Our story begins in 1999 when two young Nashvillians, Andrew Bissell and Scott Van Dusen, decided to start up a band. The name "Popular Genius" is an obscure reference to a Sailor Moon trading card that describes the character, "Sailor Mercury", as being "popular;genius". In retrospect, using the semi-colon in the name would've gained Popular Genius some cool points for being artsy and/or contrary, but alas, "Popular Genius" stuck. There were always a few people from time to time who would interpret the band name as self-applied attributes in regards to the band members and/or music, but this was not the case, just as "The Cranberries" are in fact, not actually cranberries.
Andrew and Scott played as a duo (Andrew playing guitar and singing, and Scott playing guitar and singing backing vocals), writing and recording their songs, and cutting their teeth playing at open-mic nights and coffee shops. The first album, “Mannequin”, a collection of songs ranging from power pop to bosa novas (and many places in between), was released in 2000. The duo recorded all the instruments themselves, creating the sound of a full band, but as live performances increased, it was time to begin to fill out the roster with actual players. Young, yet promising, bassist, Luke Easterling was then brought into the fold. Easterling joined Popular Genius just in time for the recording of their sophomore effort, “Glittering Generalities”, which was eleased in 2002. Glittering Generalities expanded on the band’s already eclectic sound, particularly in the area of adding new instruments to the mix. Session great, Dennis Solee, was hired to add woodwinds to the album and this set the foundation for what would become an important part of Popular Genius’ sound and style. Around this time, Ryan Stout was brought on board as drummer. Having played with Stout in the Nashville youth jazz band, Easterling knew he would be a perfect fit to round out a four-piece. Having a full band allowed Popular Genius to perform much more dynamic concerts, so they began playing anywhere and everywhere in and around middle Tennessee. In 2003, the band re-recorded their favorite songs from “Mannequin” and “Glittering Generalities”. Simply called “Popular Genius”, this recording reflected a more-developed sound when compared with their earlier counterparts. Knowing they would want to recreate some of the woodwind and brass elements of their in the live arena, a fifth band member was sought out. Adam Troxler joined during the summer of ’03, completing the line-up. Troxler, a rare musical “jack-of-all-trades”, played, but was not limited to: flute, accordion, saxes, trumpet, trombone, french horn, and glockenspiel. Troxler added a new level of depth to Popular Genius’ sound and they began winning over even more new listeners with each concert. During this time, the band managed to catch the eye of Wally’s World booking agency, and were quickly thrust in the college concert circuit. This proved valuable to the band’s experience for the first time playing not only outside the comforts of Nashville, but all over the nation. But, being the only married band member, Troxler soon felt the stress of the touring-life and gave notice of his eventual departure. The band was at a loss over what to do. How would they find another player ~that~ versatile? Enter Christi Matuszak. A recent Belmont University-grad, Christi was looking for fresh ways to apply her multi-instrumental skills, and most importantly, was able to fill Troxler’s shoes. In 2004, their final album, “How to Be Popular” was released, and shortly thereafter, a DVD release called “Video Yearbook” which was filled to the brim with live, and behind-the-scenes footage. “How to Be Popular” was notably more mature than previous efforts, yet still retained the band’s trademark eclecticism which at the time some advised was their “Achilles’ Heel”.
This sentiment proved to be true, as record labels began courting Popular Genius only to ultimately shy away at the band’s lack of possessing a commercial hit. The nature of the recording industry was drastically and quickly changing at that time, and while many labels during the 1990’s would have been willing to take on a band of relative creative depth, the climate of the mid 2000’s was much different. Signing a band like Popular Genius would have been a “risk” to say the least, so the band remained independent for the remainder of their venture.
Continuing on the road, Popular Genius spent more and more time traveling around the United States in a 15-passenger van, sometimes for several weeks at a time. Every new town they visited they found new ears, but even landing key opening slots with Cake, and Jump Little Children, without the muscle of a label and tour support it was becoming increasingly obvious that this configuration could not continue forever. July of 2006 marked the band’s final concert, in their hometown of Nashville, TN. Popular Genius’ song catalog still continues to reach new listeners to this day, most in part to iTunes and Myspace.
