Music
Press
“Worshiping at the alter of groove”,Frit is a four piece band full of energy featuring a wide range of innovative styles of music in every one of their songs. Seeing this band live is definitely a great experience because Frit takes their music to the next level. Innovative and original, these guys know how to dish out explosive jams and serious danceable grooves to their audience. “Our music is definitely a direct reflection of all 4 of our personalities.” Says Frit's incredibly talented guitarist, Rob Compa. “A live Frit show often just ends up being like any verbal conversation we would have with one another while just hanging out, except via music. That spirit, along with a solid, danceable groove, is what we strive for every time we play together.” Each member of Frit has a tremendous passion for music that can be easily seen and herd when they play. Encompassing genres of jam band, jazz, funk and fusion, Frit has shown a lot of potential as a great band for giving the music scene a new unique style of music. Continuing with their career, Frit has a lot of great things going for them in this coming year. Rob states “Right now, we've got a bunch of new tunes that we're eager as hell to bust out live, and we're in the works of planning a week long summer tour to take place in the end of June through early july.”
Why You Should Know Them:
They are one of the most energetic and fun spirited local jam bands in boston that I have ever seen. Frit is known for their groovy bass lines, face melting rifts, sick drums and psychedelic keys. Each musician in this band is extremely talented with so much potential. “Our goal is to simultaneously preserve the roots of why music is played and to push the boundaries of where music can take the listener as well as us, the musicians.” A Frit fan Kristen Negrotti comments about their music being “Fun and very unique.... It's unlike anything I have ever herd before!”. They are a really fun group of guys and amazingly talented musicians. A band definitely worth checking out!!.. Experience their music and learn more about Frit at http://www.myspace.com/fritband - KDMusicBoston.moogo.com
Give a listen to funky stylings of Boston fusion band FRIT, and you'll be instantly impressed with the way the guitar and keys are balanced in their sound. How does one begin to assemble the toys for creating a guitar tone that can get along so nicely with keys without taking over the mix? BoyBand 625 asked FRIT guitarist Rob Compa and keyboardist Noah to be our guides.
Rob's Guitar Setup:
It's not anything incredibly special, so there's no sense in keeping it secret....
Firstly, my main (and only) guitar is a Paul Reed Smith Hollowbody II, which is simply fantastic. It's my baby. The pickups are pretty low output & really clear-sounding, which is nice because then I get to crank my amp a little more, thusly letting the tubes do what they do best: distort.
I use pedals as well, starting with an unmodded TS-9. It's unmodded on purpose, because I want the fat, mushy, compressed OD to contrast my other OD, which is an Analogman King of Tone. That pedal is really, really nice, and sounds nothing like the TS-9. It basically sounds like a Fender turned all the way up, with no compression or anything. Just really clear with not a lot of gain. I also use an Electro-Harmonix POG, a T-REX Replica delay, and an Electro-Harmonix Small Stone Phaser. Sometimes I use a Line 6 DL-4 delay, too, if I want to make wierd noises.
My amp is probably the most crucial part. It's a 1978 Silverface Fender Vibrolux. It's had the shit modded out of it though. All the circuitry has been redone and gutted to be the same as a blackface. And It's got two 10-inch Kendrick speakers instead of the stock ones. I didn't do any of the mods. I bought it already modded. It's a great amp, and I especially like that it breaks up beautifully at reasonably low volumes. Occasionally, I will even do gigs with no pedals and just plug directly into the amp and crank it to get my gain.
There ya go!"
Noah's Keyboard Steup:
"My main keyboard is a Nord Electro 2. I use this mainly for organ but I also use it for Rhodes, Wurlitzer, and a clean clavinet. It really is the best at what it does - not only because the patches sound incredibly real, but because of the manipulability of the all the sounds. Everything on the Nord had adjustable parameters that really let you tweak it to find your own sound. Due to the fact that the Nord has many pedal-like effects built-in, I just plug it straight into my Roland 500 key amp. The amp is a standard solid-state keyboard amp with a large speaker that has a great flat respone for keyboards.
I also have Yamaha Motiv 8 that I plug straight into the amp and use mainly for piano. My last alternate keyboard is a Yamaha DX-7. The DX-7 is a classic 80's synth that uses a very hard-to-program form of synthesis called Frequency Moduladion (FM). The DX-7 has been used by many, many famous keyboardists including but not limited to Stevie Wonder, Brian Eno, Chick Corea, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Donald Fagen and Herbie Hancock. I originally bought this synth to use as a talkbox synth but once I got it I realized it had much more potential. After really exploring around I found a sound that I use all the time. I use the DX-7's pre-programmed 'clav ensemble' patch to start. I run that through a standard Cry Baby Wah and a Pro Co RAT distortion pedal. It happened to be an amazing dirty clavinet sound that I could pitch bend and vibrato which can be quite difficult on a regular clavinet. This guy also goes straight into my Roland 500."
You can check out FRIT on MySpace at www.myspace.com/fritband. - Boyband625.com
Discography
-"Just The Tip" 7 song EP - released November 2008
-www.myspace.com/fritband
-http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=1E82CB1E85500141
Photos
Bio
In our most desperate hour, the gods of rock, the masters of jazz, and the lords of funk planted four seeds of musical hope. Nurtured in their own individual and fertile soil, these seeds grew into four outstanding musicians each bearing a distinctive musical fruit. Raised not only in diverse geological locations, these four were also raised with vastly different musical upbringings. Although their paths in life seemed to be leading them to different directions with their music, they would ultimately converge at Berklee in Boston. After the four had played together for the first time, they realized that with their powers combined, they would soon become an unstoppable whirlwind of a band, and thusley, Frit was born.
Frit is the reincarnation of what music was originally intended to be. Music is supposed to be a higher level of communication and a force of harmony, no pun intended, that unites instrument with musician and musician with audience. It should be a living breathing entity that inspires, up lifts, and entertains everyone involved. Far too much of todays music, in the corporate pursuit of profit, has lost sight of how much music is capable of. Having said that, some of todays music can still be fun and entertaining, but it loses the higher purpose that music can be. In Frits early days, the foursome felt that compelling and formidable connection not only in their playing, but also with each other. Their firm friendships reflected in their music, as Frit grew stronger. Without specific songs to play, Frit worked vigorously on their musicianship and improvisational communication until they were ready to work as a unit. When that time came, Noah Schy stepped up to the plate as the main songwriter for the band. Even though Noah would bring complex and highly detailed blueprints of songs, it would ultimately take everyones creativity to solidify and refine the songs to what they are now.
The four began building up their original repertoire over the next few months drawing from the many styles that influenced them. Without a specific front man or rigid ideas for what the bands musical direction should be, all doors were open and everything was free to try. In this truly collective creative atmosphere, the four all bounced ideas around until they found what really felt was right not only for the songs, but also for the band. However, to really get to know the make up of Frit and their creative process, one must get to know more about the individual members.
The eldest and wisest of the foursome is the legendary Rob Compa. Rob was born and raised in the dull, boring suburbs of Rochester, NY. His interest in music was sparked in his early teens when his father (who is also a guitarist) began introducing him to the legendary music of classic artists such as the Beatles, Bob Dylan, & The Band. At the age of 13 he was given a cheap but sturdy white Hohner electric guitar for Christmas, and began taking lessons at his towns local music store. It did not take him long to realize that all he cared about was music, & he soon deemed all other activities such as homework, sports & a social life as being unimportant. During his senior year of high school, Rob was exposed to music of Phish, who are his biggest influence to this day. After high school, Rob spent a year in Community College, and eventually moved to Boston to attend Berklee College of Music. After four semesters at the prestigious school, he decided that he (and his wallet) would be better suited to pursue his career on his own. He met Noah Schy in the deep dark dungeons of the late night jam sessions at Berklee. Noah and Robs improvisational methods seemed to meld flawlessly and the two would eventually talk about starting a band.
Noah Schy hails from the small town of Montpelier Vermont. In his early years, his parents not only showered him with love and support, but also with music. On his sixth birthday, Noah was gifted with piano lessons with the friendly neighborhood piano teacher. These lessons continued until he reached the age of 12 and lost his taste for classical music. Not truly knowing what his style, or even what his instrument was, Noah decided to try everything. He tried out and learned the basics of tuba, clarinet, bagpipe, dulcimer, and tyko drums and those were just the instruments that didnt stick. Soon after his leave of classical piano, he became an established steel drummer through the 6th to 10th grade. Although he loved the steel drums, he knew it wasnt his calling. Throughout middle and high school, he was also playing alto sax in school jazz bands and getting himself down to Charles Mingus, Charlie Parker and Herbie Hancock. At the end of middle school, Noah finally started to listen to the one and only, Jimi Hendrix. There is no honest person who can say after listening to Jimi Hendrix, that they didnt want to learn how to play guitar, and thats exactly what he did. While the fret board opened up
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