Future Rock

Artist Information

Biography

Future Rock is electronic sensory overload. The trio has steadily been touring the US,electrifying a dedicated following during their journey. Their legendary late nite performances at festivals and after-parties have quickly confirmed their status at the top of the live electronic scene. FR's explosive lights and full-on live show ignite ANY party, only to be rivaled by their alter-ego set, performing Daft Rock.

Future Rock has toured/played with Prefuse 73, The Juan Maclean, The New Deal, Eliot Lipp, Benevento/Russo Duo, Telefon Tel Aviv, The Glitch Mob and more.
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Organic instruments + electronic synthesis + clever song writing. Three musicians exist in a web of sound constructed electronically with the use of live samples. The audience dances at the show and hums the melody at home. Future Rock.

Mickey Kellerman and Felix Moreno utilize a myriad of synthesizers, electronics, and instruments to compose and arrange their instrumental music. The audience can rarely identify the origin of each sound. "I love that look of confusion... when the audience sees me play my bass and they have no idea what's coming out," says Moreno. Drummer Darren Heitz finishes FR's sound by blending acoustic and electronic drum timbres with live sampling/looping run through his synthesizers.

Kellerman explains, "We manage to pull off our live show while keeping pre-recorded samples to a minimum. Ninety-nine percent of our live show is live." This concept is at the core of Future Rock: technology has progressed so that real-time sampling and electronic synthesis can now occur on-stage. "Its really important to not get to geeky with our music. People want to hear songs with melodies or grooves they can dance to. Its a question of utilizing the new technology with the old song structure so that kids can rock out the same way, but to new sounds," Heitz adds.

BONUS: Future Rock occasionally performs under the moniker DAFT ROCK, where they re-create the music of house masters Daft Punk and sometimes as APHEX ROCK, where the trio interprets the seemingly uninterpretable music of electronic pioneer Aphex Twin.

Instrumentation

Darren Heitz - Drums
Felix Moreno - Bass
Mickey Kellerman - Keyboards

Discography

GEARS (Harmonized Records: October 2, 2007)
Sugar Coated Bullets (Self-Released: May 9, 2006)

Links

• http://www.myspace.com/futurerock
• http://fr.libsyn.com
• http://band.to/futurerock

Audio

• Kill, Late
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• Rock Kit
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• FM2
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• Broken Glass
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• Airplane Traintracks
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Video

Rocket - Live At Nectar's

Photo Gallery

Press

• Future Rock | It's Just more Bangin' [+ Show ]
  

  Future Rock prides itself on being a fresh voice in the electronic music world, but it was a recent ...Future Rock prides itself on being a fresh voice in the electronic music world, but it was a recent jaunt as a cover band that brought in their largest audience to date. In late August in front of thousands of fans at Camp Bisco, an electronic music festival in New York, the Chicago trio transformed into “Daft Rock” for a special late-night tribute to one of their idols: Daft Punk. While their show didn’t offer the dazzling pyramid or the robot suits made famous by the real Daft Punk, it did generate quite a buzz.
  
  As electronic music enthusiasts, the band is quite familiar with the spectacle that is live Daft Punk. A few weeks before Camp Bisco, the trio got some inspiration by taking in Daft Punk’s show at Lollapalooza. And before that, Future Rock bassist Felix Moreno says he rocked their legendary Coachella performance for a few months straight on his iPod. "What I love about Daft Punk is that it’s electronic, but it’s also arena rock," said Moreno in a recent interview with Chicago Innerview in the basement of the Abbey Pub. "It’s house music but it transcends into that rock ‘n' roll hardness. It’s right up our alley. That’s what we’re trying to do."
  
  At this point in Future Rock’s career, they might be more bar rock than arena rock, but the local group is definitely putting its own spin on electronic music. They have that digitized, robotic sound, but they look more like a traditional rock band, with Moreno on bass, Mickey Kellerman on keyboards and Darren Heitz on drums. "We’re really trying to infuse the rock aspect — turn the amp up to fuckin’ 11, have Darren bang the shit out of his crash, head bang, fist pump. I want to see sweat streaming off of the audience because they are dancing so hard," Moreno said.
  
  Another thing that sets this instrumental trio apart is their insistence on creating the music organically. You won’t find any laptops at a Future Rock show. Audiences sometimes mistake drum beats for pre-recorded samples, but Moreno says just about every sound is being created on the spot. Between Heitz’s percussion, Kellerman’s combination of synthesizers and a vintage keyboard and Moreno’s bass guitar and synthesizer, there is quite a bit of sonic layering going on at Future Rock’s dance-driven concerts.
  
  "Darren will sample himself live and use a synthesizer to affect the loops he makes and then he’ll play on top of it with either electronic or acoustic drums," Moreno explained. "And that’s the case with all of our music. What we’re doing is a little different. We’re playing this stuff live with instruments. It has a different feel. I don’t know how many people are interpreting electronic music in a live setting the way that we are. We are actually physically playing every part."
  
  Fresh off a summer of festival gigs, Future Rock is now concentrating on supporting the October release of their second studio album, GEARS, on Harmonized Records. The new offering follows last year’s self-released debut, Sugar Coated Bullets.
  
  While much of the first album was written on whiskey and coffee in the studio, GEARS was fueled by Red Bull and vodka and involved reworking a lot of material they had previously played in concert. The band feels the new 11-track release is a better representation of the live Future Rock experience. "We really managed to keep a lot of the attitude that we have live," Moreno said. "Not to take anything away from Sugar Coated Bullets — we’re really proud of that album too. But this has more of a ruckus attitude and a feeling that is much more pure rock ‘n' roll. It’s just more bangin’, period."
  
  Future Rock :: with EOTO and Orchard Lounge :: Abbey Pub :: Oct. 6
  
  http://www.chicagoinnerview.com/archives/oct07_futurerock.htm

• Future Rock announces New Years Eve [+ Show ]
  

  Blippy local dance-rock band Future Rock just released its latest CD, "Gears." It's all instrumental...Blippy local dance-rock band Future Rock just released its latest CD, "Gears." It's all instrumental, and way retro, like an Atari game come to life (or Love Tractor doing Daft Punk). It'll be perfect for their just-announced New Year's Eve gig at the Kinetic Playground in Uptown. Learn more at www.futurerock.net

• Future Rock | GEARS | Local Release Roundup [+ Show ]
  

  As adventurous indie rockers venture in greater numbers into the world of programmed electronics, I’...As adventurous indie rockers venture in greater numbers into the world of programmed electronics, I’m sure we’ll see more bands like Future Rock. These three dudes make dance music that leans heavily on hip-hop breakbeats and a version of house that sounds like they picked it up from somebody who was influenced by somebody who was influenced by house—its icy brittleness has been worn away by all the hands it’s passed through, and the fuzzy production and warm analog synths make it sound almost intimate. It’s easy to remember that actual fingers pressed the buttons to make this stuff, and most of the rhythms could be duplicated without much trouble by human musicians. (They use mostly live instrumentation onstage, in fact.) In keeping with its indie feel, Gears relies on nuance and sonic detail, not bombastic anthems; I love how the pops and burbles on “God Nose” fade into Aphex Twin drum skitters, and “Die Junge Ein” sounds like acid house taking a Sunday afternoon off from frying brains to play video games and chill. Nothing on Gears would sound right at a big-time club, but its low-key funk could easily power a living-room dance party.
  
  http://www.chicagoreader.com/features/stories/sharpdarts/071101/

• Future Rock: Gears [+ Show ]
  

  Under a title as aggrandizing as "Future Rock," a band could go one of two ways: 1) spaced-out, tact...Under a title as aggrandizing as "Future Rock," a band could go one of two ways: 1) spaced-out, tactless wanking their way into a musical beyond only as deep as their limited vision or 2) humble and humorous in the manner of great retro-futurists who take such a title for its campy '50s sci-fi gloss. Fortunately, this Future Rock is of the latter camp. Amidst a genre of livetronica acts that wander in and out of ideas, this trio exhibits concise compositions with ample changes. Taking full advantage of the studio setting, Gears (Harmonized) comes off as a collection of party tracks in the manner of Daft Punk and Ratatat.
  
  JamBase | Cosmos
  Go See Live Music!
  
  http://www.jambase.com/Articles/Story.aspx?StoryID=11984

Setlist

Future Rock plays originals from their two albums, GEARS and Sugar Coated Bullets, and more.

Future Rock occasionally performs under the moniker, DAFT ROCK, and recreates the music of electronica/dance masters, Daft Punk, in a live band setting, seamlessly mixing and mashing different songs together.

Future Rock also occasionally peforms under the moniker, APHEX ROCK, where the trio interprets the music of seemingly uninterpretable electronic legend Aphex Twin.

Basic Requirements

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