The Forward blog

The Forward - LA Times Buzz Band!

2008-08-04T14:46:00.000-07:00

from: http://www.latimes.com/features/printedition/theguide/la-gd-musicbuzz10-2008jul10,0,4852088.story

Buzz Bands
By
July 10, 2008
BUZZ BANDS

Before setting out to make their mark on the post-punk landscape, Leonard Jackson and Ian Schaeffer -- pals from their day jobs at Guitar Center -- left their marks on plenty of bottles of beer. "We were drinking buddies first, and we'd sit around and philosophize about how things should be," Jackson says. "Once we'd created our utopian band model, we realized there was no other solution but to do it." Now, singer-guitarist Jackson and bassist Schaeffer, along with guitarist Greg Smith and drummer Tom DuPree III, have moved forward as the Forward.

Their debut album, "Nothing But Teeth" (due Sept. 9), showcases the quartet's quick-hitting guitars and agitated rhythms, and the wry, literate songs Jackson conceived during long hours of hawking merchandise that helped other artists realize their dreams. "I've tried to write songs that you can have an emotional connection to," Jackson says, "songs that tell stories but have subtext."

If this material aims a little higher than the initial album on which Jackson and Schaeffer collaborated (released two years ago under the unfortunate moniker Club Makeout), chalk it up to experience -- and some help from producer Ethan Allen (the 88) and mixer Mark Needham (the Killers). "Ethan really helped us focus on getting a great performance all the way through," Jackson says. "His ideas made a big difference in the end."

Live: The Forward plays tonight at the Knitting Factory and Aug. 19 at the Key Club. Also: The Hotel Cafe is the locus for great shows the next three nights -- England's David Ford tonight; Greg Laswell (celebrating the release of his new "How the Day Sounds") on Friday; and Pedestrian (celebrating the release of "Sidegeist") on Saturday. . . . It's the Deadly Syndrome and Miss Derringer tonight at the Hammer Museum (free). . . . And next week at Tangier, there's the first of consecutive Wednesday appearances by Inara George and Van Dyke Parks.

“Craigslist hookups, Canucks, and Magic Dust” or “Blown in Fallujah”

2008-07-31T16:41:00.000-07:00

The Forward Bulletin
Volume 2
Entitled: “Craigslist hookups, Canucks, and Magic Dust” or “Blown in Fallujah”

Hello there my favorite internet addicts, I’m back to cook up another hit, and hold back your “Forward” withdrawals for at least another week. So close that craigslist personal’s dating page, stop watching that creepy guy pretending to be The Joker on YouTube, and let’s get down to business.

Guess what! Tour dates!! We’re putting together our west coast tour dates, the first leg of our official ‘Nothing But Teeth” support tour, for August/early September. It’ll take us all over the wonderful state of California, to Arizona, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. That’s right, even some of you Canuck fans can head south and finally attend a Forward show. Sounds like fun, aye? Check our myspace for dates, ‘cause clearly I’m too lazy to type out all of them here, but I assure you they exist. More are getting confirmed everyday.

Oh, and if you’re bummed out that we’re not coming to a dive-bar near you, let us know about it! We plan to be playing nonstop through to early 2009, and there’s no biker bar, church rec hall, coffee shop, or high school gymnasium that we plan to leave untouched by the Forward magic dust. (Ew!) So tell us you want “The Forward” to come to you! If you don’t speak up we don’t know about you, and then your participation grade goes way down, and you know that’s 25% of your final average!

We’ve fixed the bugs on our merchandise purchasing page. You can find them on our myspace page, so now you can pre-order our record and sport a new forward hat and t-shirt as part of your back-to-school wardrobe. What a way to impress your friends. And whats that?? A pre-release version of our record? Autogrpahed you say?! I’ll take Five. One for all of my friends. Just go steal your parent’s or your husband’s credit card, and click away!

One final thing, we’d love to hear from you. With the release of the record “Nothing But Teeth” we want to put our little Forward army to work. It’s a rag-tag crew for sure, and this resurgence would totally blow it in Fallujah, but we want to hear from you. We’re looking for artwork and ideas for promo and t-shirts. I know there are a lot of creative minds out there and we’d love your help. Also, we have record release posters we’d love to send out to everyone to hang at there local CD stores, high school, coffee shops, jail houses, pet stores and mini golf courses. What do you think? Your work will be handsomely rewarded (namely, The Forward sleeping on your floor and eating your food while we’re on tour).

Thanks to all of you who have helped and supported us. Keep listening, and call your local radio stations and request us. You’ve probably heard the song already. Can’t wait to see you soon!

I miss you, I’ve been thinking about you
And even though I know how very far apart we are, it helps to think we might be wishing on the same bright star. Then we'll be together, Somewhere Out There, out where dreams come true.
Ian
The Forward

www.flashrock.com - Listen to it!!

2008-07-28T17:15:00.000-07:00

The Forward will be featured Live tonight on the internet radio site, Flash Rock, hosted by the wonderful Heather Locker. Go to www.flashrock.com and listen to the live stream tonight, July 28th at 10pm!! The whole band will be there; Leonard, Greg, Tom, Ian, and Jose Cuervo, and we’ll be playing a few songs and showcasing our world famous charm and wit. It’ll be the most fun you’ve had in front of your computer since they invented porn!

Tonight! July 28th
10pm pacific
www.flashrock.com

Word,
Ian

New Pic! Rock and Roll

2008-06-28T02:32:00.001-07:00

"whatever" Live on rockremedy.com!

2008-06-28T00:49:00.000-07:00

Go To www.rockremedy.com for more Live performances and about 30 minutes of interviews from The Forward. We're so cute aren't we?

We're on the radio!!

2008-06-27T14:01:00.000-07:00

Here's a current list of the radio stations spinning The Forward. Go ahead and call them and request us, don't be shy. Keep listening because we'll be popping up on these stations very soon with some interviews, acoustic performances and general shenanigans!

I'll update this list as more stations add us to the playlist.

WKPX Ft. Lauderdale FL
WPSC Wayne NJ
WUMM Machias ME
Riddle Radio / KFLI Prescott AZ
WLCA Godfrey IL
WBWC Berea OH
WPCD Champaign IL
KCSU Fort Collins CO
KWCR Ogden VT
WVUR Valaparaiso IN
WONC Naperville IL
WMHB Waterville ME
WNSU Fort Lauderdale FL
KSJS San Jose CA
KSLU-2 Hammond LA
WDBK Blackwood NJ
WHSN Bangor ME
WDWN Auburn NY
WIXQ Millersville PA
WOUB-AM Athens OH
WRKC Wilkes-Barre PA
KSCL Shreveport LA
KWLC Decorah IA
NVWR Reno NV
CHMR St John’s NL
WECI Richmond IN
WMPG Portland ME
WWUH West Hartford CT
KDUR Durango CO
CJAM Dearborn MI
KAMP Tucson AZ
KTSW San Marcos TX
WERU-2 East Orland ME
CFMU Hamilton ON
WCRD Muncie IN
WEAX Angola IN
WUML Lowell MA
WPTS Pittsburgh PA
WRBC Lewiston ME
WRHU Hempstead NY
WRUW Cleveland OH
WUSB Stony Brook NY
WWHR Bowling Green KY
WWPV Colchester VT
WXLV Schnecksville PA
WARG Summit IL
WRPI Troy NY
WKWZ Syosset NY
WGBK Glenview IL
WUPX Marquette MI
KSYM San Antonio TX
CRAM Toronto ON
WBKE North Manchester IN
CILU Thunder Bay ON
KRSC Claremore OK

New photos of the forward

2008-06-27T13:34:00.000-07:00

"Dorm Rooms, Porno, and Crochet" or "Orward Foslo"

2008-06-26T20:24:00.000-07:00

The Forward Bulletin, Week 1
Entitled “Dorm rooms, Porno and Crochet” or “Orward Foslo”

Things are really rolling for The Forward, and we’ve decided we’re going to better at keeping in touch with you all, and keeping you up to date, and also hopefully stopping the flow of hacked porno emails you keep getting from us. (Tom’s not allowed to touch the computer for a while). I’ve been put in charge of doing a weekly blog, so bear with me while I get you all caught up on the coming’s and going’s in the world of The Forward.This is where we will post pics, videos, tour logs, updates, some of Greg’s bitching and other cool stuff. Its http://theforwardmusic.blogspot.com/.

As you may know, our record “Nothing but Teeth” will finally be released on Sept 9th. We’re super exited and we’ve already gotten a huge response from you guys. Some of you already have the pre-release, and of course you can hear a few songs on our page, (oh and its available illegally on the blogs, but whaetver) We can’t wait to have the actual record out there.; it’ll have more songs, more cool pictures, more spunk and a little pizzazz. Again, Sept 9th! So get in line at your local I-Tunes store (I don’t know where that is exactly but I heard its really popular) and get ready to be rocked!

As we’re gearing up for the record release, we’ve been hitting radio nationally. NPR loves us and we actually have learned a lot about crochet from the folks over there. But seriously, we’re getting tons of support from local stations all over the country and from listener requests. BTW, guess who’s on the charts?? Well yeah Weezer is too, but THE FORWARD. The band is #130 on the CMJ top 200 this week, only two weeks after the release. Please check our blogs for a list of the stations we’re on, and if there’s one you listen to, please call them and DEMAND to hear our song. On second thought, maybe you should ask politely.

Our West Coast Tour will start July 23rd with the band Oslo, (we’re thinking of calling it the “Foslo Orward Tour”, or maybe “Osward Forlo”) and we’re excited to hit the college circuit starting in the fall. I hope you don’t mind us drinking all of your Bud Light, sleeping in your bed while you sleep on your dorm room floor, and using up all the points on your meal card for breakfast!! Thats why you love us!

So that’s whats a-happenin. We really love talking to you guys so keep in touch.
Hugs and Kisses,
Ian
the forward