We Are The Union

Reed Michael : singing, guitar Matt Belanger : trombone, chorus Brandon Benson : bass, chorus Ricky Weber : guitar Jim Margle : drums John Ryan : saxophone, trombone
The successive defection of several local ska groups (including The Skafia and After School Special) led to the formation of We Are the Union in June After a first concert in August, they recruited a bassist (Brandon Benson) in their town of Ann Arbor (Michigan State) and began spending their weekends repeating and performing as often as possible on local scenes, opening sporadically for the High School Football Heroes, The Know How, The Flatliners, Voodoo Glow Skulls, The Slackers, Mustard Plug etc.
The group took the lead in 2006 by recording and self-producing its first EP (Grow Up or Shut Up – 20 May). The following summer saw them turn in half a dozen states, crossing the road of The Flaming Tsunamis, Long Shot Hero or A Billion Ernies. This tour marks their first success since they are quickly out of stock from merch. They use it to share their music for free by grating copies of their EP... Experience encourages them to record a new disc; After a few failures and various delays, they lock up with Michael Govaere (Every Avenue) and a new saxophonist arrival, John Ryan.
Who We Are released in self-production on June 20th and after about 20 dates in the summer, the troupe decided in November to share its music with the largest number by placing the opus for free download via PureVolume, as well as $6 on Interpunk. The word of mouth works and We Are the Union is in the process of exhausting its first pressing. At the beginning of 2008, they signed at the label founded Community Records (held by Greg – Fatter Than Albert), which shares the group's mentality. Noah Fenton (guitar) left the band and was replaced by Ricky Weber. The reconstituted sextet can then go back on tour on the East Coast in the spring..