BIO
The Early Days
Luke Mueller spent his youth in the northwest suburbs of Chicago but did not begin his musical pursuit until he arrived at Eastern Illinois University as a freshman in college. It was there, at the age of 18, that Luke began learning to play the guitar. His first steps as a singer-songwriter were taken shortly thereafter, and his first performance before a crowd came in the fall of 1999 at the University of Illinois alongside fellow guitarist and songwriter Patrick Moran. During the years that followed the duo performed together in and around their hometown of Crystal Lake, IL and at the University of Notre Dame, where Luke finished his undergraduate studies.
When Moran joined the Chicago-based alt-country band Johnny 5-Gallon, Luke turned to a solo career rooted in the north side of Chicago. He began performing cover gigs in the spring of 2004 and completed his first studio recording the following fall. The album was titled Into the Twilight and featured a handful of acoustic songs Luke had composed over the previous few years. From there he continued playing primarily cover gigs at bars in the Wrigleyville and Lincoln Park neighborhoods of Chicago until finishing his graduate studies at DePaul University in the spring of 2005. It was then that Luke began to seek out a band.
New Colossus
Late that summer Luke first began playing with lead guitarist Chris Gundersen. Soon afterward, keyboardist Sam Leewood, whom Luke had befriended years earlier through their mutual passion for basketball, joined the group. With Chris and Sam each adding his own dimension, Luke's acoustic-based songs were taken to another level entirely. When the drums and bass were finally added to the mix, the band was complete.
The first performance came in May 2006 as Five Stories. It was after that first show that New Colossus was determined to be the band's official title. New Colossus continued performing in Chicago through the summer and fall until the original trio was once again left looking for a rhythm section that would stick. In January 2007, drummer John Williamson and bassist Daniel Gajda stepped in to fill out the band's current lineup.
The group went into the studio the following spring to record its debut EP A Picturesque Escape at Uptown Recording in Chicago. What has resulted is a collection of songs with an immense sound steeped in classic rock and roll imagery. The inspiration provided by Pearl Jam, Springsteen, Radiohead, U2, and Sigur Ros is evident in the themes and crescendos interwoven throughout the songs. Gundersen's soaring guitar leads, Leewood's intricate piano melodies, and the dynamics provided by Williamson and Gajda give Luke's lyrics the emotional intensity they were meant to convey. With New Colossus, Luke hopes to breach the limits of his musical potential and continue to move forward in his pursuit of a life in music.