Blue October

Blue October biography

Blue October is a rock band from Houston, Texas. The band was formed in 1995 and currently consists of Justin Furstenfeld (lead vocals, guitar), Jeremy Furstenfeld (drums, percussion), Ryan Delahoussaye (violin/viola, mandolin, piano, backing vocals), Matt Noveskey (bass guitar, backing vocals), and Julian Mandrake (lead guitar).

History

Blue October was formed by lead singer/songwriter/guitarist Justin Furstenfeld, his brother Jeremy, and multi-instrumentalist Ryan Delahoussaye. The band was discovered by former Kid Rock manager Michael Rand performing at the Atchafalaya River Cafe. While working with Rand, fellow ATI agent David Kanaan proceeded to book over 350 dates on the group unsigned. Extensive publicity and artist development was regimented. This work eventually led to Michael bringing the band to Universal Music Group CEO Doug Morris under the direction of long time A&R rep Reen Nalli.They were later joined by former guitarist/vocalist C.B. Hudson and bassist Matt Noveskey.

The Answers

Managed by Justin and Jeremy's parents under the name "RoDan Entertainment," Blue October released their first album, The Answers, in 1998, a well-received debut which sold over 5,000 copies in Houston alone. Due to a fan-based connection with ABC's KTRK-TV (Channel 13), Blue October was able to schedule early-morning news performance - the band's first live television performance. Other unreleased songs from this period, such as "Rust", "Colorado 5591", "His Name Is Crazy", "Gun Metal Blue", "Dollar 30 Gravy", and "5 Day Walk" can be found on YouTube. Blue October moved to Austin Texas in 2001 and appeared many times on local radio stations 93.7 KLBJ's morning show. They did several on air performances and special radio concerts as well as recently being active on sister station 101X.

Consent to Treatment

Blue October caught the attention of the major record labels while working with producer dB (Don Byczynski) in early 1998. Pre-production started for getting Blue October a more "radio ready" sound, with new songs and to rewrite material off The Answers. Tracking was done in a studio setup at Justin's home in San Marcos, Texas. The recordings were sent to Universal, then in 1999 Blue October signed to Universal Records for the release of their second album, Consent to Treatment. The band was dropped by Universal Records in 2002.

History for Sale

After being dropped, the band got together with new guitarist C.B. Hudson, recorded and self-released History for Sale. Due to larger-than-expected album sales, the band was re-signed to Universal and the album was subsequently re-released on Universal. History for Sale was largely a response to the control the label had placed on the group during the Consent to Treatment production process. This is evident in songs such as "Somebody" and "Inner Glow."

Blue October received a larger audience as their single "Calling You," featured on the American Wedding movie soundtrack, as well as on the third episode of The CW show Life is Wild, and began to get radio play in Dallas. The band was invited to play at a large annual concert in Dallas, TX hosted by local radio station, KDGE 102.1 (The Edge), known as Edgefest in 2003. Blue October main evented the free pre-show, with The Rocket Summer, Socialburn, and SouthFM, on Friday and then played the following day for the actual concert event. "Calling You" was played in heavy rotation on KDGE for promotion of the event.

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