Fort Pastor

Artist Information

Biography

AS FEATURED IN:
CAMPUS AUTHORITY MAGAZINE, TRUE TUNES MAGAZINE, BUDDY HOLLYWOOD AND MYCCM.ORG!

LABEL:
KOCH Records/Kosmos Records
Barry Landis

MANAGEMENT:
Mark Fontaine
Fontaine-Bleau Entertainment
management@fortpastor.com

BOOKING:
Kevin Lilly Jr.
LiveAlive Productions
klilly@livealiveprodutions.com
770.401.6410

***COLLEGE BOOKING***
Degy Entertainment
Ari Nisman
booking@fortpastor.com

SPONSORSHIPS:
BOSE, Shure, Slide Didge, G7th Capos


If the name Fort Pastor makes you envision an old time army chaplain band, immediately erase that mental portrait from your mind. Then shake up your Etch A Sketch and start over. Turn those vertical and horizontal knobs until something approximating an acoustic, jamming, socially active trio comes into view. But even then, you’ll still fall short of the complete picture. That’s because no mere children’s toy, let alone an above average imagination, can successfully replicate this unique musical act’s precise image. It just doesn’t fit any predetermined mold.

This Orlando, FL trio consists of Brant Christopher Menswar on lead vocals and guitar; Jeffrey Todd Keel on vocals and resonator guitar; and Jono Callow on didgeridoo, percussion, guitar, and too many other instruments to mention. Callow’s otherworldly didgeridoo gives almost every song they play a unique world music feel, but – as with any musical trio – each member is essential.

Fort Pastor’s new release, Beautiful Imperfection on Kosmos Records/KOCH, is expertly written and performed. It’s also highly issue-oriented, too. But Fort Pastor, unlike so many other mostly ‘all-talk, no-action’ pop stars, take their activism out of the studio and onto the streets. In fact, they have formed the Social Justice Army, which incorporates rubber-meets-the-road social work into every concert date they play. Nevertheless, this intentionally progressive approach doesn’t mean all three players share one united mindset all the time. “I’m a democrat, Jeff’s a republican and Jono’s an Australian,” only half-jokes Menswar. “So, at times it takes a lot of explanation and discussion before we can even come to an agreement on what’s going to be said in a song.”

Group members all agreed to a cover of Seal’s “Crazy”, however, and it is one of the new album’s standout cuts. The song has evolved from its original R&B groove, into Fort Pastor’s non-R&B – yet still soulful -- vibe. “We feel a lot of times that people look at us as being a little bit crazy,” Menswar admits, “being that we’re Christians, but we don’t play a lot of churches. We kind of go to the places where we feel people need to hear what we’re singing about and sometimes that’s bars, sometimes it’s prisons and wherever our message needs to be heard. So we’re kind of a non-traditional band of Christians.” Yet much like the Blues Brothers, these men are without a doubt on a beyond-church-walls mission from God. “We’d much prefer to sing to people that haven’t heard it, than preach to the choir.”

Listeners will quickly pick up on acoustic jam band influences running through Beautiful Imperfection, as it incorporates sounds akin to those popularized by The Dave Matthews Band. But perhaps Fort Pastor’s biggest current influence is not quite so well known. “While we were recording this album -- over the last, say, six months or so -- we’ve really been influenced by The John Butler Trio,” says Menswar. “Beyond him, I’d say Michael Franti/Spearhead. That was our current state of mind during this album.” In addition to these more modern musical examples, there’s also a strong imprint of singer/songwriters, like Billy Joel, Elton John, and James Taylor. (And don’t tell anybody this, but one member in particular grew up listening to ‘80s hair bands, so some of those strands also seep in).

If you still have your Etch A Sketch handy and you can draw a good zombie likeness, congratulations! You’ve just illustrated the inspired notion behind Fort Pastor’s moniker. “The name comes from a zombie movie; it comes from a movie called Dawn of the Dead,” Menswar explains. “In that movie, Fort Pastor is the military fort that is the safe haven that everyone in town is trying to get to, to keep away from the zombies. And for us, it was more of a political statement, dating back to the ‘60s when zombie movies kind of first were in their heyday. At that time, the film was much more of a political statement about society and our consumerism and our need to consume everything around us -- where we slavishly become zombies to it.”

In the big picture, you may want to view Fort Pastor in your mind’s eye as a social justice army of three, out to wake the dead.


http://www.fortpastor.com
http://www.myspace.com/fortpastor
http://www.socialjusticearmy.org
http://www.myspace.com/socialjusticearmy

Instrumentation

Brant Christopher - Lead Vox, Acoustic Gtr, Mandolin
Jeffrey Todd - Resonator Gtr, BGV's
Jono Callow - Didgeridoo, Percussion, Bass, BGV

Discography

"Alive Inside" - Independent Release - August 2006
"Beautiful Imperfection" - KOCH Records/Kosmos - October 2007

Audio

Video

Photo Gallery

Press

• Indie Band Gives New Meaning to [+ Show ]
  

  Orlando, FL (PRWEB) July 10, 2006 -- RusTan Toonz recording artists ‘Fort Pastor’ are taking their b...Orlando, FL (PRWEB) July 10, 2006 -- RusTan Toonz recording artists ‘Fort Pastor’ are taking their brand of acoustic soul music to the streets. With their debut release 'Alive Inside' set to hit stores July 25th and their new single 'Love Me' climbing the charts, Fort Pastor embarks on a different type of tour. Using their huge popularity and intense schedule, Fort Pastor has partnered with homeless shelters around the country to encourage local communities to exercise their “soul.”
  
  “Companies like Compassion International and World Vision feed children all over the world. But what about the people in our own backyards? Being able to feed people in our local communities is a way to show some love in a very real way and see the impact of sewing into the lives of those in need,” states renowned Indie-artist and front man Brant Christopher. “Bringing canned goods to our concerts not only provides food to those less fortunate, but helps prevent many from becoming homeless by keeping the costs of food bags down for the local shelters. It is our hope that we can be a loud voice for shelters around the country and bring the needs of these organizations to the forefront.”
  
  The band has enlisted the help of companies like the Bose Corporation and Shure Microphones to sponsor their upcoming tour. This allows Fort Pastor to incorporate visits to local shelters into each tour stop.
  
  "Getting a chance to put faces to the organizations we work with keeps us passionate about ensuring people are well informed," says band member Jeffrey Todd. "If we can use the platform we have been given for something beyond music, we are going take full advantage of that."
  
  About the Band:
  
  "A soul singer is someone who chooses to reveal rather than conceal," said U2's Bono. Fort Pastor makes that choice not just in their lyrics but in their music: a blend of their American and Australian roots; charismatic acoustic guitars are pounded as often as strummed, with the odd didgeridoo, darabuka, djembe and mandolin thrown in to create an earthy, soulful whole.
  
  For more information or to schedule an interview, contact the band's management at management@fortpastor.com.

• Acoustic Soul Rock! [+ Show ]
  

  "Alive Inside," the debut album by Fort Pastor, will be filed under folk rock, acoustic rock or mode..."Alive Inside," the debut album by Fort Pastor, will be filed under folk rock, acoustic rock or modern Americana, and that's fair enough, given what the band has in common with Toad the Wet Sprocket, Jars of Clay and, more recently, John Mayer or Jack Johnson.
  
  But a lot of soul bleeds from all the vigorously strummed acoustic guitars of Fort Pastor, as well as from the vocals and lyrics of frontman Brant Christopher Menswar -- so much so that acoustic soul rock may be a more apt appellation. "A soul singer is someone who chooses to reveal rather than conceal," said U2's Bono. Fort Pastor makes that choice not just in their lyrics but in their music: a blend of charismatic acoustic guitars that are pounded as often as strummed, with the odd didgeridoo and manadolin thrown in to create an earthy, soulful whole.
  
  
  Rick de Yampert
  Entertainment Writer
  Daytona Beach News-Journal

• Other Press [+ Show ]
  

  “We had Fort Pastor play our theater recently and it was UNREAL. Two guitars, didgeridoo and drums ...“We had Fort Pastor play our theater recently and it was UNREAL. Two guitars, didgeridoo and drums and it sounded huge. Very cool stuff. Check these guy if they come your way. It was a ball to listen to them.”
  --- Steve Skillings, BOSE Corporation, Live Music Technology Group
  
  “Fort Pastor is one of the best bands I’ve heard in long time. They’re refreshing, entertaining and Alive Inside. The new single is fantastic!”
  --- Olivia Paff, Music Director, WBVM FM90.5, WLMS FM88.3, Tampa FL
  
  “In culture that pops out disposable music like sweet chewing gum, it's great to hear music that goes well beyond the surface yet stays accessible. Fort Pastor has a mainstream market appeal, but carries a depth that leads me to believe they will be offering great music for a long time to come.”
  --- Dan Russell, Newsound International Management (BRMC, Sam Phillips)
  
  “Fort Pastor imbues their audiences with the best of independent music...”
  --- Mike Nunez, Floriday Today Newspaper
  

Setlist

Originals:

Fort Pastor performs songs out of their extensive catalog of originals.

Covers:

Variety of covers can be performed in the signature Fort Pastor style. The list grows daily.

Basic Requirements

Calendar