kinda got me off the street--he invited me to crash in this one-bedroom apartment in Chinatown with, like, seven other people. And he taught me how to play guitar, Michael says. One of the first songs he wrote was Death to Birth which has since become Pagoda's most recognized song. Ryan on the other hand was a semi-well known bucket drummer on the streets of New York who attracted the attention of a casting agent looking for a fresh new face to model Levi 501’s in an ad campaign. From 2001 to mid 2004, the band brought in several friends to fill in on bass during live shows. Amon...