the freeways

The Freeways was formed by songwriting team Frank E. Butkus and Karen Zanes in May 2005 in Boston, Massachusetts USA. Their current setlist of garage rock / power pop is an amalgam of strong melodies and sweet harmonies laid over dirty, jangling guitar riffs. Their debut release, Merging features original drummer Nathan Wood. Karen Zanes is a graduate of Emerson College. As a child she played both the clarinet and the guitar but abandoned music to focus on a career in the visual arts. After knowing Frank for a number of years he suggested they start a band together. It was then that her latent ability for singing and songwriting became apparent and her true passion for performing was discovered. For Karen, melodies and lyrics often spring to life from a state of semi-consciousness. She formerly sang backing vocals and played percussion in the ill-fated psychedelic outfit the Bullitts. For Frankie Butkus (Desolation Bells), songs arrive in dreams, and he sends them back to the universe through the Freeways. Live shows are an avenue to follow songs to new places. Maine native Ben Gruba (Paparazzi) quit school to move to Boston and do music. He is ever-in-pursuit of the "Individual Sound". He met up with Karen and Frank after answering the proverbial "drummer wanted" ad on Craigslist. While assisting at Hi-N-Dry Recording Studio he met the band A.K.A.C.O.D and became their road manager. He is currently building his own digital workspace monster out of spare computers to work on more of his moody-Morphinesque solo recordings. Mike Swidrak's (Sweet Track) profound love of the stringed instrument dates back to the second grade. He took cello lessons in an attempt to spark healthy sibling competition with his sister, who played the violin. He subsequently received a guitar for chanukah/christmas in middle school and bought an electric bass in high school. Combined with his training in lcd projection in college, Mike was ready for a slot as "the bass player" in a local band. His audio-visual skills would land him in the same office as Frank, and the rest was inevitable.