Flickerstick

Flickerstick was an American, Denton, Texas-based indie rock band.

Band history

Band formation and early years

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, adding Dallas-based drummer Dominic Weir, and started playing shows.^[1] The band borrowed $10,000 and made 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 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.^[2] After auditioning among over 2,000 bands, Flickerstick was chosen to be one of the four in the series. The winner was to be the band that made the most money at the door and from merchandise sales, with a "battle of the bands" before each elimination of the lowest-earning band, with the winner (chosen by audience vote) protected from elimination. Flickerstick won the first two "battle of the bands" to avoid elimination, and was lagging in sales by well over $3,000.00 in the final episode, when it was announced that Guitar Center was offering a purse of $5,000.00 for the winner of the final "battle." The votes for the winner were cast by audience members each worth one point, then a private group of music insiders each voted with a worth of 5 points each.^[2] It was announced that Flickerstick won that final "battle" and the grand prize for the series.^[2]

Post-show

After six months of shows across the country, the band was signed by Epic Records. In November 2001, Epic re-released the band's debut album which received moderate reviews in Rolling Stone (2 out of 5 stars) and Billboard, and anywhere from moderate 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 #52 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart and #150 on the Billboard Top 200.^[3] 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 band's career.^[4] 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, their Epic contract was cancelled out for an undisclosed amount that was owed to the record company. They then signed with 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.

Final years and breakup

On October 5, 2004, Flickerstick released their second album Tarantula on the Dallas-based indie label Idol Records. The band had toured 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 filled Cory's place in the band.

On April 3, 2007, the band released Live from Atlanta: Two Nights at Sound Tree Studios which was named as a result of a two-day, fan-invite recording weekend back in September 2006 at Tree Sound Studios in Atlanta. Fans joined the band at night in a live recording room at the studio, and celebrated being part of the band’s live, taping sessions. Flickerstick's album featured six new songs that had not been recorded before. The album also featured a special studio track called "Helicopter," along with three videos from the recording shows in September. The record was engineered by industry veteran Shawn Grove.

Rumors of breakup gained momentum after the band's website was taken offline for nonpayment 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 dedication and 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." ^[5]

After a hiatus of more than a year, the band resurfaced to perform a series of farewell shows:

• 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 (2002)
• To Madagascar and Back (2003)
• Tarantula (2004)
• Live from Atlanta: Two Nights at Tree Sound Studios (2007)

References