• By LAUREN CLARET
• Special to 2theadvocate.com
• Published: May 7, 2008 - UPDATED: 5:35 p.m.

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In the first stretch of their national spring ’08 tour, Los Angeles-based band Burden of Proof will make a stop at Baton Rouge’s North Gate Tavern May 8.

Members of Burden of Proof include Neil Gall (vocals and guitar), Chris Theil (guitar and back-up vocals), Dan Cascio (bass) and Nathan Gall (drums and back up vocals). The band has been together and performing their original material since 2001, when they formed in Michigan.

Neil gives us a little background on the band’s roots.

“Actually, Nathan, the drummer, is my identical twin brother, so we’ve been writing songs and performing since we were 12 or 13 years old. We went to college in 2001, and we met Chris, the guitar player, and Dan, the base player, there. That’s when we formed Burden of Proof and started performing live and recording.”

Even though the band is originally from Michigan, in 2003, they decided to move to Los Angeles.

“We made the move from Michigan to Los Angeles because the scene [in Michigan] was really bad,” Neil said. “It was just cover bands, and the venues wanted us to cover songs. We weren’t about that. We wanted to showcase our original music. We wanted to get to a market that would appreciate us for our music and for our songs. That’s why we made the move.”

With four albums of their own music completed, the success of the band’s move speaks for itself. Burden of Proof plays mostly originals in their live shows, but Neil said that “sometimes we’ll bust out a rarity cover, but very rare.”

Burden of Proof attributes any differences between albums to their natural evolution as musicians.

“I don’t think we’re intentionally trying something new,” Neil said. “I think we’re evolving every day. Within each month of the year, we’re just evolving and maturing. It’s not intentional, but I guess it’s always going to be new.”

“We’re getting more used to the craft of songwriting, and we’re progressing as we write new songs,” Nathan added. “We look back at earlier ones and realize the things that we could have done. We’re becoming better at what we’re doing. So, that adds to the evolution of our band. We’re just constantly changing.”

The band has toured regionally along the West Coast and the South as well as nationally. On upcoming touring, Neil said, “We’re going to try to tour for one month every three months. Between touring, we’ll try to record new songs and make money so that we can help fund the tours. We’re still completely independent. We’re hard-working people. We have to keep a day job in between gigs.”

Even though members of the band are forced to continue working, their jobs as musicians are worth the struggle.

“For me personally, I do it for myself and for my own,” Neil said. “Performing and writing songs is the only thing that makes me happy.”