Dexter Freebish

Since forming in the late 90's, Dexter Freebish, the Austin-based quartet, has had many up’s and down’s, which seems appropriate being that the band is named after a roller coaster they grew up riding as kids. Several years of hard work and touring lead to “Leaving Town,” Dexter Freebish’s 1999 John Lennon Songwriting Contest Song of the Year (picked from 27,000 entries), which lead to a deal with Capitol Records for the band’s 2000 full-length debut A Life of Saturdays. However, after exuberantly received radio play (for “Leaving Town” and “My Madonna”), heavy video play on VH1 and MTV2, and enthusiastic tours both domestic and abroad something happened that might rattle anybody’s faith. Dexter Freebish and Capitol, experiencing a regime change that would not allow the band to get the attention it deserved, decided to part ways. After touring the world to promote their 2003 sophomore release, Tripped Into Divine (produced by Matthew Wilder [No Doubt] and Julian Raymond [Fastball]), the band decided in 2005 to go on permanent hiatus. “We all needed to do other things for a while,” says lead singer Kyle. He adds, “We never officially broke up and have still remained friends. But I can honestly say, there was never any hint that we would ever put out another Dexter Freebish record. We were pretty much done.” In early 2008, the band decided, on a whim, to play a couple of shows throughout Texas. “It just felt right playing together again,” says guitarist Scott Romig. “Soon after that, we started writing and recording some new songs. All these ideas were just bottled up, and the songs pretty much wrote themselves,” he adds. The new songs captured the attention of Electronic Arts, garnering the band’s song “The Other Side”, a spot in the Sims 3 video game. Steve Schnur, President of Electronic Art’s Publishing Company, Artwerk, comments, “I was in awe of the talent that Dexter Freebish exemplified when I first signed them to a record deal and these feelings have not changed. Ten years ago, I signed them to Capitol Records because of their incredible songwriting and performance abilities and ten years later I’m still working with them for the exact same reasons. The songs that they write are timeless.” Dexter is back and stronger than ever. With a new direction and several new hook-laden songs, the band has a new album slated to be released Fall 2010.