Brandon began writing and producing in 1995 as Rule Of Faith. Based out of Houston, Texas, Brandon and band mate John co-wrote songs until 1996 when both went their separate ways for college. In addition to headlining a number of shows in Houston, Rule Of Faith opened for acts such as All Star United and East To West. John pursued his own musical interests after Rule Of Faith and is now a member of the Houston group Brother Luck.

With the direction of the music changing, Brandon renamed his project My Rubicon Seven and continued writing and recording. In 1997, Brandon brought Elizabeth on board as co-writer and backup vocalist. After several compilation releases, Brandon and Elizabeth recorded the Lode project, which was released in 2000 on Kinetic Response Records. In 2001, the group signed with MYX Records and headed back into the studio for production on their debut release as Rubicon 7.

I got the chance to ask the following questions to Elizabeth Thompson.

What is yours and Brandon's job - I know you told me he is a programmer?
Brandon is an E-Commerce Design Consultant for a programming company. I work for Poolhouse Music.

Tell me something about the history of Lode - you know, Rule of Faith -> My Rubicon Seven -> LODE?
Rule Of Faith was Brandon's first group. His partner from that project, John Cordes, is now the singer/guitarist for fortyone.My Rubicon Seven was Brandon's solo project. Shortly after that, we met and decided to create Lode.

What instruments did you learn - only Synthesizers, Keyboards or other?
We use Roland and Yamaha synths exclusively. The only guitar that you will find on the album is by Dave P. on Begging You For More.

What are your plans for future?
Who knows. We really haven't thought past tomorrow. We like to take our music one day at a time.

Please describe your music?
Electronic music can be so many things.Some say Electronica, some say Europop. I say it's electronic and it's music. Let people call it whatever makes them feel comfortable.

What do you want to express with your music?
Ourselves. This is what we want to listen to. The things I like most are Brandon's smooth vocals and the modern synth-melodies which are sometimes fast and very dancy and sometimes slow and melancholic - simply a perfect combination of all. Since I have heard of them, LODE has become one of my favorite American SynthPoP bands.

Now, just listen to some of their mp3s and see for yourself.

• Just Another Day
• Don't Let It End This Way
• Begging You For More

The copyright in these sound-files is owned by Lode. For all files I got the exclusive authorization of Brandon and Elizabeth Thompson. All sound-files are only for private use. Any commercial distribution and copy is prohibited.

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