Nearly a decade ago, Grand Rapids Rock/Pop/Soul trio Four Finger Five (Joe Sturgill guitar/vocals/keys, Steve Harris drums, Mike Phillips bass) began rehearsing in a tiny, musty studio in small town Michigan. They played the circuit tirelessly, letting their music evolve on its own, artists going against the grain. Within months they had established regional buzz and built a solid reputation on absorbing, energetic performances and innovative songwriting. Fans have come to expect the unexpected, a mix of heady rock riffs alongside catchy pop melodies, and lyrics that swing from love in bloom to middle-class political angst and back again. That distinct and singularly entertaining yoyo earned the group national notice on Pandora and the CMJ charts, led to performances at Rothbury and landed them sets before O.A.R. and Dave Mathews Band.
These days the trio is larger than life. Armed with a new arsenal of tightly arranged tracks that continue to defy categorization, Four Finger Five is officially a force to be reckoned with. Their sound is more surprisingly satisfying than ever, a fusion of The Police, Red Hot Chili Peppers and the John Mayer Trio. These guys are the real deal. Confident, devastatingly hip and polished, they stroll out to stage in suit and tie, then command their set for two full hours, often with a bigger-than-three sound, expertly finessing a rapt audience of audiophiles and hipsters alike.
With their next release Soul in a Suitcase slated for November 2011, this engrossing and trend-setting act has raised the bar more than a few notches. Just when everyone thought they knew Four finger Five, with two award winning full-length records, an EP and over seven years of live shows, the band is starting to eclipse their Billboard Magazine title "Top 5 Up and Coming Festival Bands" into a realm that is somehow both wider and more distinct. The timing is certainly ripe: thanks to passionate, organic performances and influences ranging from The Beatles to Jay-Z, Radiohead to Clapton, and Genesis to The Black Keys, the trio's fan base is growing larger and more diverse with every show. New and old fans sing happily in unison to songs they've heard just once. A 5,000 strong and steadily climbing online base frequently urges the band to, "Keep on breaking the rules."
And they listened: the group isn't signed and they're sticking with it. After pushing off from Terrestrial Records, Four Finger Five has been slowly edging into their own and is unquestionably at the helm in a changing industry. They're intensely focused on making the best and most authentic original music they can, offering up a healthy serving of spanking new tracks in 2011, and exclusive content for the most loyal. The thousands of fans that have stuck by this trio of gifted and disparate musicians for nearly a decade have earned it, a growing throng attending show after show and hankering for more. And this is one love that is requited. At live shows the band plays long after it seems possible to a mass of bobbing heads, afterward circling the crowd, standing out against hoodies and jeans in their grey suits, schmoozing and thanking the fans. There's no room for breaks in the green room here—Four Finger Five is on the way up, and they're bringing everybody with them.
