Varsity Arts Presents:
Good Old War
The Belle Brigade, Family of the Year
Wed, April 11, 2012
Doors: 6:00 pm / Show: 6:30 pm
Varsity Theater
Minneapolis, MN
$13.00 - $15.00
Tickets
This event is all ages
http://www.ticketfly.com/event/89627/
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Good Old War
The second self-titled album by Pennsylvania indie-rock trio Good Old War is at its lush heart, an album of immense growth. A natural evolution from the band's debut Only Way to Be Alone (Sargent House), Good Old War radiates with warmth and vulnerability, both qualities undoubtedly cultivated by the band's hands-on self-production, and the environment of solitude in which the album was created.
Holed up in a remote house in the Pocono Mountains through the white winter month of February 2009, Keith Goodwin (vocalist/guitarist), Dan Schwartz (vocalist/guitarist), and Tim Arnold (vocalist/drummer) coalesced into a dynamic harmonious unit, using their time in complete isolation to explore new approaches to their music-making process: they learned new instruments; they wrote about subjects like love, loss, and addiction; they explored musical conventions far outside indie-rock/folk territory. Good Old War's sophomore album doesn't just maintain the intricate vocal harmonies, infectious sing-along melodies, and pop-song writing foundation of Only Way To Be Alone, it expands them. The results are a collection of songs that could translate from a living room to an arena without losing their heartbeat.
"This record is different because there's more shake, shake, shake," explains vocalist/drummer Tim Arnold. "The songs came from all over the place. They range from loneliness to domestic violence to drug addiction to true love. There are more instruments being struck by artists who know how to strike them. There's more strings being plucked by pluckers who know how to pluck them. There's more vocal chords vocalizing and there's more lungs breathing. There's more sun shining and there's more clouds forming. There's a constant amount of push/pull dynamic yet it reflects everyday, natural life."
"Individually, Keith and I wrote some of the best songs we ever wrote," explains vocalist/guitarist Dan Schwartz. "And, Tim completely murdered his drum tracks - all with only brushes! Collectively, we became a very tight group. We talked about everything: the words, the rhythms, the notes, which microphone to use. We learned from each other and got more confident in our songwriting and on our instruments together." Unlike their debut, which was extensively pre-planned and rehearsed, Good Old War was created from scratch in the studio. Rather than recording live as they did on Only Way To Be Alone, the album was recorded track by track, allowing the musicians to discover intricacies in each other's work.
Goodwin took on the bulk of the engineering, showing impressive talent at the mixing board and embracing the freedom of self-producing. "We wanted to make a record unlike any other. It was exciting to rely on and nurture our own production skills, which was a new experience for all of us. Because the core of our sound is about simple elements: guitar, vocal harmonies, and percussion, the production is simple and organic" he notes. "We discovered we had the ability to be largely self-reliant in the making of a record. I love that we can record whatever we want, whenever we want." With Goodwin steering the direction of the recording process, Good Old War is an album made with great conscientiousness to live performance; all arrangement on the record can be performed live and there are no guests on the album. The Final mix was provided by Jason Cupp
Good Old War's songwriting process has spontaneity, intuition and collectivity at its roots. The band first toured with Anthony Green in December 2007 (in lieu of Days Away which had recently dissolved). All of the songs that made their way onto the bands debut Only Way To Be Alone were written in a van on the way to those shows. Amidst the process of writing and touring, an innate musical kinship developed between Good Old War & Green; by the end of the tour the band was following their own set with a complete performance as Green's backing band. Months later Good Old War appeared on Avalon, Anthony Green's debut.
Only a month after officially choosing a name, Sargent House signed Good Old War and the band recorded the songs they had written on the road with Rick Parker and Jason Cupp. In May 2008, Sargent House announced a national tour during which the band would play a set of their own followed by a second set with Green yet again. The tour ended with a performance on Last Call with Carson Daly and the band released their debut album, Only Way to be Alone, which helped garner a loyal fanbase and overwhelmingly positive response from the press. Upon the album's release, the single "Coney Island" began gaining attention at Triple A radio, while the video won MTVU's "The Freshman" award and maintained heavy rotation for over three months.
Throughout 2009, Good Old War found themselves in a whirlwind of touring including dates with The Gaslight Anthem, The Heartless Bastards, Rx Bandits, and The Honorary Title. Towards the end of the year, Good Old War were seemingly everywhere; they sang "God Bless America" at a hometown Phillies game, played a multitude of radio events including WXPN's XPoNential Fest, headlined their first tour (while also playing as the band for Cast Spells' Dave Davison), released a split EP (with Cast Spells), and jetted over to the west coast for a set of holiday shows with Anthony Green, continuing their long standing double-set tradition.
After two years of existence, Good Old War is gearing up for the release of their self-titled highly anticipated follow-up with lyrical topics ranging from love and loss to living life and everything in between. The album urges listeners to be aware of their own mortality by spending their days doing what they love; after all, it's a product of Good Old War doing just that.
Holed up in a remote house in the Pocono Mountains through the white winter month of February 2009, Keith Goodwin (vocalist/guitarist), Dan Schwartz (vocalist/guitarist), and Tim Arnold (vocalist/drummer) coalesced into a dynamic harmonious unit, using their time in complete isolation to explore new approaches to their music-making process: they learned new instruments; they wrote about subjects like love, loss, and addiction; they explored musical conventions far outside indie-rock/folk territory. Good Old War's sophomore album doesn't just maintain the intricate vocal harmonies, infectious sing-along melodies, and pop-song writing foundation of Only Way To Be Alone, it expands them. The results are a collection of songs that could translate from a living room to an arena without losing their heartbeat.
"This record is different because there's more shake, shake, shake," explains vocalist/drummer Tim Arnold. "The songs came from all over the place. They range from loneliness to domestic violence to drug addiction to true love. There are more instruments being struck by artists who know how to strike them. There's more strings being plucked by pluckers who know how to pluck them. There's more vocal chords vocalizing and there's more lungs breathing. There's more sun shining and there's more clouds forming. There's a constant amount of push/pull dynamic yet it reflects everyday, natural life."
"Individually, Keith and I wrote some of the best songs we ever wrote," explains vocalist/guitarist Dan Schwartz. "And, Tim completely murdered his drum tracks - all with only brushes! Collectively, we became a very tight group. We talked about everything: the words, the rhythms, the notes, which microphone to use. We learned from each other and got more confident in our songwriting and on our instruments together." Unlike their debut, which was extensively pre-planned and rehearsed, Good Old War was created from scratch in the studio. Rather than recording live as they did on Only Way To Be Alone, the album was recorded track by track, allowing the musicians to discover intricacies in each other's work.
Goodwin took on the bulk of the engineering, showing impressive talent at the mixing board and embracing the freedom of self-producing. "We wanted to make a record unlike any other. It was exciting to rely on and nurture our own production skills, which was a new experience for all of us. Because the core of our sound is about simple elements: guitar, vocal harmonies, and percussion, the production is simple and organic" he notes. "We discovered we had the ability to be largely self-reliant in the making of a record. I love that we can record whatever we want, whenever we want." With Goodwin steering the direction of the recording process, Good Old War is an album made with great conscientiousness to live performance; all arrangement on the record can be performed live and there are no guests on the album. The Final mix was provided by Jason Cupp
Good Old War's songwriting process has spontaneity, intuition and collectivity at its roots. The band first toured with Anthony Green in December 2007 (in lieu of Days Away which had recently dissolved). All of the songs that made their way onto the bands debut Only Way To Be Alone were written in a van on the way to those shows. Amidst the process of writing and touring, an innate musical kinship developed between Good Old War & Green; by the end of the tour the band was following their own set with a complete performance as Green's backing band. Months later Good Old War appeared on Avalon, Anthony Green's debut.
Only a month after officially choosing a name, Sargent House signed Good Old War and the band recorded the songs they had written on the road with Rick Parker and Jason Cupp. In May 2008, Sargent House announced a national tour during which the band would play a set of their own followed by a second set with Green yet again. The tour ended with a performance on Last Call with Carson Daly and the band released their debut album, Only Way to be Alone, which helped garner a loyal fanbase and overwhelmingly positive response from the press. Upon the album's release, the single "Coney Island" began gaining attention at Triple A radio, while the video won MTVU's "The Freshman" award and maintained heavy rotation for over three months.
Throughout 2009, Good Old War found themselves in a whirlwind of touring including dates with The Gaslight Anthem, The Heartless Bastards, Rx Bandits, and The Honorary Title. Towards the end of the year, Good Old War were seemingly everywhere; they sang "God Bless America" at a hometown Phillies game, played a multitude of radio events including WXPN's XPoNential Fest, headlined their first tour (while also playing as the band for Cast Spells' Dave Davison), released a split EP (with Cast Spells), and jetted over to the west coast for a set of holiday shows with Anthony Green, continuing their long standing double-set tradition.
After two years of existence, Good Old War is gearing up for the release of their self-titled highly anticipated follow-up with lyrical topics ranging from love and loss to living life and everything in between. The album urges listeners to be aware of their own mortality by spending their days doing what they love; after all, it's a product of Good Old War doing just that.
The Belle Brigade
Like many siblings, Barbara and Ethan Gruska had their ups and downs over their years growing up together in Los Angeles. "Oh, we hated each other as kids," Barbara says with a laugh. "And by hate, I mean ‘love dearly,' but we could never get along. We started to become friends for the first time when Ethan was 15 and I was 21. Then we became best friends and four years later we started writing songs together and formed The Belle Brigade."
Listening to The Belle Brigade's self-titled debut album, you could never tell that these two were ever not in perfect sync. The Gruska's familial chemistry, not to mention their obvious songwriting gifts, have resulted in one of the most thrilling debut albums you're going to hear all year. Inspired by the duo's love for Fleetwood Mac, Simon & Garfunkel, The Beatles, and Stevie Wonder, their artfully arranged, freewheeling songs brim with breezy, California melodies and bracing pop harmonies, fueled by the driving rhythms Barbara plays on drums. As performed by Ethan and Barbara and their talented group of backing musicians, Bram Inscore (bass), Blake Mills, (electric guitar), Aaron Arntz (piano), and Jimi Hendrix/Joe Cocker keyboardist Mike Finnigan (Hammond B-3 organ), songs like "Sweet Louise," "Where Not To Look For Freedom," "Lucky Guy," and "Lonely Lonely," are tailor-made for road-tripping up the coast with the car top down, sunshine on your face, and the music blasting into the roar of the wind.
"We didn't want to make something small and precious," Barbara says. "We wanted to make something big and exhilarating. Recording this album was an incredible lesson at walking the line between holding on and letting go. Every note is intentional, but we gave up the reins to let the music go freely where it wanted to go. We wanted to make a record that was personal and aching, but still uplifting, relatable, and fun to listen to."
Barbara and Ethan credit their co-producer Matthew Wilder (No Doubt's Tragic Kingdom) — a family friend who offered his services after hearing a few of their songs — with helping them to keep open minds. "He created an environment where it was safe to try anything," Ethan says. Adds Barbara: "If you had told us that we'd be using our screaming voices, have a 30-piece orchestra on a song, or use reverse guitar-looping effects, we wouldn't have believed you. With Matthew and our engineer Csaba Petocz's help, we let go of our inhibitions and fear of being uncool or too exposed."
The liberated mood of the music dovetails beautifully with the duo's thoughtful, emotionally resonant lyrics. "A lot of this album has to do with the struggle to let go of our fear of being judged and our judgments of others in order to find powerful connections," Barbara says. The thematic centerpiece is "Losers," on which Ethan and Barbara sing in perfect harmonic unison: "Don't care about being a winner / Or being smooth with women / Or goin' out on Friday / Being the life of parties… Or if I am a loser" and declaring "So I wanna make it known / That I don't care about any of that shit no more."
"The song is about being insecure and jealous and letting go of all the terrible things you can feel about yourself and realizing that life is not a game," Ethan says. "It's not a competition. It's kind of a pep talk to ourselves to remember that." Other songs reflect on disillusionment ("Belt of Orion," "Punch Line"), yearning ("Rusted Wheel"), and awkward romance ("Sweet Louise"). Then there's "Lucky Guy," a song about how fortunate we are to be alive. After the duo sing "But now everything's all right / Even though I think about dying," they complete the phrase in harmony with a Beatle-esque "Ooh!" — which distills, in the simplest way, the happy-sad paradox within their music.
"That balance between happy and sad was intentional," Barbara says. "When I was Ethan's age, I wrote a really sad song and played it for my dad. He said, ‘I dare you to write a happy song. It's so much harder to write a happy song,' and he was right. That really stuck with me. I love the combination of sad lyrics with happy music and vice versa. Too much of one thing feels like going overboard."
It was just one lesson that Barbara would get from her father. Jay Gruska is a songwriter and composer who released two albums of his own on Warner Bros. Records in the early '80s and wrote a number of hit songs for other artists (including Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, and Dusty Springfield), as well as hours of music for films and television. His studio, in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley, was in the family's backyard so musicians were constantly coming and going. "My dad was like my songwriting coach, but he was never overbearing," says Ethan. "He's always the person we test our new songs out on," Barbara says. "If he cracks a smile it's a keeper. If he doesn't, it's usually back to the drawing board." Barbara and Ethan's maternal grandfather is Oscar- and Grammy-winning film composer John Williams (Star Wars, Jaws, E.T., Raiders of the Lost Ark), someone they both cite as a huge musical influence.
Not surprisingly, both Barbara and Ethan began playing music at a young age. Ethan has been singing since he can remember. He took a few piano lessons as a kid, but really began playing piano and writing songs in earnest at the age of 14. He studied classical composition for a year at Cal Arts in Valencia, CA, but "I never really felt that fire with it like I did when I write a little, stripped-down pop song," he says. As for Barbara, when she was nine, she fashioned a drum set out of random objects in her room ("I hung a pan lid on my pull-up bar to use as a cymbal," she says) and played that until her uncle gave her her first drum kit. Barbara studied jazz drumming at both Oberlin College and Cal Arts before dropping out to hit the road with The Bird and The Bee's Inara George, followed by tours with Benji Hughes and Rilo Kiley's Jenny Lewis. The musicians mentioned above who play on The Belle Brigade album are all friends of Barbara's from the Los Angeles music scene.
"There's a really high level of musicianship and creativity coming from all the guys on this album," Barbara says. "They are all our close friends and it was an incredibly rewarding experience to be surrounded by these amazing musicians. I like to hear other people in the music. That's what the album is about; it was such a group effort. It's just more fun to make things with other people. Hopefully what comes across is that we work hard and love what we do and are grateful for the opportunity to actually be artists."
Listening to The Belle Brigade's self-titled debut album, you could never tell that these two were ever not in perfect sync. The Gruska's familial chemistry, not to mention their obvious songwriting gifts, have resulted in one of the most thrilling debut albums you're going to hear all year. Inspired by the duo's love for Fleetwood Mac, Simon & Garfunkel, The Beatles, and Stevie Wonder, their artfully arranged, freewheeling songs brim with breezy, California melodies and bracing pop harmonies, fueled by the driving rhythms Barbara plays on drums. As performed by Ethan and Barbara and their talented group of backing musicians, Bram Inscore (bass), Blake Mills, (electric guitar), Aaron Arntz (piano), and Jimi Hendrix/Joe Cocker keyboardist Mike Finnigan (Hammond B-3 organ), songs like "Sweet Louise," "Where Not To Look For Freedom," "Lucky Guy," and "Lonely Lonely," are tailor-made for road-tripping up the coast with the car top down, sunshine on your face, and the music blasting into the roar of the wind.
"We didn't want to make something small and precious," Barbara says. "We wanted to make something big and exhilarating. Recording this album was an incredible lesson at walking the line between holding on and letting go. Every note is intentional, but we gave up the reins to let the music go freely where it wanted to go. We wanted to make a record that was personal and aching, but still uplifting, relatable, and fun to listen to."
Barbara and Ethan credit their co-producer Matthew Wilder (No Doubt's Tragic Kingdom) — a family friend who offered his services after hearing a few of their songs — with helping them to keep open minds. "He created an environment where it was safe to try anything," Ethan says. Adds Barbara: "If you had told us that we'd be using our screaming voices, have a 30-piece orchestra on a song, or use reverse guitar-looping effects, we wouldn't have believed you. With Matthew and our engineer Csaba Petocz's help, we let go of our inhibitions and fear of being uncool or too exposed."
The liberated mood of the music dovetails beautifully with the duo's thoughtful, emotionally resonant lyrics. "A lot of this album has to do with the struggle to let go of our fear of being judged and our judgments of others in order to find powerful connections," Barbara says. The thematic centerpiece is "Losers," on which Ethan and Barbara sing in perfect harmonic unison: "Don't care about being a winner / Or being smooth with women / Or goin' out on Friday / Being the life of parties… Or if I am a loser" and declaring "So I wanna make it known / That I don't care about any of that shit no more."
"The song is about being insecure and jealous and letting go of all the terrible things you can feel about yourself and realizing that life is not a game," Ethan says. "It's not a competition. It's kind of a pep talk to ourselves to remember that." Other songs reflect on disillusionment ("Belt of Orion," "Punch Line"), yearning ("Rusted Wheel"), and awkward romance ("Sweet Louise"). Then there's "Lucky Guy," a song about how fortunate we are to be alive. After the duo sing "But now everything's all right / Even though I think about dying," they complete the phrase in harmony with a Beatle-esque "Ooh!" — which distills, in the simplest way, the happy-sad paradox within their music.
"That balance between happy and sad was intentional," Barbara says. "When I was Ethan's age, I wrote a really sad song and played it for my dad. He said, ‘I dare you to write a happy song. It's so much harder to write a happy song,' and he was right. That really stuck with me. I love the combination of sad lyrics with happy music and vice versa. Too much of one thing feels like going overboard."
It was just one lesson that Barbara would get from her father. Jay Gruska is a songwriter and composer who released two albums of his own on Warner Bros. Records in the early '80s and wrote a number of hit songs for other artists (including Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, and Dusty Springfield), as well as hours of music for films and television. His studio, in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley, was in the family's backyard so musicians were constantly coming and going. "My dad was like my songwriting coach, but he was never overbearing," says Ethan. "He's always the person we test our new songs out on," Barbara says. "If he cracks a smile it's a keeper. If he doesn't, it's usually back to the drawing board." Barbara and Ethan's maternal grandfather is Oscar- and Grammy-winning film composer John Williams (Star Wars, Jaws, E.T., Raiders of the Lost Ark), someone they both cite as a huge musical influence.
Not surprisingly, both Barbara and Ethan began playing music at a young age. Ethan has been singing since he can remember. He took a few piano lessons as a kid, but really began playing piano and writing songs in earnest at the age of 14. He studied classical composition for a year at Cal Arts in Valencia, CA, but "I never really felt that fire with it like I did when I write a little, stripped-down pop song," he says. As for Barbara, when she was nine, she fashioned a drum set out of random objects in her room ("I hung a pan lid on my pull-up bar to use as a cymbal," she says) and played that until her uncle gave her her first drum kit. Barbara studied jazz drumming at both Oberlin College and Cal Arts before dropping out to hit the road with The Bird and The Bee's Inara George, followed by tours with Benji Hughes and Rilo Kiley's Jenny Lewis. The musicians mentioned above who play on The Belle Brigade album are all friends of Barbara's from the Los Angeles music scene.
"There's a really high level of musicianship and creativity coming from all the guys on this album," Barbara says. "They are all our close friends and it was an incredibly rewarding experience to be surrounded by these amazing musicians. I like to hear other people in the music. That's what the album is about; it was such a group effort. It's just more fun to make things with other people. Hopefully what comes across is that we work hard and love what we do and are grateful for the opportunity to actually be artists."
Family of the Year
Channeling Fleetwood Mac's musical stylings with a hint of late-era Beatles, Family of the Year braid catchy melodies, stellar male/female vocals and personal folk tales to create some of the happiest and saddest music you've ever heard. The band's classic musical style has been integrated with a modern fanbase that the band continues to create and release new music for.
Family of the Year self-released their debut EP Where's the Sun on their Washashore imprint in September 2009. The EP showcases a variety of Family's music, and includes "Let's Go Down," "Castoff," "Summer Girl," "What a Surprise," and "Psyche or Like Scope." Where's the Sun is available for digital download at FamilyoftheYear.net for an optional donation. Contributions went directly toward the release of the band's debut full-length album and continue to fund their collective life on the road.
In October, Family was handpicked out of 700 artists by Ben Folds and Keith Lockhart to open for Ben and The Boston Pops at Symphony Hall. Shortly after, the band flew west for California shows with Bell X1 before returning east for the CMJ Music Marathon, marking Family Of The Year's New York debut. SPIN.com selected the band as one 25 Must-Hear Artists from the 2009 CMJ Festival.
In November, Family hit the road with Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros in support of Family's debut album, Songbook, also available for optional donation.
In January the band announced the release of an exclusive song every month through their e-mail list in 2010 and followed that with the digital release of their sophomore EP Through the Trees on March 9 under their own imprint, Washashore Records. The band retains their signature folk-inspired style while pushing the musical genre exploration for which they're known on the new EP, which also features friend and fan Willy Mason.
Singers Joe Keefe and Meredith Sheldon blend seamless harmonies in the Beach Boys-esque ballad, "Summer Girl," while "Stupidland" and "Let's Go Down" are upbeat, catchy folk tunes. Crossing boundries, Through the Trees features the traditional Family sound, but will also include "The Barn," a synth-heavy rock song, as well as "The Princess and the Pea," which embodies a laid-back yet catchy reggae sound.
Like most American families, FOTY come from all over. Brothers Joe and Sebastian Keefe grew up in Wales before staking their claim as locals on the rustic country island Martha's Vineyard, where they grew up with Meredith Sheldon and Farley Glavin. Christina Schroeter is a misfit of Orange County, CA while across the country southern gentleman James Buckey grew up in Jacksonville, FL.
Musical veterans Joe, Seb, James, and Farley enjoyed local Boston success in their raw rock ensemble Unbusted. Farley and the Keefe brothers switched gears when they created the up-tempo indie-pop band The Billionaires, while James pursued a career in sound engineering. Christina, who spent five years of her childhood trying to weasel out of piano lessons, recently resigned from an entertainment PR firm, where she often rushed clients down red carpets before heading to band practice. Meredith is an accomplished singer and guitarist, and has toured with Ben Taylor as a backup vocalist.
Joe, Seb, and Jamesy met Christina in LA, and Meredith and Farley moved from Martha's Vineyard to complete the ensemble. Even when they're not practicing, you can bet that this tight-knit group are hanging out. Whether it's playing board games at the practice space or mellow nights sitting by the backyard fire pit over a jug of wine, FOTY truly consider each other family.
"I'd never heard anything like them before. They were so eclectic in the music choices, something like a combination of folk indie rock and the Beach Boys. I was fascinated. They were [Ben Folds'] favorite, too."
-Keith Lockhart, Conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra
"A collective that's equally comfortable harmonizing on '70s-style Hollywood Hills piano rock as it is churning out urgent, high-tech indie pop." --SPIN.com
"They're like the Mamas and the Papas on acid." --Steven Tyler
Family of the Year self-released their debut EP Where's the Sun on their Washashore imprint in September 2009. The EP showcases a variety of Family's music, and includes "Let's Go Down," "Castoff," "Summer Girl," "What a Surprise," and "Psyche or Like Scope." Where's the Sun is available for digital download at FamilyoftheYear.net for an optional donation. Contributions went directly toward the release of the band's debut full-length album and continue to fund their collective life on the road.
In October, Family was handpicked out of 700 artists by Ben Folds and Keith Lockhart to open for Ben and The Boston Pops at Symphony Hall. Shortly after, the band flew west for California shows with Bell X1 before returning east for the CMJ Music Marathon, marking Family Of The Year's New York debut. SPIN.com selected the band as one 25 Must-Hear Artists from the 2009 CMJ Festival.
In November, Family hit the road with Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros in support of Family's debut album, Songbook, also available for optional donation.
In January the band announced the release of an exclusive song every month through their e-mail list in 2010 and followed that with the digital release of their sophomore EP Through the Trees on March 9 under their own imprint, Washashore Records. The band retains their signature folk-inspired style while pushing the musical genre exploration for which they're known on the new EP, which also features friend and fan Willy Mason.
Singers Joe Keefe and Meredith Sheldon blend seamless harmonies in the Beach Boys-esque ballad, "Summer Girl," while "Stupidland" and "Let's Go Down" are upbeat, catchy folk tunes. Crossing boundries, Through the Trees features the traditional Family sound, but will also include "The Barn," a synth-heavy rock song, as well as "The Princess and the Pea," which embodies a laid-back yet catchy reggae sound.
Like most American families, FOTY come from all over. Brothers Joe and Sebastian Keefe grew up in Wales before staking their claim as locals on the rustic country island Martha's Vineyard, where they grew up with Meredith Sheldon and Farley Glavin. Christina Schroeter is a misfit of Orange County, CA while across the country southern gentleman James Buckey grew up in Jacksonville, FL.
Musical veterans Joe, Seb, James, and Farley enjoyed local Boston success in their raw rock ensemble Unbusted. Farley and the Keefe brothers switched gears when they created the up-tempo indie-pop band The Billionaires, while James pursued a career in sound engineering. Christina, who spent five years of her childhood trying to weasel out of piano lessons, recently resigned from an entertainment PR firm, where she often rushed clients down red carpets before heading to band practice. Meredith is an accomplished singer and guitarist, and has toured with Ben Taylor as a backup vocalist.
Joe, Seb, and Jamesy met Christina in LA, and Meredith and Farley moved from Martha's Vineyard to complete the ensemble. Even when they're not practicing, you can bet that this tight-knit group are hanging out. Whether it's playing board games at the practice space or mellow nights sitting by the backyard fire pit over a jug of wine, FOTY truly consider each other family.
"I'd never heard anything like them before. They were so eclectic in the music choices, something like a combination of folk indie rock and the Beach Boys. I was fascinated. They were [Ben Folds'] favorite, too."
-Keith Lockhart, Conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra
"A collective that's equally comfortable harmonizing on '70s-style Hollywood Hills piano rock as it is churning out urgent, high-tech indie pop." --SPIN.com
"They're like the Mamas and the Papas on acid." --Steven Tyler
Venue Information:
Varsity Theater
1308 4th Street SE
Minneapolis, MN, 55414
http://www.varsitytheater.org/
Varsity Theater
1308 4th Street SE
Minneapolis, MN, 55414
http://www.varsitytheater.org/
