Comprised of three Dartmouth alumni and their longtime friend, the band Filligar will bring its dynamic and vibrant musical talents back to the Eastern Seaboard over the next month, coming off the heels of its California tour.
Filligar is a four-member band consisting of recent Dartmouth graduates and brothers Johnny Mathias '11, Teddy Mathias '09 and Pete Mathias '09, and they are joined by their close friend Casey Gibson.
Their tour kicked off yesterday in Towson, Md., and they have a performance today in Woodstock, N.Y. The band has been rising in notoriety recently, opening for Counting Crows on part of their 2012 summer tour. Filligar also performed at the Hopkins Center 50th anniversary "HOPFest" performance on July 13.
The band first came together 12 years ago, according to Gibson, originating during his freshman year in high school when he and Pete Mathias decided to start playing music together.
"We recruited two others to join and the rest is history," Gibson said. "It's hard to remember a time when we haven't been playing together."
During the band members' college years, Filligar played a number of shows at Dartmouth, at venues including Fuel, Collis Common Ground and the Bema during Fieldstock, as well as at Hamilton College, Gibson's alma mater, according to Johnny Mathias.
"Upon graduation we had a number of things going for us, but we realized that what had always made all of it worthwhile was the music," Johnny Mathias said. "There wasn't an aha' moment, we'd just been steadily building."
Molly Bode '09 said she was first introduced to Filligar after sharing classes with Teddy and Pete Mathias. With age, the band has only become more versatile and skilled in their craft, and Filligar has brought people across a wide array of campus interests and groups together, Bode said.
"There's a little '09 reunion everywhere they play," Bode said. "Alumni show up to the shows and thus they really help keep alumni close to Dartmouth. They allow for people to come together and stay together which is what music is supposed to do, anyway."
Although the band produced three early albums under the name Flipside, they changed their name to Filligar after one of the Mathias' sister's pets. The band has subsequently released five albums, one of which was written during the Mathias' time in Hanover.
"Whenever we're writing music, we can't help but be influenced by our surroundings," Johnny Mathias said. "We had many good times at Dartmouth, and it's reflected in the music that we made when we were there."
The band's most recent album "The Nerve" was released in 2010 and features an astonishingly well-balanced juxtaposition of soulful melody, classic rock percussion and bluesy piano and organ accompaniment. Even though he admits that all musicians have a hard time defining themselves, Gibson thinks of the band's genre as modern American rock, as it possess strong influences from both classic rock and contemporary music.
"I leave it up to people to decide what it sounds like," Johnny Mathias said. "Although we play some rock n' roll and blues, I can only speculate what people think about it. Just like anyone who listens to different types of music, it's hard not to be influenced by it in some way so I just keep my ears open and see what sounds good."
In 2009, the band was hailed by popular music blogger Ryan Spaulding of the Ryan's Smashing Life Blog as "one of the best young bands in America," and he said he fondly remembers the first time he heard them play in 2007.
"I see 75 to 100 shows a year, so I'm not expecting any one band to blow me over," Spaulding said. "But they had a celebratory sound based on an older type of rock n' roll soul I just wasn't sure where it was coming from because I was like, these guys are so young.'"
Over the next five years, Spaulding said he saw Filligar play over 20 more times. Filligar is quite possibly the only band he's ever seen that continues to improve with each live show, according to Spaulding.
"It's not my place to tell people what to think, but I wanted to elevate them [Filligar] to a point of conversation that would get people interested in going to the show," Spaulding said. "And I know that even if people don't agree with me, if they saw the shows they'd know where I was coming from."
Spaudling highly recommends the band's live shows, and both Johnny Mathias and Gibson count touring as their favorite aspect of their occupation.
"When you're writing and recording, it might be a little boring," Gibson said. "It's fun to hash out new ideas, but when you're performing and it's live, people really come alive."
Johnny Mathias said that the band has always wanted to come back to Dartmouth because it is a unique venue that harbors many positive memories and experiences. Yet, the band will not be playing at any colleges on their upcoming East Coast tour, instead focusing on rock clubs and music festivals while working on their new album, which is due for release in 2013.
"Going over to Dartmouth didn't work out this time," Gibson said. "But we hope to be back, and we always love to meet anyone who's interested in what we do."
As for the future of the band, Johnny Mathias has humble dreams.
"I hope we get to continue to play music and to go professional," he said. "The more you specify the details, the more you lose the big picture."
