A Kite over North is an American Rock band from NJ consisting of Matt Lanza (drums, bass, vocals) and Mickey Young (guitar, keys, strings).

Early years & Formation (2006-2015)
A Kite over North was formed in late 2013 after the passing of a close friend. While the current members previously played together in a number of other bands, side projects, and charity shows, it was the shared experience of tragic loss that drove them to write ″music with meaning.″ Despite being friends since elementary school, and even playing against each other in feuded street hockey pick-up games, it wasn’t until years later that the duo truly understood their shared passion for writing, and listening to, music.

Ironically, a local Battle of the Bands where one of Matt’s previous groups competed, was the driving force that inspired Mickey to pick up a guitar and start playing. Years later, while sitting next to each other in history class at North Brunswick Township High School, Matt and Mickey frequently shared and discussed new music. One memory that specifically stood out, was when Mickey played the song This Could Be Anywhere in the World by Alexisonfire on his portable Sony Walkman CD player before class started.

Mickey wanted to show Matt the idea of a cool and distinct drum pattern that got called back throughout the song. After only hearing it for a few seconds before their teacher started speaking, Matt began silently tapping the beat on his desk throughout class. As a relatively new musician, that ability was inspiring for Mickey. Later on, when Mickey was looking for a drummer to complete a 3-piece project, Matt was the first person he thought of.

Their original practice sessions consisted of Blink-182 cover songs, punk rock chord progressions and riffs, and recordings on the default Microsoft Windows voice recorder on their laptops. Throughout the years, members would come and go, but Matt and Mickey stuck together – not only for that shared passion, but for the playing style chemistry where they intuitively knew where each other would go at any given point when making songs up on the spot.

The Speechless 30 (2016)
The Speechless 30 defined how the band wrote music. Since the duo worked opposite shifts (one night shift and one day shift), it made it extremely difficult for the two to get together, practice, and record live, so they did everything remotely.

The Speechless 30 is a 30-minute instrumental written with intention of telling stories and expressing emotion through sounds. The vast arrangement of thoughtfully selected instruments backed with angelic choirs was intended to immerse listeners in the overarching theme of dealing with loss, accompanied by overtones of confusion, heartache, and mourning, to contentment, understanding, optimism, and most importantly, love.

Midnight Mind (2019)
Midnight Mind was a continued experiment for the band. Nearly the entire album was written, recorded, and produced at different times and locations. The final result was the true definition of “burning the midnight oil” and was their first publicly-released record with vocals.