Up-and-coming band Frognot performs tonight at The Depot
by Rob Moore
Abilene Reporter-News, Weekend Guide
The band Frognot has enjoyed a great deal of success around the Dallas area and lately, their sound has been expanded further, thanks to the music and a little help from the Internet.
The group's website (www.frognot.com) has helped them gain one band member, sell several CDs , and it put them into the finals of the South-by-Southwest's website competitions, up against sites for David Bowie and Celine Dion.
You can catch Frognot, which features Dennis Leonard,on vocals, guitars, congas and violin, Ken Allen on guitar and vocals, Brian Starustka on bass and vocals, and April Samuels on drums and vocals, tonight at The Depot.
"We want to get a little party going, a little Frognot party," said Leonard of the group's show.
The band's debut album, "Welcome to Frognot," will be available, but the band plans to put out another album soon, and will likely let Abilene sample some new material. samuels said the group's last visit to The Depot was memorable.
"It went great actually," she said. "We had a real good response."
"It was more of an enjoyment form the crowd. There was some dancing. A lot of people watching said they hadn't seen that type of music in Abilene," Leonard added.
The group came together when Samuels managed Leonard's former band.
"I used to manage Dennis' band," said Samuels. "Kenneth and I used to be in band about seven years ago."
Starustka, who came to the group in October, came to the band's attention via e-mail.
"I actually had seen the website before hand," he said.
The group has recently enjoyed a good deal of success in Dallas, as well as via the aforementioned Internet.
"It went really well," Samuels said. "We sold 500 CDs in a matter of months. We had this big CD release party last year. We've been selling through amazon.com, broadcast.com, mp3.com, and few others that aren't quite as well known. I just got an order from the Netherlands. Of course, we sell them through our website. We actually got airplay in Australia from having our site. Computers in general have really helped us out recording wise."
Reach Rob Moore by phone at 915-676-6761 or by e-mail at moorer@abinews.com.