Among the quintessential indie characters of Niles West, a band emerges from a dim-lit basement full of tangled audio chords, lost guitar picks, found drumsticks and excessively stickered instruments. When mixed with teen boys and artistic talent, this produces a band called the Frog House. Moved by sonic inspirations of the indie past and present, members Logan Yang, Alex Young, Ethan Huante and Jack Feldman are a quartet of students working on their first album, “Corduroy Floors.”
The band thundered into existence around December of 2023, with all the members connecting through knowing Young, the socialite of the group. After an impromptu performance at the Coffee House Cabaret, they quickly realized they had the chemistry to make a band.
“I was like that one guy, Nick Fury, in the Avengers that brings together all the superheroes. I just knew them from different places,” Young said.
A few months later, “Corduroy Floors” takes to GarageBand after recording in Young’s basement studio. While switching instruments frequently, each member has their role in the band. With Feldman as the lead singer, his voice is his instrument, and it’s a powerful one at that. He’ll also use it in New York to compete with Niles West’s acapella group, Resolve. Yang is the drummer, using a set of four Crown drums and three cymbals in the studio. Young, the guitarist, opts for a Fender Stratocaster and Huante, the bassist, uses a red Mitchell bass.
The album set to come out soon, is a combination of tastes, each member adding their touch to the overarching sound. While Yang and Huante enjoy The Beatles with occasional Mac Demarco, Young brings inspirational snippets from The Garden, Title Fight and Jerry Garcia, lead singer of Grateful Dead. Feldman cites part of his vocal inspiration from Resolve and the diverse voice of Billy Joel. The genre(s) of “Corduroy Floors,” are as follows:
“Everything. Not country. We got some indie, some shoegaze going on. I’m gonna say bedroom pop alt, but a little bit grungy,” Young said.
Besides the strictly musical side to their rehearsals, there’s an air of fun comradery and endearing friendship. Perhaps friends first and musicians second, they frequently take sabbaticals from the studio to venture to Raising Cane’s or wherever they choose to idle away from their music. Their music rehearsals can range from masterful renditions of “Creep,” by Radiohead to focused, professional workshopping of their music. This oscillation of work and play is what makes up the youthful, creative tempo of Frog House.
Q & A (Question and Answer)
NWN: Are you guys going to be The Beatles? Who is who?
Huante: He’s (Yang) Ringo. I’d be George. John? I guess Alex, because Jack has to be Paul. He has to be Paul.
NWN: When is the album coming out?
Young: We have a lot of stuff done. It just has to be recorded, we need Jack to pull up to the studio and record us some vocals.
Huante: I’m going to start singing it.
Feldman: I’ll show up for the sole reason that Ethan doesn’t sing on our album.
Young: We’re having Ethan and Logan harmonizing on there, I might do some screams.
NWN: What do you want the public to know about you?
Young: Tell them to stop comparing us to Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons.
Yang: I think we need some more privacy.
Young: The fans have really been getting to us. We haven’t had any privacy recently. I’ve had paparazzi outside all of our doors recently.
NWN: Would you sign your fans’ foreheads?
Huante: Hell yeah. I’d encourage fans to get tattoos. Of the band, with my name, yeah. I’d promote that.
NWN: What font do you want the tattoo?
Huante: Comic Sans, that’d be tough.
NWN: What makes you guys a good group?
Feldman: We’re all good at music. You know, what makes us good at music, is that everybody here mutually loves and protects Logan.
Young: We kind of split up and then come together and throw music at each other. We all have an idea and add on to each other’s ideas. And, we would all die for Logan. I think that’s the real answer.
