Five Times August finds success on own terms

Amongst the countless singer/songwriters in Austin, there is a star that shines brightly by the name of Brad Skistimas. With the birth of his band Five Times August, he brings the vocal sounds of John Mayer and the guitar gift of Dave Matthews to the microphone. Breaking the mold of failed musician, Skistimas worked his way to the top and he worked hard.

"I did the first Five Times August [album] when I was 18 and I started selling it like so many kids in bands were doing at that time," Skistimas said. "Mine started doing better than certain bands in that area so it seemed like a good job."

Not every band can claim to be able to touch the hearts of fans from so many different demographics. Families from all over the country come to see Five Times August no matter where he's playing. All you need is a good love song to bring the family together.

"I've always written the songs that I would want to listen to," Skistimas said. "So, some of it's mushy and some of it's corny, but that's the kind of stuff I listen to. I listened to the Beatles growing up a lot and Paul McCartney is one of my biggest influences. All of those songs are love songs. Everyone can relate to love songs."

While recording the album, Skistimas, along with four other chosen members, moved into a house in Denton for seven months to record. Since the other band members were used to recording for a rock band, Skistimas said there were some initial conflicts, but the music came out beautifully.

"The album was [recorded] in a house off of Fry Street which is where it got its name. It was pretty low budget, but it came out pretty good. It was basically four guys living in a house together. I went back to doing solo acoustic stuff after the album was done just because it was easier to book shows."

"Fry Street" doesn't fail to please if you're nothing short of a romantic. Skistimas' lyrics touch the hearts of the broken hearted as well as the deep in love. His muse settles just short of those high school break ups and make ups.

"My lyrics come from relationships," Skistimas said. "The songs on 'Fry Street' come from when I was 18, 20, 21 and I'm 23 now. So, average relationships I had were those high school relationships that everyone had. Those relationships everyone can relate to. I think the next album that I write will be advice for after those high school break ups."

The hard work on the album has paid off for Skistimas and fans as Five Times August has been placed at number 18 on MySpace's top played unsigned artists. An overwhelming feeling of joy has been felt by the artist as he has gotten a lot of praise from the Internet community.

"It's pretty cool," he said. "There's a whole bunch of different genres and as an acoustic singer/songwriter there's a million of us out there. On MySpace alone there's about 650,000 of us out there. MySpace is something everyone is doing right now and to even be in the top 100 is pretty amazing. It lets me know I'm doing something right."

Along with all of the meek behavior the Five Times August founder also stands up for his right to support independent music. Along the top of each one of his MySpace photographs reads the words 'Support Independent Music or there won't be any.' Although it isn't a campaign of any kind Skistimas still stands by his words.

"You really need to support the music," Skistimas said, "and not just be a fan on MySpace. I want the fans to buy the album or buy the tracks on iTunes. I notice two things about those fans: they'll listen to the music on the media player or they'll look at the pictures and comment. If they're going to go to my page and leave a comment, every picture is going to show them to support music and show that I'm trying to make a living."

What's in store for Five Times August? Skistimas is planning a tour of the East Coast to wrap up the year and has high hopes to start recording for a new release for his fans to enjoy.

"I know I have enough songs for [an album]," he said. "[I will] possibly do a few shows outside of Texas. We're going to be doing a lot of do-it-yourself tactics and thinking outside of the bubble."

All in all, Five Times August is more than worth checking out and should be on everyone's radar under the name "Star-in-the-Making."