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PROVO -- Fictionist wants to be a rock and roll star, and though they won't make it on the cover of the Rolling Stone magazine this summer, they certainly have made a name for themselves.
The competition, "Do you wanna be a rock and roll star?" began with 16 music artists contending for a spot on the Rolling Stone magazine cover. Provo band Fictionist made it through the first two rounds of voting, but were eliminated in the third round, as announced today.
But the recent national excitement over local music acts isn't strange to Provo. Fictionist, or even Neon Trees are not the first bands to hail from Utah Valley and gain national attention. Though it can't claim it fostered the Osmonds, the music scene in Provo has for some time had a wealth of talent.
In 2002, the screamo rock band, The Used emerged from Orem. The band, a direct contradiction of everything "Family City, USA" might appear to be about, did not have a large Utah Valley following. But for almost a decade, The Used has added diversity to Orem's music landscape.
In the 90's it was Clover, headed by Jamen Brooks who, since the band's dissolve in 2000, has gone solo. MTV featured a song from his 2004 album, "Sleepyhead" on Laguna Beach, and followed that with a Jamen Brooks mini site on MTV's website.
Though the 90's and early 2000's offered up some national attention to Utah Valley acts, the last few years have consistently offered more quality entertainment for Utahns. Acts like Joshua James, Isaac Russell (previously RuRu) and Parlor Hawk call Happy Valley home, all three of which have been on the local label Northplatte and have topped different iTunes charts.
Provo Music Venues:
<a href="http://velourlive.com/home.php">Velour Live Music Gallery</a> <p> <a href="http://musemusiccafe.com/">Muse Music Cafe</a>
Singer/songwriter Joshua James co-founded Northplatte Records, and was placed alongside Parlorhawk in iTunes' top 20 singer/songwriter albums of 2010.
Isaac Russell started with Northplatte when he was 16. His debut album, "Elizabeth," got him a following in Provo which lead radio airplay elsewhere, and in 2008 made the iTunes Indie Spotlight, hitting number eight on their list.
Although the record deal they landed fell through when the record label Garageband.com folded after the contest, Sunfall Festival's already large fan-base was added upon when they were voted number one out of 30 thousand bands. Though the band no longer plays together, guitarist Scott Wiley owns a recording studio and has worked with such bands as Fictionist and Neon Trees, and has played in several local bands since.
