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Biography
Infobox musical artist| name = Flickerstick| image =| caption =| image_size = 200| background = group_or_band| origin = Denton, Texas|Denton , Texas , USA | genre = Indie rock Alternative rock | years_active = 1997–2009| label = Idol Records Epic Records What Are Records | associated_acts =| website = http://www.flickerstick.com/| past_members = Brandin Lea Fletcher Lea Rex Ewing Cory Kreig Dominic Weir Jeff Lowe Todd Harwell Tim Locke Flickerstick was a Denton, Texas rock band who gained national attention after winning VH1 's Emmy-nominated talent/ reality show Bands on the Run .
Band history
Birth
Flickerstick was formed in Denton, Texas by high school friends Brandin Lea (lead singer, guitarist) and Cory Kreig (guitarist, keyboardist). The two, who were guitarists in another local band, decided to put a band together and picked some friends to join them, including Brandin's brother, Fletcher (bassist). The band started doing local gigs.
They played clubs in Dallas . The band put together $10,000 and self-financed their first album titled Welcoming Home the Astronauts . The album sold in the Dallas area and at shows, and the band received local airplay. It was then that Billboard magazine|Billboard picked the band to be on a CD sampler of Best Unsigned Bands in the Country .
VH1's Bands on the Run
During this time, VH1 invited them to audition for the Bands on the Run television show, after initial interest in them for a show about bands that include relatives. http://www.nypress.com/article-4566-flickerstick-fells-malevolent-rock-behemoth-soulcracker-on-vh1s-bands-on-the-run.html After auditioning among over 2,000 bands, Flickerstick was chosen to be one of the four in the series. At first the winner was to be the band that made the most money, but that changed with a "battle of the bands" before each elimination of the lowest-earning band, with the "winner" (chosen by audience vote) protected from elimination. The rules were then changed, and with Flickerstick lagging in sales by over $3,000.00 in the final episode, it was suddenly announced that Guitar Center was offering a purse of $5,000.00 for the winner of the final "battle." With a vote tallied from people at the show, and a "secret" ballot by music industry insiders, it was announced that Flickerstick won the battle, causing many to say the show was rigged, as well a gag order was put upon those who counted the votes!
Post-show
After six months of shows, the band was signed by Epic Records . In November 2001, Epic re-released the band's debut album which received marginal reviews in Rolling Stone (magazine)|Rolling Stone (2 out of 5 stars) and Billboard magazine|Billboard , and anywhere from fair to poor reviews in other music publications. The album was re-worked with the help of veteran producer Rick Beato and was remixed by Tom Lord-Alge . The reissued album debuted at #12 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart and #150 on the Billboard Top 200.Allmusic|class=artist|id=p482128/charts-awards|pure_url=yes Charts, Allmusic Despite being released in the fourth quarter, sales were considered disappointing.
Flickerstick was in New York, for a show in Asbury Park, NJ the following night, on September 11, 2001. In an interview, with Rock Eyez, a local New Jersey music blog, Brandin Lea stated that being in New York on 9/11 was "horrific" and that would be the one thing he would change from the bands career. In other interviews, members of the band have cited the change in the record industry and economy in general (resulting in Epic's lackluster promotion of the album) after the 9/11 terrorist attacks as reasons for their departure with Epic.
A year later, Epic termintaed their contract. They then signed with inde label What Are Records and released a live album titled Causing a Catastrophe that same year. After the album's release drummer Dominic Weir was fired from the band for personality conflicts and continual physical aggression. After his dismissal he continued to play with another project Mermaid Purse before eventually joining Smile Empty Soul . He was replaced in Flickerstick by ex- Doosu drummer Todd Harwell .
On October 14, 2003 Flickerstick self-released an EP/DVD combo entitled To Madagascar and Back .
Recent years
Flickerstick continued to tour and perform, and had a fanbase in Dalls.
On October 5, 2004, Flickerstick released their second album Tarantula on the Dallas-based indie label Idol Records . The band had a shows in support of the record. Founding guitarist Cory Kreig left the band in April 2005 for personal reasons. Tim Locke , who also handles lead vocals and guitar for Dallas-based alternative band Coma Rally and alt-country band Calhoun (band)|Calhoun filled Cory's place in the band.
On April 3, 2007 released Live From Atlanta Fans joined the band each night in a live recording room at the studio. Flickerstick didn’t want to rehash all of their "older songs”, so the album featured six new songs that had not been recorded before. The album also featured a studio track called "Helicopter," along with three, enhanced videos from the recording shows in September. The record was engineered by industry veteran Shawn Grove.
Calling it a day
Rumors of breakup gained momentum when the band's website was taken offline for lack of payment in July 2008, and then confirmed by the band several months later with the following statement: "After a decade’s worth of playing, the time has come for us to pack it up and say goodbye," the band wrote to its fans in a MySpace message in January. "Throughout these years, our greatest reward has been the support of our fans. We simply could not have lasted this long without you, Flickerstick fans. . . . We’ve had some very good times together, and we will miss all of you." http://www.star-telegram.com/music/story/1214488.html
After a hiatus of more than a year, the band resurfaced to perform shows:Citation needed|date=March 2009
January 23, 2009 at Lola's in Fort Worth (secret warm up show, billed as "The Obsolete Queers")
January 24, 2009 at the House of Blues in Dallas
February 27, 2009 at The Aardvark in Fort Worth
February 28, 2009 at The Aardvark in Fort Worth
Discography
Welcoming Home the Astronauts (2001)
Causing A Catastrophe-Live (2002)
To Madagascar and Back (2003)
Tarantula (Flickerstick album)|Tarantula (2004)
Live from Atlanta: Two Nights at Sound Tree Studios (2007)
References
Reflist|1 Category:American rock music groups Category:Reality show winners Category:Participants in American reality television series Category:Musical groups disestablished in 2009
Copyright Citations
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