Restoring Poetry in Music

Restoring Poetry in Music (RPM) was formed late last century by cousins Jason Moore (Raw Poetic) and Marlon Vann (H2A). Toiling in their basement spawned demos and an EP entitled "Transitions," which sparked interest and meetings with record executives, including those at Columbia Records. In these meetings the duo heard the same critique: "You're too Hip-Hop for Rock and too Rock for Hip-Hop." Frustrated, but not discouraged, RPM ignored this limited perception of what modern music should sound and look like and pressed on with their vision of RPM. As they evolved musically, they began doing something that further complicated their definition and classification: they added members; they created a band. Bassist Drew Thomas (known in certain circles by the acronym B.E.S.S) was the first addition. Keyboardist, trumpeter and bassist Aaron Gause (Enron) and classically trained guitarist Patrick Fritz (P-Fritz) soon followed, as did drummer Fred Jackson. Not long after forming, Fred left to dedicate himself to his university studies. His replacement, Blake Surbey, entered the fold, but was soon replaced by Will Bobbit, an accomplished gospel drummer. In time, co-founding member H2A decided that he too had to part ways with the band. H2A's departure left a considerable void in RPM, but through acquaintance and good fortune, Kyle Murdock (K-Murdock) stepped in and pushed RPM even further into musical experimentation. Over the next three years, RPM played up and down the east coast, creating a name for themselves and opening for such acts as Rahzel, Ozomatli and Little Brother among others, recorded and released the full-length album, Dream Awake, and began work on a follow up album entitled Pyramids in Moscow once again with original producer H2A. During this period, producer K-Murdock and emcee Raw Poetic collaborated on a side-project, a resurrection of one of Murdock's earlier groups, called Panacea. Panacea toured, though not as extensively as RPM, and recorded the full-length album, Thinking Back Looking Forward. For one reason or another the Panacea project lead to a deal with independent label Glow-In-The-Dark Records, home most notably of Time Machine, in the fall of 2005. At this same time, band dynamics being what they are, RPM imploded. Will Bobbit quit to devote more time to his wife and children, while Drew Thomas moved westward to pursue other artist inspirations. The loss of these members, as well as the initial time demands on Raw Poetic and K-Murdock, as a result of the Panacea project, shook and led RPM to take a hiatus from the scene. During the fall and winter of 2005 Glow-In-The-Dark Records released Thinking Back Looking Forward as an EP while Panacea continued and finished work on their first full-length for Glow-In-The-Dark Records, "Ink Is My Drink, which was released in the fall of 2006. In the plotting of a more emotive live show, Raw Poetic rounded up surviving RPM members Enron and P-Fritz and reformed RPM to perform as the Panacea band. RPM is an unsigned 5-piece band with 30 tracks in the works for its second full-length album Pyramids in Moscow. RPM is also the band that plays all of Panaceas music live on stage. Therefore, RPM=Panacea. We are Restoring Poetry in Music (RPM) and Panacea. Much respect and blessings, Raw Poetic RPM, PANACEA Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.