Artist Profile

Despite Discouragement is a Toronto based alternative rock band. It currently has three members: Alex Pastiu (guitarist and singer), Ryan Mangarten (bassist, guitarist and singer) and Struan Robertson (drummer). The band has been together for only three short months (after Alex spent many months going through member after member to find the right ones), but already has a huge amount of material that they are busy crafting into what will hopefully be hits. Despite Discouragement has five songs they are finishing up to demo, but the attention to detail and perfectionism that is shared by the whole band make it impossible to tell if these songs will be done in the next week or the next month. These guys love a good show and will go the distance to make sure that they deliver it. They post their finished products on their myspace page (http://www.myspace.com/despitediscouragement). Be sure to check them out.

With over six years of experience playing bass (and recently guitar) and doing shows with various bands, Ryan is the most experienced since he started playing bass and in his first band at the age of fourteen. He was greatly influenced by Blink 182, Flea and Victor Wooten.

Alex and Struan both are new to their crafts (guitar and drums), both with under a year under their belts. Alex was always passionate about his music and developed his ear through brushes with music in his childhood in the form of piano for a year at the age of six, also constantly and shamelessly singing along with his favorite songs since he can remember. For the better part of the last year Alex has been practicing guitar for about thirty hours every week. His main influence is John Frusciante but is also a big fan of Tom Morello.

Struan originally started learning guitar, but after a friend showed him a Mike Portnoy drum solo on youtube he knew he wanted to be a drummer. His influences are Mike Portnoy, Niel Pert, Kieth Moon and Chad Smith. His style is closer to the latter two.