An exclusive interview with local success story The Front Bottoms
Two Pascack Hills students garnered national attention for their music
From small Pascack Hills High School talent shows to touring Europe, The Front Bottoms are an indie punk rock band that has enjoyed rising success in the past several years.
Originating in Woodcliff Lake, Brian Sella and Mat Uychich used their passion for music to start The Front Bottoms. The band’s beginnings were a lot like others in the area, performing for local teens at Pascack Hills talent shows and other school functions, as well as in the basements of friends. They started off recording their music in attics and warehouses, which lead to the production of their first two albums, “I Hate My Friends” and “My Grandma vs. Pneumonia”. Through hard work, they were able to make their way up the production ladder and were signed by Bar/None Records of Hoboken in 2011 and by Fueled By Ramen, which houses well known artists such as Panic! At the Disco, Twenty One Pilots, and Fall Out Boy, last year.
They have released three more albums since those two aforementioned ones, including two with Bar/None. A self titled album was released in 2011 and Talon of The Hawk dropped in 2013.
Their newest album with Fueled By Ramen, Back on Top, was released in September of 2015 and is arguably their most popular project, peaking at No. 32 on the top US Billboard 200 and landing them the opportunity to perform at music festivals such as Boston Calling, Bunbury, and Coachella.
The band also made its network television debut on “Late Night with Seth Meyers” on Jan. 20 and played a song picked by the fans called “West Virginia” (see their performance in the first video clip at the bottom of this article).
The Smoke Signal was afforded an exclusive phone interview with Sella on March 9. Click on each question he was asked and hear his answer to it.
If there’s one thing anyone could learn from our time with Sella, it’s that you’ve “got to just do it.” Their story shows that even those who come from the same Pascack-roots that we do can made it big. These teens with a strong work ethic and a love for what they are doing can accomplish anything.
Check out more from The Front Bottoms:
