A party crasher completed The Murrows, which previously consisted of longtime partners: two brothers and a childhood friend.
After experimenting with several variations of bands, fourth-year history student and drummer Bryan Fradin and younger brother Evan Fradin decided to team up with childhood friend and bassist Logan Cantrell to form a new band. In the early stages of the group’s formation in 2012, rhythm guitarist Jason Spathopoulos inadvertently crashed Evan Fradin’s birthday party.
The initial encounter was awkward, Spathopoulos said. Believing he was attending a casual get-together, Spathopoulos walked into a more intimate gathering of family and friends, but left with a new friendship with the Fradins.
“We talked and I guess I tricked them into thinking I was talented and musically gifted,” Spathopoulos said.
After several months of friendship and the dissolving of a previous band, Spathopoulos was asked to play with the rest of the band.
“Once we started jamming together, it went well and we really meshed well,” Bryan Fradin said. “We’ve been playing music together ever since.”
The Murrows, who first played at Kerckhoff Coffee House in March, will return to the stage at the Cultural Affairs Commission’s Kerckhoff Coffee House concert series Monday night.
In the two years since its formation, the independently produced band has played at several venues, including College of the Canyon’s Battle of the Bands. The band has also released two singles, titled “New York” and “Let You Down.” “Let You Down” is accompanied by a music video released in December 2013.
Before performing as The Murrows, Bryan and Evan Fradin played covers as a duo. Cantrell, who has known Evan Fradin since fourth grade, said he would occasionally perform alongside them after he began playing bass in fifth grade.
“I just kind of joined in naturally,” Cantrell said. “(Evan Fradin and I) constantly joke around – probably too much, more than a lot of people would like.”
Since the creation of the band, Bryan Fradin said The Murrows have strived to produce a sound similar to the members’ inspirations, including the Beatles, the Killers, the Strokes, The Who, the Doors and Weezer.
“Our biggest goal is to put on a great live show,” Bryan Fradin said. “We really respect people who put on great shows and we want to do the same.”
Naming the band after American broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow, Cantrell said he admires Murrow because he was known for judging situations fairly and as he saw it. Murrow, who produced a show critiquing Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s administration, allowed McCarthy to speak on his show to clarify his positions.
“(Today) a lot of things are very biased, and you have to form your own opinions, but a lot of people are spoon-fed their ideas, so it was kind of the opposition to that idea that I hope we embrace,” Cantrell said.
The band’s hometown of Santa Clarita has also influenced The Murrows’ musicality because of the significant presence of local bands, which have increased their breadth and expanded their opportunities through networking, Evan Fradin said.
During the creative process, the Fradin brothers initially collaborate to mold the general sound of a song, including lyrics and some chords, and later draw from Spathopoulos’ and Cantrell’s suggestions, Bryan Fradin said. Although they argue throughout the process because of the honesty that their relationship as brothers involves, Bryan Fradin finds the dynamic more conducive to successful songwriting, citing John Lennon and Paul McCartney as an example.
“Yin and yang, right?” Bryan Fradin said. “We’ve squabbled and had our fights but that’s what makes it better.”
The vision which the brothers present to the band is then refined and built upon by Spathopoulos during rehearsals with the addition of instrumentation from shakers, tambourines and piano, as well as Cantrell’s polishing last touches.
“(Spathopoulos) puts his own style to it, in a way that you can tell when a song is pre- and post-Jason,” Evan Fradin said. “(His) style changes based on what he’s listening to.”
Although four years younger than his brother, Evan Fradin said he doesn’t concede to Bryan Fradin in the creative process by any means, despite the age difference.
“I express myself a little too much probably,” Evan Fradin said. “There’s no hesitation to express my opinion, being younger or not.”
The band is ultimately seeking to grow by performing live frequently, and hopes to have an album released by this time next year, Bryan Fradin said.
“Bryan came up with a great analogy, that we’re a lot like a sports team. We started as a freshman level high school team, and transitioned to JV and then a varsity high school team,” Cantrell said. “Now we’re trying to make the college team.”