Band Facts

How it Started

Brian Sella (vocals/guitar): Freshman year in college was coming to a close, and I wanted to start a band really bad. I’d been playing with a couple of different bands, and just jamming for fun. Matt (Uychich) was always my favorite person to jam with and was the best drummer I knew. I wanted to make it a bit more official, so I thought of a name, and said: “I’m going to start a band called The Front Bottoms;” and then I called Matt, and asked if he wanted to play drums, and he said definitely.

We then would jam in his attic; it’d be 130 degrees, sweating our asses off. His brother started hanging around more and said he wanted to be in the band. He couldn’t play guitar, because that’s what I’m playing, and I didn’t want him to play bass because that’s so standard. He found a keyboard in the attic and said, ‘I want to play this, and if I do, can I be in your band?’ and I was like, ‘Hell yeah, man!’

We played our first show to no one and it was still awesome. I think, from the first show, we thought ‘this is something we should keep doing.’ Also, for my birthday, we got recording time at a studio, so that was another reason why I wanted to start a band; because to record, I had to be in a band, and The Front Bottoms had just become what it is.

Fun Facts

• The Grandma Series: Their 2014 EP Rose was named after drummer Mat Uychich’s grandmother, Rosemary.
• Early DIY albums: Before becoming widely known, the band independently released I Hate My Friends in 2008 and My Grandma vs. Pneumonia in 2009.
• Twin Peaks inspiration: The title Talon of the Hawk was partly inspired by a character from the television show Twin Peaks.
• Champagne Jam: The band created its own recurring music festival called Champagne Jam.
• Major festival appearances: The Front Bottoms have performed at festivals including Coachella, Bonnaroo, and Austin City Limits.