Chris Seefried

Chris Seefried
Seefried photographed by Henry Diltz, 2007
Background information
Also known as	Bullfrog (producer)
Born	New York
Genres	Rock, Soul, Psychedelic, Folk, Alt Country, Pop
Occupations	Record producer Singer-songwriter Musician Composer
Instruments	Voice, Acoustic and Electric Guitars, Bass Guitar, Keyboards, Percussion
Years active	1990- present
Labels	Warner Bros. Records Geffen Hear Music E Pluribus Unum Chrysalis Records
Associated acts	Gods Child Joe 90 Rosanne Cash Low Stars Counting Crows Joe Purdy Fitz and the Tantrums
Website	http://www.chrisseefried.com/

Chris Seefried (born October 20) is an American record producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, best known as the lead vocalist and frontman of bands Gods Child, Joe 90, Low Stars and producer co-writer for the neo soul band Fitz and the Tantrums.

Career

Gods Child (1992-1996)

Seefried's U.S. career started when a cassette tape of "Everybody's 1" was heard by Prince, who stopped the song midway through, ejected the tape and declared "this is mine". That song and four other psychedelic rock & soul tracks found their way to legendary artist, producer, musician and then record company president Quincy Jones and his A & R man Hugo Burnham, drummer from premiere English punk band Gang Of Four. After flying to N.Y.C. to see Gods Child perform one of many shows at New Yorks CBGB's, they signed the band to Warner Brothers records via Quincy's imprint label Qwest. Their first record Everybody was written and produced by Seefried with fellow band mate Gary DeRosa under the pseudonym Bullfrog and the Elephant. Single "Everybodys 1" charted in two Billboard charts simultaneously, peaking at #18 on the Mainstream Rock chart and #25 on the Modern Rock chart. While making video's for songs "Everybody's 1", "Stone Horses" and "Slide", Gods Child toured nationally headlining shows in NYC at Irving Plaza and Roseland Ballroom and also performed "Everybodys 1" on NBC's Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Second record Aluminum, produced by Tim Palmer, was critically acclaimed but singles "Female Elvis" and "This Is the Real World?" only charted regionally. The song "Need" was featured in the Fox Network television series Melrose Place.

Joe 90 (1996-2000)

After two albums with Warner Brothers, Chris moved to LA and changed the name from Gods Child to Joe 90 adding Adam Hamilton to the mix. Adam Duritz of Counting Crows^[1] signed the group to his imprint through Geffen Records. Their debut record Dream This includes the hit song "Drive" which Duritz sings on. Seefried returned the favor guesting on "I Wish I Was a Girl" and hit song "Hangin Around" from This Desert Life. Joe 90 performed this song live with Counting Crows on Late Night With Conan O'Brien. Their second album A Raccoons Lunch features the Laura Nyro song "And When I Die", which was the end title for the New Line Cinema movie Final Destination and "When you Arrive" from the soundtrack for the movie Boys and Girls. Their third record remains unreleased.

Solo/Low Stars (2000-present)

Seefried recorded solo debut Denim Blue in between touring as Rosanne Cash's guitar player. The record was recorded in studio's in New York City and Los Angeles and includes a cast of friends, Gary DeRosa (Gods Child, Joe 90), Tony Shanahan (Patty Smith), Richard Lloyd (Television) as well as co- producers David Immergluck (Counting Crows) and Rich Pagano (Fab Faux). Denim Blue, completed in 2005, was held back because Chris started southern California rock band Low Stars whose debut album used tracks "Child", "Tracks In The Rain" and "L.A. Forever", previously slotted for Denim Blue. Low Stars eponymous debut album was produced by George Drakoulias and released in 2007 at Starbucks stores all over the country through Hear Music. Low Stars performed songs "Calling All friends", the theme song that appears at the beginning of each episode of J.J. Abrams' show What About Brian and "Child" on Last Call with Carson Daly while capping a national tour with a performance of "One Step Up" at Carnegie Hall to celebrate the music of Bruce Springsteen.

Denim Blue was released through Seefried's record label Gnome Alone in 2008 featuring songs "More or Less", "Denim Blue" and "Justified", a perennial Low Stars concert closer.

In the seventh episode of the first season of Lost , the producers contacted Los Angeles-based singer/songwriters Jude and Chris Seefried to write a full version of the song You All Everybody . The song is sung by Chris Seefried, on the episode.

Production, Songwriting, Scoring

Chris produced and co-wrote Fitz and The Tantrums ep Songs for a Breakup, Vol. 1 and full length debut Pickin' Up The Pieces. The album reached #1 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart.^[2] On January 12, 2011, Fitz and The Tantrums performed Seefried co-writes "MoneyGrabber" and "Don't Gotta Work It Out" on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live in Los Angeles. On February 28, 2011, they performed "MoneyGrabber" on TBS' Conan and on April 5, 2011, on NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Most recently they performed new single "Don't Gotta Work It Out" on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. In 2011, the group's music video for the song "MoneyGrabber" was incorporated into the opening scene of a sixth season episode of the CBS crime-drama Criminal Minds entitled "Safe Haven". In mid-March 2011, Seefried co-write "News 4 U" was chosen for the promo of Desperate Housewives seventh season.

Michael Cuesta's latest Magnolia Pictures movie "Roadie", which premiered at The Tribeca Film Festival in April 2011, will be on demand everywhere December 2nd and in theaters January 6th. The film includes a score by Chris Seefried and an end title by Counting Crows produced by Seefried.

Discography

Main article: Chris Seefried discography

Videography

• "Everybody's 1" (1994)
• "Stone Horses" (1994)
• "Slide" (1995)
• "Stop" (1999)
• "Drive" (1999)
• "Bowl Of Cherries" Includes: Trax in the Rain, More Or Less, Sweet Love, Denim Blue and more (2005)
• "Calling All Friends" (2007)
• "Child" (2007)
• "Low Stars epk" (2007)
• "Just Around The Corner" (2007)
• "Interview with Chris Hillman" (2008)
• "More Or Less" (2008)
• "Low Stars and Friends" (2009)

In popular culture

• In the closing moments of episode 4 of season 2 of Six Feet Under, Nate sits in the van with Clair, who says to him, "shut up and drive" and inserts a cassette into the deck as Joe 90's song Drive plays.

• The end title for the movie "Final Destination" is the Laura Nyro song And When I Die performed by Joe 90.

• The end title for the New Line Cinema movie "Body Shots" is the Joe 90 song Cars Go By.

• Joe 90 can be seen performing songs "Shame And Scandle" as well as Gods Child song Reachin in the opening of movie Tales From the Crypt Presents: Ritual the third and final film spin-off from the HBO television series Tales from the Crypt.

• The effie award winning campaign for Nabisco Chips Ahoy cremewhiches features song Squeezed in the Middle written and performed by Seefried.

• "The Moth" is the seventh episode of the first season of Lost. For "The Moth" the producers contacted Los Angeles-based singer/songwriters Jude and Chris Seefried to write a full version of the song You All Everybody . The song is sung by Chris Seefried, on the episode. The lyrics were inspired by an incident producers Bryan Burk and Damon Lindelof had seen on The Phil Donahue Show, where a female audience member said, "You all everybody, is acting like the stupid people wearing the expensive clothes.".^[3] You All Everybody was made available to players of the video game series Rock Band through the Rock Band Network.

• What About Brian is an American comedy-drama television series created by Dana Stevens and co-produced by J.J. Abrams' company Bad Robot Productions. The series premiered on April 16, 2006 on ABC, as a midseason replacement and concluded on March 26, 2007. The theme song that appears at the beginning of each episode is Calling All Friends, co-written by Seefried and performed by Low Stars.

• The song Low Day, performed by Capra and produced by Seefried has been used in an Expedia commercial on TV, in movie Skyrunners and used in a commercial for Cartoon Network's newest series called Adventure Time: With Finn and Jake.

• In the T-mobile cellular ad campaign, Fitz and The Tantrums is mentioned as a music download, while we hear song Winds of Change, co-written and produced by Seefried.

• The official season 7 promo for Desperate Housewives, features News For You by Fitz and the Tantrums, co-written and produced by Seefried.

• Moneygrabber was featured in the "How 'bout that?" segment of the April 23, 2011 episode of "This Week in Baseball".

References

1. ^ Hurley, Steve (2000-04-18). "News - Articles - 1430642 - 20000418". Mtv.com. http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1430642/20000418/joe_90.jhtml. Retrieved 2011-01-02. 
2. ^ Fitz & the Tantrums at Billboard.com
3. ^ Backstage with Drive Shaft (Documentary). Lost: The Complete First Season: Buena Vista Home Entertainment. 

External links

• BK Entertainment Group
• Chris Seefried Official Website
• Low Stars Web Site
• artist chris-seefried Razor and Tie
• Chris Seefried at the Internet Movie Database
• Low Stars Media Page
• Chris Seefried Media Page

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Name	Seefried, Chris
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