Coming home
Area musician returns to ‘stomping grounds’By Jimmy Mincin, jmincin@altoonamirror.com
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Fact Box
If you go
What: Local rock show, with Terra Terra Terra, Shelbyville, Scream Savannah, Jeff?Wendle, Hope Fallacy, Nick Finochio and Seas We Fear To?Sail
When: 5 p.m. Saturday
Where: Masonic Hall basement, 600 Jackson Ave., Altoona
Admission: Tickets are $5 and are available at the door.
More information: Soda and water, but no food, will be served at the hall
Matthew Hagelberger is a hometown hero.
Born and raised in the village of New Enterprise, the 23-year-old Northern Bedford Senior High School graduate moved to Lakeland, Fla., in 2004, joining an up-and-coming Christian rock band called Terra Terra Terra. The four-member outfit has been gaining increasing exposure via steady MTV video rotation and a highly successful sophomore CD titled "Mind Like A Man, Soul Like A Child" (Round Kid Records, 2009).
The band's current single, "Transmission Lost," hit the Top 40 on the Christian rock charts.
Hagelberger's enjoying his new-found success in the music industry, but he hasn't forgotten his hometown roots. His band will perform at around 8:15 p.m. Saturday in the basement of the Masonic Hall in Altoona as part of a seven-band, all-ages rock fest sponsored by Altoona independent promotional outfit AnEmergencyScene. Other acts will include Shelbyville from State College, Scream Savannah from Bedford and Jeff Wendle, The Hope Fallacy, Nick Finochio and Seas We Fear to Sail, all of Altoona. Doors open at 5 p.m.
"It's gonna be cheap ($5 admission), it's gonna be fun and I'm just excited to come back and play for all my friends and family - get back to my old stomping grounds," Hagelberger, who plays guitar, said in a telephone interview from Florida. "My entire family still lives in New Enterprise, and that's going back five or six generations. We have a lot of people coming to this show - I just can't wait to get up there."
Since its formation in 2006, Terra Terra Terra (whose name in Gaelic means "created from the earth, but imperfect") has been tirelessly touring the central Florida music scene, as well as hitting every major city east of the Mississippi River, amassing fans and winning audiences over with "a sound that oozes style, depth and mainstream appeal," according to the band's MySpace profile (www.myspace.com/terraterraterra). The band released its self-titled debut CD in 2007. Other band members include John Dye (synthesizer), Isaac Eisenhauer (drums) and Loren Taylor (guitars/vocals).
Hagelberger said the group also is attracting interest from Warner/Chapell Music Inc., a New York City-based music publishing company and a division of the Warner Music Group.
He described the group's music as "indie rock with a pop sensibility."
"I think all of the fans so far have basically let us know that our music is really catchy and fun to sing along with," he said. "But at the same time, the musicians who we are friends with and bands we have toured with have told us that it was just great, smart music and a great live show."
Their message is simple but strong: Everyone needs to love and be loved.
"What we want people to know is that you can have a good relationship with God and still be a good band," he said. "You can be a Christian band and still rock."
That idea resonates with 21-year-old Taylor.
"We try not to be preachy, but being that we are Christians, we believe in God and Jesus - that is our main focus in life," he said in a phone interview from Florida. "But we're not just trying to reach the Christian crowd. We want to reach people who don't feel like they belong and people who have been hurt or pushed away by their church. We're not here to condemn anyone."
Taylor anticipates meeting Hagelberger's friends and family.
"I think it's pretty cool that we're going back to Matt's hometown," he said. "He talks it up a lot, so it'll be really neat to match up the stories with the faces."
"My mom's cooking Thanksgiving dinner a week early for the band, so we'll be having a band Thanksgiving dinner with her," Hagelberger said, adding he looks forward to catching a movie in Altoona, and stopping at Ritchey's Dairy Inc. in Martinsburg for ice cream.
Though the band has yet to reach major label status - all four members still work day jobs - they're keeping their hopes high and their feet grounded.
"There's no ego or cockiness in this band. We don't ever want to have that, 'I'm a rock star, I'm better than everyone' attitude - it's not Christ-like," Hagelberger said. "But at the same time, we're proud of our music and willing to stand up for it."
And so is Joanne Wapner, 48, and her son, Ryan Wapner, 20, both of Altoona, who collaborated on booking and setting up the show.
"There's been a good response so far on Facebook - the kids are stoked," Ryan Wapner, who started AnEmergencyScene (www.myspace. com/anemergencyscene) a little more than four years ago. "This show gives a lot of kids who might not otherwise have a chance to see a show like this, because of high prices or it being on a weeknight, a chance to come out and have some fun."
Joanne Wapner said the hall accommodates between 350 and 400 people, adding that shows of this nature transcend the sports-centric mindset of Altoona.
"Unless you're sports oriented, there's not a lot of places to do something like this in this area," she said. "That's why my son wanted to do this. This isn't just for kids who are into sports. This is for kids from all walks of life."
Mirror Staff Writer Jimmy Mincin is at 946-7460.
