Life & Times was born late in the summer of 2001. It's parents, Chuck Hess and Ben Folkers, are all the proof you need that opposites do, indeed, attract. Chuck is a guitar player from the Loud 'N Rowdy Rock school; Ben is a singer with a closet love of country and a voice built for opera. Given this genetic predisposition to schizophrenia, it's not surprising that the other Life & Times siblings also turned out to be birds of widely differing feathers. A rhythm guitarist/singer who's mostly fronted for bar-rock cover bands. A drummer who doesn't mind playing covers … but only the ones that are impossible to cover. An aging keyboard player who thought he had quit rock decades ago and has been spending most of his time with blues and jazz. And a bass player who has played most styles of music and generally dislikes all of them. The Music With each band member being on his own private page, you'd expect the music they create to be a little hard to define. And you'd be right. It's more rock than it is anything else, but it doesn't fit comfortably into any of the currently identified rock genres. It's softer than hard rock, but harder than pop rock. It's not country rock, but if you added twangy singing and a steel guitar, it might be in the same area code. The music is based on the old-school notion that a song should be song-like. With melodies that are actually melodic. Chord progressions that truly help the song progress. And singing that is on-key and won't be mistaken for yelling or talking. The lyric content is on the serious side, generally about some important belief, person, or event in the life of which ever band member or members wrote the song. The band doesn't do any It's-Friday-Night-Let's-Party or Baby-Let's-Do-It-I'm-The-Best-You'll-Ever-Have songs. The CD's won't require parental advisories. While even us band members can't agree on what kind of music it is we're playing, we are in agreement that it's good. Even the bass player thinks so. We hope you think so, too