The first time we played for a crowd we had the cops called on us within 15 minutes for being too loud. It didn't help that we were playing outside in a neighborhood, but it drives home the point that even with our lead guitar being acoustic; we're going to stand out and we're going to be loud!

A major player in getting our sound is actually just a simple volume pedal. When running the acoustic guitar through a volume pedal it suddenly gets a much hotter sound that resembles an electric guitar. This allows getting a unique mixture of acoustic and electric guitar sounds with just one guitar, and one player.

But it doesn't start or end there. Our different musical influences play a huge part in the music we make. Matt Wildridge is a huge Bob Dylan fan, but has truly expanded his list of influences to Skip James, The Who, Hank Williams, John Lennon, and most recently the White Stripes. Eric Brock was more influenced by Emerson Lake & Palmer, Pink Floyd, and Led Zeppelin. Will Booker was influenced by Nirvana, Rage Against the Machine, Hed Pe, Sublime, and Tool.

We've heard a lot of different quotes to what we sound like. "Something like Bob Dylan playing electric guitar." "Reminds me a little bit of The Red Hot Chili Peppers" and even quotes as simply as "Raggae Punk." Recently someone approached Matt and said they, "Didn't think you could play an [Acoustic] guitar like that."

But one of our favorite quotes is this one, "American Syndrome makes the acoustic guitar rock and they make it rock hard. With an occasional electric part here and there, their whole sound seems to come from a rootsy, acoustic guitar background. The lead vocalist/lead guitarist sings in a no non-sense, fast punk-esque kind of manner making their songs energetic and soulful. Add a very tight, creative rhythm section to the mix and you have American Syndrome. When you go to one of their shows you know their from southern Indiana because they always come to get down. Get down with the American Syndrome!" -Elliot D.