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The Positions.

MEMBERS

Reid Dossinger,

Chris Guryan,

Ken Hammann,

Armin Pruessner,

Ivan Ramiscal,

Nicole Stoops Scanniello

HOMETOWN

Washington, D.C.

ALSO

THE POSITIONS' own site

THE POSITIONS on Facebook

DESCRIPTION

The Story of The Positions begins and continues in and around Washington, DC. After the demise of the much-loved Barcelona in early 2002, keyboardist Ivan Ramiscal was looking for a change of musical scenery from synth pop to a more energetic guitar-centered sound. With the opportunity to put together a band to play after the debut of his animated film Space Love, Ivan rounded up some musician friends-Armin Pruessner on guitar, Bob Alcorn on bass and Reid Dossinger on drums-and debuted The Positions in July.

RELATED ARTISTS

BARCELONA (Ivan)

SPRITES (Ivan)

The Positions
poster

The Positions
Photo by [unknown]

The Positions
Tonight 10" vinyl EP

The Positions
Bliss album
compact disc

The Positions
live and in concert
Photo by [unknown]

The Positions
at the cafe
Photo by [unknown]

FILM

"SUMMER NIGHTS" (VIDEO MONTAGE)

Music video.

BIOGRAPHY

The pop single is where The Positions find their inspiration and put their devotion. It's those reason-for-living choruses, the blissful melodies, the enthusiasm, the energy, the immediacy and the familiarity that put the fear of pop in them. It's the singles from the '60's (think Phil Spector and the Zombies), the early '80's (think Dexy's Midnight Runners, the Attractions and The Style Council) and current indiepop (think Lucky Soul, Saint Etienne and Camera Obscura) that rock their world, float their boat and twirl their ticket. The Positions are happy when their choruses won't leave your head, when you can't stand still, and you reach for the rewind button. Get the picture? Yeah, we get the picture.

The Story of The Positions begins and continues in and around Washington, DC. After the demise of the much-loved Barcelona in early 2002, keyboardist Ivan Ramiscal was looking for a change of musical scenery from synth pop to a more energetic guitar-centered sound. With the opportunity to put together a band to play after the debut of his animated film Space Love, Ivan rounded up some musician friends-Armin Pruessner on guitar, Bob Alcorn on bass and Reid Dossinger on drums-and debuted The Positions in July.

The Positions played one more show in August before a few months of inactivity saw Armin putting his time into playing with Sprites and Bob spending more time with his family. But Ivan saw a rebirth of The Positions with the same energetic rock but with a bigger pop sound. With Reid still behind the drums, Ivan invited Chris Guryan and his trombone in and convinced Tad Howard to add his melodic touch on bass. A party led to a chance conversation with Nicole Stoops Scanniello, who was singing with the NYC-based Charming, but was looking for a band in DC and shared Ivan's vision enough to join the band. The songs took on new life with Chris's trombone and Nicole's vocals and the sound was getting clearer. The newer, bigger, poppier version of The Positions played their first show at the Galaxy Hut with Ballentine on January 19th, 2003.

Later that month, the Positions began recording with Archie Moore (of Velocity Girl, Heartworms, and the Saturday People) at Omega Studios in Maryland. Not only did they end up with some great recordings that were blessed with Archie's production genius, but they also picked up Ken Hammann, originally brought in to play trumpet in the studio, but whose contributions became such an integral part of the sound that he became a full-time member. Armin came back in to take over bass duties in 2004.

The Positions played and recorded throughout 2004, and released their debut album Bliss! in the fall of 2005 on Lazyline Media in the United States and on yesboyicecream records in the rest of the world.

Five years later, after three marriages, two babies and one last-name change, The Positions put out Tonight, a six-song album that finds them making the same sweet indiepop but swapping out the shine for grit, a warmer, more direct sound that's as close as you could get to being in Ivan's basement on practice nights.

Tonight was recorded by Don Zientara, whose production credits include Fugazi, Benny Goodman, Bad Brains, and Vic Chesnutt, and was mixed by Trevor Kampmann, who produced all three of Barcelona's albums and records his own music under the name hollAnd.

DISCOGRAPHY

ALBUMS

Bliss
Tonight

COMPILATIONS

Teen-Beat 20th Commemorative
Still Unravished
Little Darla Has a Treat For You, Vol.24
Consensus: A WQFS Compilation
Flirt!

RELATED

Barcelona
Sprites

SONGS

Back To Me
Bliss!
Caught Up
Every Conversation
Flowers and Trees
Forever (Changed)
Forever...
Good Times
HI/CA
I Need You
220 Miles
It's Okay It's Alright
Never Really Loved You Anyway
Park Slope
Someday
Summer Nights
The Real Thing
Things You Never Said
Think I Can Tell
Tonight!