Front Bottoms cultivate new sound

The musicians behind The Front Bottoms are finally emerging from the dingy basements that fostered an indie punk sound punctuated with elements of folk-pop, and stepping into the national spotlight: from the bottom to front and center. Formed more than eight years ago in northern New Jersey, The Front Bottoms is composed of original members Brian Sella, performing vocals and lead guitar, and Matt Uychich on drums, who added Tom Warren on bass and Ciaran O’Donnel who plays keyboard, trumpet and guitar during live performances.

The spunky group has landed positions on seven different Billboard charts, including No. 3 on Top New Artists. NPR also heralded “Twin Size Mattress,” a single from the band’s 2013 album, The Talon of the Hawk, as one of the top 100 tracks of 2013.

Achieving this level of recognition has been a long and dedicated process for The Front Bottoms, who have been largely on the road for the past four years. Sella and the other members have lived wherever they could to save money, and leapt at every touring opportunity they could get. And the hard work is beginning to pay off.

“It’s incredible. We can see that there’s a process of reaction and now the fact that more people are getting to hear our music and experience the positive vibes is pretty cool,” Sella said.

Critics have called The Front Bottoms everything from folk punk to pop-punk to indie rock. They’ve been likened to Jonathan Richman and The Mountain Goats (admittedly one of Sella’s inspirations, and a comparison he likes hearing).

But under the genre category on the band’s Facebook page is simply the question, “What’s a genre?” Sella said it can be hard to pinpoint their style in exact terms.

“There’s too much music to be putting everything into a category,” Sella said.

Rock ‘n’ roll is a good term to describe the attitude of their music, he said, but in terms of sound, there are many different styles at work.

“I’d like to think of it as a little bit dance-y. It definitely has a pulse and you can jump up and down to the rhythm of the music,” Sella said. “I guess it’s maybe a little sloppy, punk rock. Dance-y but fun to listen to.”

Where Sella really departs from the rest of the rock ‘n’ roll crowd is his lyrical style. Clever and conversational, he leads listeners into anecdotes that can be tongue-in-cheek or stingingly sentimental, even sappily romantic.

Sella draws inspiration from just about anything: he makes up stories, listens to what he’s been told by others and borrows from situations his friends and family find themselves in. Though he warps disparate details into one new, cohesive song, the final stories always feel personal to him.

“It’s personal in the sense that I’m the one telling the story and I’m putting my own input into the story sort of selfishly,” Sella said.

He’s even picked up some details from homeless people he’s met while on the road and several have found their way into songs.

“We used to play a lot of basements in a lot of punk rock and folk rock scenes,” Sella said. “You meet a lot of interesting people and all of them are awesome and beautiful and a lot of the time I find stories from there.”

Incorporating humor into the balance alongside more emotional themes is an equally important part of Sella’s style.

“The bottom line is this isn’t the most serious thing in the world,” Sella said. “We should be able to laugh and have fun while we’re listening to this music.”

This approach is showcased in their song “Au Revoir (Adios)” in which Sella sings about saying au revoir to a girlfriend, whom he doesn’t think understands the meaning. She retorts with “Adios.”

“Little clever lines like that to make people smile are definitely just as much a part of the music and lyrics and songwriting as something that’s real intense and real emotion for me,” Sella said.

The Front Bottoms kicked off their 2014 Hot Chocolate tour in Michigan and will hit Southern California on Jan. 18 with a headlining performance at the Troubadour in West Hollywood.