The Truth About Music

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Introducing A Real Band, The American Secrets

By Harris posted March 25, 2011 at 08:003

The American Secrets at SXSW 2011

“Most people don’t know that we’re a real band.” Generally a troubling statement coming from a group of musicians playing SXSW for the first time. For most bands, television success comes after musical success. Whether it’s a spot on a commercial or an appearance on Late Night, bands almost always put the music first. Self-described as a “professional contest band” by bassist Bryon Rossi, The American Secrets were created as a side project to a number of other groups including lead singer Daniel Zott’s band Dale Earnhardt Jr Jr, and have become a bit of a runaway success story.

Started just over one year ago, the Detroit-based rock band initially formed in order to participate in a contest for Fox Sports. After winning the contest, they continued playing shows and finally began writing more original music. In the television advertising world, music has always been a key feature. After the initial success of Free Credit Score using a faux-band in their ads, the company went out in search of a real band to replace their mythical, original act. Being a contest band, this seemed like a perfect opportunity. The American Secrets signed up and won.

While most bands at SXSW stem from a small collection of cities such as New York, Los Angeles or Nashville, The American Secrets are proudly from Detroit, Michigan. “We wouldn’t be sitting here talking to you now if it wasn’t for Detroit. When it came to the Free Credit Score band search Detroit really rallied behind us and wanted us to win” added guitarist Mike Mulliniks.

With the corporate backing that comes from a company like Free Credit Score, comes amazing opportunities. Over the past year they have played with pop superstars Ke$ha and B.o.B., and alternative rock stars Mayday Parade. The sound of the band is relatively straight forward. Self-described as “’60s rock from the future” by Zott, the bands songs are riddled with straight forward rock beats and catchy hooks.

It’s interesting to think about a band that formed out of a few local contests, becoming pop stars. An interesting thing to consider is that because they entered a contest just weeks after forming the band, there hasn’t been time to truly grow as a group yet. With only a handful of songs written, they plan to take a lot of time in the post SXSW months to write and actually meld as The American Secrets.

Coming from the new aged world of music, in which bands go around record labels and work directly with a brand, The American Secrets aren’t planning too far ahead. Although they plan to write, there doesn’t seem to be a tremendous rush to put out a full length album. Instead, they just want to have an album’s worth of songs to do what they want with. A very forward thinking band, they are certainly well aware of who they are and what the potential of their rapid success could mean.

All of these avenues and a very forward way of viewing the music industry, have helped to forward The American Secrets as they quickly become America’s most successful “commercial” band.

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