We're on BBC America!

Big news for a little band. The Frontier Brothers are mentioned on BBC America! Check it out

Okay - so its not the gushing review of our epochal next album that I was hoping for, but this is pretty cool. Its a shotout from my boss, who I'll be talking more about soon.

I'm planning a big post later tonight, so hold tight!

The Future is Near

Sleeping has gotten progressively hard these past few weeks. New York is warming up for spring and my mind has working around the clock - I'm constantly imagining the band and how we can push it over the top. With artists dancing on treadmills, launching international blog campaigns, and producing increasingly impressive and polished records, originality is a must. I can't even begin to tell you how many bands we have played with that have a solid sound and great musical talent but zero image - zero buzz. (There are some extreme exceptions to this - bands such as Stella Rose, Calhoun, & Three Leaf are shaking up the local scene) My uncertain future lies ominously on my desk in the form of a one way plane ticket to the lone star state. Sleep, it lately seems, is a waste of time - I have to crack the rock star code.

Street Noise

I can't wait to escape the street noise from my fourth floor room. Its like someone tied a small jackhammer to my ears.

Exposition Part 2 : The Business

In a perfect world, bands would be comprised of proud artists - respectfully peddling their craft at intimate smokey clubs and music festivals reeking of B.O. (If you've ever been to Austin City Limits or Coachella you know what I'm talking about) The unfortunate reality is that of a cut-throat and relentless music business - tens of thousands of baby bands all climbing the same tiny pyramid toward success. As you can imagine, the pyramid can't fit too many bands at the top, so most of these younger bands get pushed off. Even the lucky few who make it may get pushed off anyway. (they're later labeled one-hit-wonders)

The savvy band realizes that they have to be far more than starry-eyed artists. We are entrepreneurs and critical element in any business is product. Apple sells computers, Dole peddles bananas, and we pimp songs. Heres how bands make money -

1. Concerts - The Rolling Stones can generate over 50 million dollars on a tour, charging blood-thirsty fans 150 dollars a pop to sit in filthy bleacher seats and suck on lollipops. Bands like The Frontier Brothers (us) ,on the other hand, need to develop a fan-base. We play small 50 to 250 capacity venues that charge 5 to 15 dollars a head. While playing club shows is more fun than you can possibly imagine, (the adrenalin rush alone is unparalleled) venues tend to invent payment schemes on the fly. I'll be blogging ALOT more about the difficulty with smaller venues as it is a big fucking problem.
2. CD Sales and T-Shirts - The main source of income for little bands, CDs and T-Shirts have the advantage of being built-in promotional tools. Unfortunately, CDs and T-Shirts are extremely expensive to produce. No matter, if you can somehow manage to sell ten thousand CDs, you can support your smoking habit for years.
   
3. Licensing - Licensing is the Holy Grail for indie bands. Cheaper than paying big record companies, reality tv shows, racing video games, and The O.C. all pay unsigned bands between thousands of dollars to use their songs. Licensing is hard-work however and most bands are unprepared to do the necessary networking and bullshitting to get their music on the silver screen. The Frontier Brothers have yet to license their music, but you better believe we're going to try! HEY! Isn't that Brett's band playing on that Tampon commercial???
4. Record Deals - Record deals are sinister. I'll tell you why later.
   
5. Other - Endorsements, philanthropists, you name it. Bands will try anything to make a buck!
   

So Electronic Progress (pictured above) was our first attempt to generate some buzz and some bread. Its a four song EP that we made on a very very tight budget (read free) We had 1000 copies printed, so even if we sell every copy (we end up giving away at least 1/3 of the copies to press) we will only generate about 4000 dollars. That might like alot but we have to spend that money on things such as

• guitar strings (6$)
• gasoline (25$ a tank)
  
• fliers for the next show (30$)
• a house for the band (1000$/month)
  
• alcohol for the after party (people expect an afterparty) '

As you can imagine - its pretty hard to support yourself in a band. Thats why you hear about members of big indie-rock bands hanging on to their day jobs. The safest advise you'll hear from industry musicians is to keep your job until the last possible moment, presumably the night before your world-wide tour opening for The Police. The safest advise also happens to be the least effective. One quick way to force yourself to work your ass off for a band is to give up all of your stability. Thats why I'm dropping out of school and giving up my parents' financial support. Sure, I may have to get used to Ramen noodles, but I'll have one hell of an incentive to spread the gospel of The Frontier Brothers.

In honor of this decidedly business-oriented post, hears a pitch. Buy our CD on iTunes and I promise to reinvest the $2.47 we get toward a kickass stage show!

Peace Out

Moses

Prologue - Making The Band

WARNING: This is a long-ass post.

Sitting at my disheveled desk (Tickets to CMJ Music Marathon 06 - didn't end up going, Ad for "The Kati Roll Company" on 99 Macdougal Street - delicious, Stub From The Who at Madison Square Garden - bleacher seats) located at 33 Washington Square West, its easy to forget my life 1,586 miles away. These days, I'm a student at New York University where I am majoring in (this is not a lie) "The Art of Becoming a Rockstar." NYU is part of a breed of lovely new wave universities that basically let you do whatever you want as long as you pay them enough money. Like Mary Kate & Ashley before me (proud college drop-outs from the Gallatin School of Individualized Study) my days at NYU are numbered. Come may 2nd, I will join the ranks of unemployed bum drop-outs infesting the otherwise beautiful city of Austin, Texas.

You see, I got this crazy idea stuck in my head last June that I could be a bona fide rock star. Sure, I had written some catchy rock songs with my songwriting partner, Marshall Newman. (hereafter referred to Marshall Galactic) True, my monthly improvisational piano gigs at Fort Worth, Texas's upscale Cafe Aspen were mildly lucrative. Nevertheless, I was light years away from playing a double-bill with Radiohead at Madison Square Garden, endorsing the latest Adidas kicks, or flicking off the camera at a Mavs game. I was an inexperienced pianist, an untrained songwriter, and a lousy singer - to some extent I still am. As time went on, however, something happened.

I kept up a charade - claiming to anyone with eager ears that I would be the next big thing in rock'n'roll. And why not? If the Clash can blow up with a bassist who barely knows how to play and Coldplay can rehash the same three chords for each of their increasingly famous hit singles, The Frontier Brothers can surely change the face of indie rock. I relentlessly asserted my status as rock-star-to-be and, strangely enough, people started to buy it.

Fast forward a little bit. Marshall and I recruited his brother, Travis, to play drums. We played a couple shows over the summer and then I left for school - the future of The Frontier Brothers was uncertain. Luckily, there was plenty to keep the band busy during our diaspora. We had recorded four songs in my living room the day before I left for school. I reasoned that a band doesn't really "exist" until they have been recorded. We set up shop at my parent's house and banged out some tracks. During my early months living in New York, I talked to Travis almost daily, as he was in charge of the mixing and mastering process. After nearly three months, we had a finished product. Finally, there was a real reason to put ourselves to work. We had CDs to pimp, one thousand dollars of debt to pay off for the cds, and I was coming home for winter break. The ELECTRONIC PROGRESS Tour ensued.

I feel like you guys should become familiar with the history of The Frontier Brothers before I start to fill you guys in on the future (the main focus of the blog) so I'm planning on finishing our history tomorrow. I would consider the release of our first EP to be our initiation as a "REAL" band so its a good place to stop.

As always, please email me with any feedback or questions.

Moses

Gear Report *Addendum*

I regretfully inform you that I forgot some serious gear for the report yesterday.

and


I'll post again later today - I want to tell you guys a little more about The Frontier Brothers.

Moses

Gear Report

What does a young keyboardist on the prowl use on stage, you ask?

Signing out

Moses

Exposition Part 1: The Band

You're looking at The Frontier Brothers: either the next big thing in indie rock or a footnote on the cosmic footnote of nearly-made-its depending on who you ask.
(photo by Janette Beckman, rockstar photographer)
On the left: Travis Newman - drummer/bassist/responsible one
On the right: Marshall Galactic - lead singer/guitar/visionary
And then theres me - short, semitic, & stylish

Together we are The Frontier Brothers, an indie-space-rock meets 60's pop meets new wave musical explosion. When people ask me who we sound like, I compare us to Modest Mouse, Electric Light Orchestra, or The Beatles (such an idealist I am!)

Heres how we are described by the press:
Travis, our drummer, happens to hate Ween. Anyway, I'll leave you guys with one of our songs.

“Take it for Love” by Frontier Brothers

The Art of Becoming a Rockstar

Any good story needs conflict.

Thankfully, this story is full of it. Unlike a movie, I can't promise a tear-jerker twist ending or a startlingly symmetrical resolution - however - I will certainly try.

This is the story of one young rock band among literally thousands. Like every band in the universe, we want to be famous, we want to play for wild crowds, and we want to do whatever possible to avoid sitting behind a desk for the rest of our lives. At least, I know I want to avoid that fate. We want to be Jeff Tweedy, Jim James, David Byrne, and George Harrison. And like every band of indie rock troubadours, we think we have what it takes... I think I have what it takes. (And you can be the judge)

As I mentioned before, this story is so laden with conflict, its hard to even know where to begin. Here's to a handy bullet list:

1. My band mates live in Austin, TX... I live in New York City
2. We have no money. (And what money we do have, we owe to our parents)
3. The venues have a chronic habit of underpaying us. (See problem 2.)
   
4. I'm an egomaniac (I have the unflattering tendency of claiming to own the band when I'm drunk)
   
5. Our tour vehicle is about two coughs away from breaking down.

And that is just a the short list.

Everyone - my parents, guitar guru Bill Rayner (fact: he once opened for Meatloaf), punk rock professor Vivien Goldman, & my friends (who are tired of hearing about the band) tell me to be realistic - "most bands don't make it. you're just going to have to get lucky."
Fuck it - I was born to rock and I'm going to take you guys along for the ride.

Moses