Right off the bat there is some confusion out there on this band. This is the New York Contender NOT the Illinois Contender. The Illinois version had 2 demos and this version does not have a demo out there I am aware of. Other than that I was unable to find out much about this one album band. The lead singer Eddie Villanueva apparently had some info on the band on MySpace but it’s long since been scrubbed. The album is a straight out Rock album. Some have classified it at Metal but in my opinion it’s Hard Rock. It’s a pretty good album but I feel it should have had a little more production. It was produced by the band and I am surprised that when Refuge picked it up they didn’t bring someone in to work on the album but it really looks like it went straight from studio to pressing. Too bad because I think had this had some better production it would have been a whole lot better known.
Tracklist
1 – I Won’t Give Up – 3:10
2 – You – 3:36
3 – Convenient Christianity – 4:04
4 – You’re There For Me – 4:10
5 – Fighting To Win – 4:03
6 – So I’m Singing – 3:53
7 – Cryin’ Over You – 3:31
8 – I Know You’re There – 4:27
9 – Pullin’ The Wool – 3:10
10 – I Believe In You – 4:19
Credits
Bass – Rich McCarthy
Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Backing Vocals – Paul Grimsland
Guitar, Drums, Bass – Bob Vinsick
Guitar, Keyboards, Drums, Bass, Backing Vocals – Steve Atwood
Lead Vocals – Eddie Villanueva
Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Refuge Records
Copyright © – Refuge Records
Distributed By – Spectra Distribution, Inc.
Distributed By – Mainroads Music Group
We did the best we could when we recorded that record. It was our first take off a project at that level and we did it ourselves in my 16 track studio. There were a lot of nice guitar solos on it. Eddie sang really good. Paul weir some good lyrics as well as collaboration on a few songs.
Like I said I think this is a pretty good album. I enjoyed it