The Front Bottoms
The Front Bottoms are an American folk punk band from Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey. The Front Bottoms are lead vocalist and guitarist Brian Sella and drummer Mat Uychich.
History
Formation and early releases (2007–2010)
The group formed in 2006. In August 2007, after Brian Sella finished his first year of college, he and childhood friend Mathew Uychich began playing together under the name The Front Bottoms. Soon after, Uychich's brother Brian Uychich began sitting in on their practices. Brian asked to join the band, playing an old keyboard he found in the Uychich family attic. This completed the original lineup, with which the first two albums and EP were recorded.The Front Bottoms spent the next few years playing locally around New Jersey and eventually doing extensive tours around the country. In between tours, Sella worked at a grocery store and Uychich worked in landscaping. During this time, they put out a self-released album titled I Hate My Friends in 2008, an EP titled Brothers Can't Be Friends the same year, and the second album in 2009 called My Grandma vs Pneumonia. Additionally, a 5-song cassette was handmade by the band in 2009 called Calm Down and Breathe which featured three songs that would later be on their self-titled album as well as two other tracks. Only 30 of these tapes were made. The Front Bottoms were part of the New Brunswick based artist collective Tiny Giant.
Self-titled album and success (2010–present)
Around 2010, the band started writing material for what would become their self-titled album. They released an EP called Slow Dance To Soft Rock which contained six tracks later remastered for the LP. A second EP, Grip N' Tie, was planned to be released later that year but was canceled. The songs that were on it were instead combined with the previous EP to produce an entire album. In late 2010, the band filmed a music video for "Maps", after being contacted through Myspace by an anonymous filmmaker, which gave them great exposure. On June 2, 2011, the band had announced that they signed with Bar/None Records and would release their self-titled debut studio album on September 6, 2011.As of fall 2010, Brian Uychich left the band to concentrate on school full-time. The Front Bottoms replaced Uychich with a new touring member, Drew Villafuerte, who played bass in addition to keyboards. In 2012, Villafuerte stopped touring with the band as well, citing the extensive touring as too difficult. He was replaced by Tom Warren and Ciaran O'Donnell.
In March 2013, The Front Bottoms released a video for "Twin Size Mattress" on YouTube in the promotion of their next record. The Front Bottoms' second studio album, Talon of the Hawk, was released on May 21, 2013.
on March 19, 2016
On June 17, 2014, the band released an EP entitled Rose, a 6-track record that contains 6 songs previously heard on their early independent releases which were re-recorded. As Sella claimed, “These are the songs that people ask for when we’re on tour. They’re songs that we've either played live at shows or we've had kicking around that we couldn't let go of. These songs were also Mat’s grandmother Rosemary’s favorite songs, so it was kinda fittin that we named this EP Rose.” The music video for "Twelve Feet Deep" shows the band, along with members of the audiences shown, wearing masks depicting the drawing of Rosemary's face that is featured as the album cover. In an interview, Sella stated that "the idea is to do sort of a 'Grandma series', record a bunch of old songs and release them," going on to say that the next in the series will likely be entitled Ann.
On April 18, 2015, Run For Cover and Bar/None Records released two songs by the band, and two songs by rapper GDP on a split EP entitled Liberty and Prosperity. It features the songs "Wolfman" and "Handcuffs". In June 2015, it was announced they had signed to the label Fueled By Ramen The Front Bottoms released their third studio album Back on Top on September 18, 2015 via Fueled By Ramen.
On March 7, 2016, The Front Bottoms released a new song titled "Noodle Monster" on the Fueled By Ramen YouTube Channel. The band performed at Coachella, Austin City Limits, Panorama & Shaky Knees in 2016. On June 26, 2016, Pitchfork released a music video for the song "Ginger" from the album Back on Top. The video was directed by Marlon Brandope and shot in Cranston, Rhode Island. In November 2016, The Front Bottoms went on their UK/EU tour with support from "Apologies, I Have None" and "Gnarwolves". The band toured with Blink 182 & Frank Turner across the UK during the Summer of 2017.
The Front Bottoms announced their fourth studio album, Going Grey, on August 24, 2017, for release on October 13. The news was accompanied by the release of a new single, "Raining".
In an interview in February 2018, Sella confirmed the upcoming release of the Ann EP, the second in the 'Grandma series'. The EP was released on May 18, 2018, via Fueled By Ramen, and a music video for its final song, "Tie Dye Dragon", was released on March 16.
On December 20, 2019, The Front Bottoms released a new song titled "Camouflage".
On April 17, 2020, The Front Bottoms released a new song and video titled "Everyone Blooms".
On July 3, 2020, The Front Bottoms announced their new album In Sickness & in Flames and released a new song and video titled "Montgomery Forever". The new album will be released on August 21, 2020.
Band members
Current members- Brian Sella – vocals, guitar
- Mathew Uychich – drums
- Brian Uychich – keys, backing vocals
- Ciaran O'Donnell – guitar, trumpet, keys
- Tom Warren – bass guitar, vocals, guitar, vocals
- Erik Kase Romero – bass
- Drew Villafuerte – bass, keys
- Jenn Fantaccione – violin, trumpet, cello, backing vocals
- Roshane Karunaratne – keys, melodica, keytar
Discography
Discography
- I Hate My Friends
- My Grandma vs. Pneumonia
- The Front Bottoms
- Talon of the Hawk
- Back on Top
- Going Grey
- In Sickness And In Flames
EPs
- Brothers Can't Be Friends
- Slow Dance to Soft Rock
- Rose
- Liberty and Prosperity
- Needy When I'm Needy
- Ann
- Devinyl Splits No. 12
- Ukulele Versions
Music videos
- Maps
- Swimming Pool
- Flashlight
- Christmas Wrapping
- Mountain
- Twin Size Mattress
- Skeleton
- Funny You Should Ask
- Backflip
- 12 Feet Deep
- West Virginia
- Cough It Out
- HELP
- Laugh Till I Cry
- Summer Shandy
- Ginger
- 2YL
- Raining
- Vacation Town
- Peace Sign
- Everyone But You
- Lonely Eyes
- Tie Dye Dragon
- Camouflage
- everyone blooms.
- Montgomery Forever