This content originally appeared on Brad Frost and was authored by Brad Frost
Exactly one year ago I was playing music with an amorphous super group consisting of all of my musical friends and family. The event was called Frostapalooza and was one of the best experiences of my life.
It took a year, but the concert videos are finally live! You can watch the full concert here, and here’s a breakdown of all of the songs:
1. Honesty Unsettlement by Frost Frost
The first song of the night was an original song I began many years ago. The idea was to trick everyone into thinking it would be a kinda chill intimate show, but then we build up and it explodes with my incredible wife Melissa belting it out, Josh Sager and Will on guitar, and Aaron and Daniel providing the texture!
2. Feel It Still by Portugal The Man
Man, what a freaking _groove_. It’s an incredible pop song, and the addition of the ELBY BRASS horn section was key.
3. This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) by Talking Heads
My friend & coworker Jessi s an utterly incredible vocalist. She sounds so good harmonizing with all our other amazing vocalists. I bought a Prophet 5 synth pack to recreate the synth sound Melissa plays.
4. Sledgehammer by Peter Gabriel
When people ask about Frostapalooza, I show them this video. It perfectly sums up the night: 18 people (!!) on stage blasting out incredible energy, especially with Seth Casana up front. We knew this song would make the crowd realize this wasn’t just a regular concert.
5. Folsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash
This is an incredibly important song in our family; gramps, my uncles, cousins, and all of our relatives would play it at family gatherings. The addition of Chris Coyier on banjo took it to another level
6. The Weight by The Band
The Last Waltz was a huge inspiration for this show, and this is another important song for my family. I love how full it sounds with Chris on banjo, Jeremy on mandolin, three guitars, piano, and extra vocal firepower.
7. Take Your Mama by Scissor Sisters
This is such an incredible groove. My French neighbor is an incredible pianist (which I didn’t know until putting this show together), and the bass player was in MuteMath and TwentyOne Pilots! And I got to bring my mom on stage!
8. I Can’t Go For That by Hall and Oates
Jessi did an amazing job hitting the high notes, and this was also the song we got to unleash our saxophone secret weapon, Aaron Spring. Aaron was our sax player in our college band and was integral to the night.
9. The Ocean by Led Zeppelin
Ian Frost and I learned how to play music together by repeatedly playing along with Led Zeppelin albums. This was so much fun; Rebecca Garza-Bortman absolutely killed on vocals, and the horn section elevated the whole thing!
10. Money by Pink Floyd
I allowed myself a gratuitous bass solo here, but this was the first song I learned on the first bass I ever got. So it felt fitting. My friend and college roommate/bandmate Will Schneider absolutely ANNIHILATES the guitar solo here.
11. Out West by Bethan > Maps by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
We played a beautiful song by Jessi and Daniel Hall’s band, and transitioned it into Maps. Which of course has an absolutely incredible drum part. And Jessi absolutely nailed the Karen O vocals.
12. The National Anthem by Radiohead
I got to double up with Jessica Spengler on bass because the bassline is so incredibly epic. Daniel Hall is playing the musical saw! Elby Brass brought the chaotic horns, sousaphone and all!
13. Wake Up by Arcade Fire
This song is just so huge and epic and fun to get everyone to sing along to. We threw all the instrumentation at it, including Jeremy on mandolin and Ben Callahan on keys.
14. The Chain by Fleetwood Mac
This song absolutely KILLED. Ben Callahan, Jessie Rupert, Berry Breene, Terra Ferderber, & ALL the vocalists sounded so rich and huge together. They literally never met before this night! And of course, that bass breakdown is one of the most epic pieces of music ever recorded.
15. Super Octavius by Dangus Kahn and the Tornadoes
This is an original song of our college band. Will Schneider’s riff is so cool and brooding, and we get to witness his guitar god skillz on full display.
— SET BREAK —
16. Party Hard by Andrew W.K.
Adam Argyle and my coworker Kevin Coyle killed it on guitar, and Seth and Elby Brass brought the big horn energy to the party!
17. Fly As Me by Silk Sonic
We brought the funk. My college friend Seth is a total force of nature, and I knew the show would be a success because he was in it. I’m so thankful he lent is brass band, Elby Brass, to us!
18. My Body Glows by Elby Brass
An Elby Brass original! High-octane funk, delivered in full force.
19. Let’s Dance by David Bowie > Need You Tonight by INXS
Bryan Garza in full Bowie getup really sums up our second set. He’s a dead ringer. Need You Tonight is also such a JAM, and my cousin Taylor killed it on guitar.
20. Came Out Of A Lady by Rubblebucket
My wife crushes it on vocals here. Months later, we saw Rubblebucket play at the same venue we performed at! We showed this video to them. And Dave Rupert kicked ass on bass!
21. Love You Madly by CAKE
CAKE is one of me and Ian’s all-time favorite bands. We used to cover this song in college, but it was so great to do it with way fuller instrumentation.
22. Just A Girl by No Doubt
Rebecca perfectly nails the Gwen Stefani vibe (turns out Tragic Kingdom was her first CD!). Over the course of planning the show, Jeff Robbins mentioned he could get a Talk Box for his guitar, and he delivered! It was amazing.
23. Out Of Body by Love, Jerks
A Rebecca and Bryan original song, it was so much fun to recreate their song as a rollerskating disco-funk track. And once again, Aaron steps in with an epic sax solo.
24. Gimme Gimme Gimme > Hung Up > Can’t Get You Out of My Head > Around The World
ABBA, Madonna, Kylie Minogue, and Daft Punk. Because WHY NOT?! Jessie Rupert just SHREDS on vocals! And playing Daft Punk live was so epic.
25. Burning Down The House > Crosseyed And Painless by Talking Heads
Just holy shit levels of energy. Mark Willis killing it on the marching band quad drums & backup dancers FTW. And I got to play my Moog Rogue, which is the exact same synth Tina Weymouth played on Stop Making Sense.
26. Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen
There was only one song that could end such an ambitious, over-the-top, and weird-but-also-epic-and-good concert. Everyone knew exactly what to do. It was an incredible punctuation mark on one of the best nights of my life.
WHEW. What an absolutely incredible night. A whole year later and I’m still floating about the whole experience. You can read a full recap of the night here.
It’s been a hell of a journey to get the show properly documented and edited. I paid for a professional multi-track recording of the show, but it failed for some reason (which I’m still very heartbroken about). But I was able to get a professional audio engineer to clean up what recordings we did have, and between that and all of the great video footage I was able to edit together something that does a good job at capturing the night.
The whole spirit of the show was to celebrate life, friendship, family, music, creativity, expression, and fun. We’ve all been through so much and I desperately wanted to remind people (including myself!) of the other — undeniably better! — side of the human experience. And I knew that the show would serve as an important reminder during future challenging times, which the past year has certainly delivered on.
We ended up raising $4000 for the Project Healthy Minds and Claire Senita‘s spinal cord rehabilitation center. And above all, I’m proud of all of the work and love and effort everyone put into this show. It’s difficult to articulate just how thankful I am for everyone. Thank you.
This content originally appeared on Brad Frost and was authored by Brad Frost