Photo credit: John Mark Hanson
Tell us about your tour vehicle. Any notable breakdown stories?
We’ve had three official tour vans, each dear to our hearts in their own way: Desperauto, CHEVY Chase, and now, Harrison FORD. Our best van-related story was when Desperauto’s brakes went out right as we pulled into Los Angeles for the first time, causing us to literally skate into town. We were supposed to play Joshua Tree Music Festival the next day, so our friend carpooled us out to the desert in his ’65 Mustang, which was a nice cinematic departure from Dessie’s stinky confines.
How do you eat cheaply and/or healthy while on tour?
We love to buy groceries and cook our own food whenever possible, sometimes as a little gesture of thanks to whoever’s housing us. Our good friend John Hanson took this to extremes during his stint as our bass player. Known for his dumpster diving skills and organic sensibilities, John would sometimes mix up from salsa directly in the motel sink. A real tour delicacy.
How many strings do you break in a typical year? How much does it cost to replace them?
I went through a phase where I was breaking strings constantly (especially at seemingly the most important gigs of our early career), but now never do, for whatever reason. My main tour guitar has always been my dad’s 70s Epiphone that I inherited and put a million miles on. Maybe it just needed to settle into tour life, same as me. I’ve only recently replaced it with a 1977 Martin D-28 as my main tour guitar. It more than earned the break.
Where do you rehearse?
Currently, it’s the basement of my 1937 home in the Rosedale Park Historic District of Detroit. Very unglamorous. Next to a toddler’s playpen and laundry setup. But those sort of domestic accoutrements are 100% apropos to the world of Frontier Ruckus.
What was the title and a sample lyric from the first song that you wrote?
Let’s just say I made the cardinal sin of rhyming “tomorrow” with “sorrow” and, I hope (?), never made that mistake again. I’ve written over 100 songs since so it may have slipped in there somewhere, but now put a premium on rhyming in ways that are gratifying to the listener, or at least myself.
Describe your first gig.
Our first official full-band gig was the Michigan State University Battle of the Bands in 2005, which we won! We got a big novelty check for $1500 to the world-renowned Elderly Instruments in Lansing, which allowed us to put nicer pickups in our instruments that we used for over a decade later.
What was your last day job? What was your favorite day job?
I did things completely reverse where I never had an official day job until after a decade of touring when I realized I didn’t want to play 200+ shows anymore to make ends meet. So I fortuitously segued into the advertising business months before the pandemic. I’ve steadily risen through the ranks over the past 5 years and am now a Creative Director, writing many car commercials you see on your TV sets. I only excelled at writing ads as quickly as I did due to the several decades I spent writing songs—honing my voice, learning how to play with language in a way that’s reasonably attractive to the casual listener. My favorite day was shooting a commercial on Paramount’s back-lot on the same stage they shot the Brady Bunch.
How has your music-related income changed over the past 5-10 years? What do you expect it to look like 5-10 years from now?
The only way we’ve ever made money as a band was by playing lots and lots of shows, all over the US and Europe. So, as we currently play like 90% less shows, our music-related income has changed accordingly. But our fans remain incredible, and we had quite a heartening fundraiser for this album with limited edition merch and experience offers.
Luckily, out of survival necessities, we’ve found profitable ways to make money outside of music. But it would be lovely if the robust Frontier Ruckus discography could somehow find its due in some future boom. There’s a wealth of publishable material there waiting for its moment in the sun. Also, kind of like it remaining this unexploited trove of pureness for the fans.
What one thing do you know now that you had wished you knew when you started your career in music?
I don’t think I’d wish to know anything I didn’t know then. The naivete is what made it a beautiful bumbling onward. Not knowing where it was leading was a big part of the fun.