Introduction
Faulty Conscience was a pop/punk quintet, comprised of Trevor Vaz (rhythm guitar, vocals), Loren Herbert (lead guitar), Alex Brizel (bass), Billy Rosenblatt (drums), and Justin Sanders (keyboards).
Background and Influences
Originally titled Short Circuit, Faulty Conscience was officially assembled in New York City, New York in 2003. With the exception of Rosenblatt, this was the first time the boys (all were attending 8th grade at the elite Columbia Grammar and Preperatory School) participated in a formal band. In 1999, a combination of Rosenblatt (vocals), Daniel "Tany" Kupchik (guitars), Morgan Salvan (bass), and Mohnish Sani (drums) played at Columbia's 6th grade "Talent Show", a desperate attempt to raise money for its trip to Washington, D.C. Unfortunately, like the talent show, the band's performance did not go as well as expected. Rosenblatt's voice was described as "high-pitched" and "squeaky", and did not sound like it did "during practice". This was not the band's only problem, however, as Sani's drumming was purportedly "off-tempo and too fast" to such a point where it "ruined the whole damn song". Their performance was further ridiculed, as Salvan's bass-playing techniques came under fire, and rumors were spread that Kupchik "messed up". Even though the band's failure was blamed on nervousness and inexperience, the combination of Rosenblatt, Kupchik, Salvan, and Sani never played again. Sani eventually switched schools, and Rosenblatt quickly took up drums, essentially putting an end to his singing career.
Although not yet band-members, Vaz, Brizel, Herbert and Rosenblatt were very close friends. Much time was spent between the boys at Brizel's country house, where Brizel urinated on Vaz's back. The group proffessed their love of music to one another, which consisted of bands such as Good Charlotte, KoRn, Limp Bizkit, Kid Rock and Smashmouth. This tight circle of friends frequently encouraged each other to take up an instrument, in the hopes of playing together, and to be like their favorite bands. Unfortunately, this uniform musical interest began to dissolve over the years. Each boy began developing his own distinctive, different taste for music, which eventually led to the band's demise.
Vaz's interests for punk music grew, and soon he developed a love for punk revival/hardcore punk bands, such as AFI, Thrice, and Taking Back Sunday. These bands were heavily influenced by and sometimes emulated neo-classical metal, which Herbert worshipped. A self-described "man of the 80's", Herbert grew taste for bands such as Metallica, Judas Priest, Jethro Tull, and Iron Maiden. Although influenced heavily by Metallica, Brizel's musical taste took a much different form. Professing a great love for bass, Brizel is heavily influenced by bassists such as Jaco Pastorius, Marcus Miller, Victor Wooten, Steve Bailey, Bill Dickens, Oteil Burnbridge and hundreds of others, which he has compiled on a 7-page list of his top 400 bass players. Brizel's favorite genres to not stop there, as he is said to like jam bands, and loves gospel music. Rosenblatt's favorite music genres are almost an exact copy of Vaz's, but Rosenblatt is more open-minded, and is more influenced by punk-pop. Sanders claims not to have many influences, but he has a taste for techno and trance music, and often listens to Linkin Park.
Even with their growing, differing, music taste, the clique of friends still decided to form their own band. However, they were short on names. At their first performance at Browning, they named themselves The Noble Rabbits, which was criticized "childish and stupid".
