On the House - The Next Hot Group from Bloomington, IN
So you want to start a band. Heh - that’s a cliche today, with over 2 million bands registered on MySpace, all hoping they will be discovered and make it big. Start with some talent, add the ability to ignore just how few really make it in the music business, and then find some clever ways to get people to stop and listen, and you just might have a chance.
The latest act we have found that qualifies to be one of those bands that you will look back and say - I listened to them before they became big is: On the House. The group was started by seven fraternity brothers from the Bloomington campus of Indiana University. With rock, ska, and other 90s influences, On the House blends a great sound with influence from The Fray, O.A.R, Oasis, and Third Eye Blind. If songs such as Sister Hazel’s All For You, Counting Crow’s Mr. Jones, and The Fray’s You Found Me are rated high on your iPod, then this band is next on your playlist.
Bloomington - located 60 minutes south of Indianapolis, Indiana is no stranger to local acts making it big. You will recall that John Mellencamp started in his act from his home in Bloomington in the early 70’s. His hit song - Small Town was written about Bloomington.
So how does On the House get anyone to listen? First give away your first album for free, then start doing some clever promotion. They were brain storming what to call themselves, and given their home in a frat house, they started with the name “Free Beer”. Everybody likes free beer, and certainly people would stop into a bar to listen to a band if the sign out front said Free Beer. Then they thought maybe Beers On The House would be better. They finally landed on the name “On the House”.
The Band
Brice Fox (Lead vocals, Piano) - wrote over 70 songs with Pneumonia, he’s a self-taught piano player who writes all of their original music by ear.
Bryan Flinn (Vocals, Rhythm Guitar) - An ex-choir boy, Bryan used to write jingles for commercials. He’s played the guitar for 4 and a half years.
Conor O’Toole (Lead Guitar) - began his musical career by playing the violin. Conor’s main influence is Stevie Ray Vaughan.
Ben Shulman (Bass) - has played the bass for years with a background in music theory and gets his inspiration from The Beatles.
Nick Tanner (Drums) - gets extremely sweaty when he rocks out and holds the world’s record for sweating through four shirts during a show.
John Tiedmann (Violin) - is the proud owner of four Ostriches and two Llamas. John is currently employed at the local car wash, just to make sure someone in the band has a legitate income.
More…
- The Robbery (video)
- On the House on Facebook
- On the House on MySpace
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