::: ITA turns 4 years old on June 8th! :::

Four years ago on June 8th, 2006 a new band was born in the Pittsburgh area. That band? Into The Arena. It's been an amazing ride so far and it's always interesting when something big happens on your birthday and in our case we welcome new bass player Todd Demont into the band. Todd and Xander played in a band called Stormfront back in 1993 along with vocalist Bryan Cole and drummer Mike Stover. 17 years later and their together again. Todd's first show will be at Pluma in Irwin, PA Friday, June 11th.

In other news, we have a very busy summer coming up which is a rarity but it should be a good one. We have new songs to show off and Todd's energy will be a welcome addition as we move into our fifth year of rockin' the 'burgh.

::: ITA on the Jumbotron at PNC Park :::

Oh man, it's time to shoot some hot dogs... and an ITA video to go along with our new jingle we wrote for the Pittsburgh Pirates. We would like to send out a big THANK YOU to Eric Wolff of the Pirates organization and New Persective Media for recording us and working around the Into The Arena schedule. This is a great opportunity for ITA considering we have some big schedule changes and additions for 2010.

The Bio Page has been updated with all members' bios and endorsement links. Again, please check out our Facebook, Twitter and ReverbNation sites as well as MySpace for all of the latest. Both Dean and Xander are adding videos to their user profiles on YouTube so check them out when you get a chance.

::: The New Into The Arena Website :::

It's been a long time coming but the new ITA site is up and running. Things have changed a great deal since version 2.0 of the site. First of all, our apologies for not getting the new version up sooner. MySpace, Facebook et al are sometimes a little annoying to keep updating so this is going to be your one-stop-shop for all things Into The Arena. Thanks to sites like ReverbNation we can use these little widgets like the schedule and the music player to update them in real-time.

Into The Arena has placed in the Top 3 in Pittsburgh's City Paper "Best Of" readers poll. We thank all of you who have supported us and voted for us.

We hope you enjoy our new website and we will look to you fans for your recommendations on how to make your experience better with us! As of today - 2/10/2010 - we have uploaded content for the Audio page as well as the Video page. Some of the Bios have been loaded on the Bio Page too.

::: Xander releases "Road To Guitarcadia" :::

Our resident shredders in ITA have a lot to be thankful for as this past NAMM show turned out to be another winner. Xander has walked away with a new Dean endorsement as well as Morpheus Pedals and Bogner adding to an impressive resume of sponsors. Also, ITA guitarist Xander Demos has released his first recording in an EP called "Road To Guitarcadia" that features fellow ITA members Dean Minerva, Ben Bond and Adam Heusey. The ITA shred-fest "Boys of Summer" is on that EP and it is available on iTunes as well as at any ITA shows.

::: Other Projects and Other News :::

If you get the chance, you will be able to check out Ronnie, Xander and Adam as they bring some acoustic versions of ITA jams as well as other songs to some local venues. With the incredible technologies of companies like GraphTech, electric guitars have the ability to rock out like acoustics while still being able to play like a normal electric. Xander will also be bringing the instrumental show to local venues with fellow ITA members Adam Heusey on keyboards/guitar and a new bass player named Matt Williams.