Stage presence

By Tanner Grubbs

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Let’s take a road trip. Gather the friends, the old Corolla, a few scarves and maybe the dog. Let the windows hang loose, open just enough for your hand to ride the currents and flick pumpkin seeds. Make a few sideways glances, smiling, to your comrade in the back seat—but not too many. Tap your foot on the floorboard blanketed with old receipts, all the while knowing how important this moment truly is.

Andrew Frederick, Shawnee junior, has that certain way with words—to create a world at the flick of a beat and the hum of a lyric, such as experienced with the song, “AA Batteries.”

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Contributed Photo

Frederick and the Six Angry Telephones is playing at The Wonka House, 726 Missouri St., 9 p.m. on Saturday. The band plans to release a nine-song album on both CD and cassette soon.

As lead singer and songwriter for Frederick and the Six Angry Telephones—a seven-member ensemble of violins, horns, saxophones and the occasional (subtle) owl noise—Frederick creates music to emphasize and contextualize moments born out of peaks and rhythms. With help from co-writer and long-time friend, Austin Quick, sophomore, Frederick aims to unfold a story, in dramatic structure, for each of their songs; adding each instrument, or the coalescence of all, only when crucial to the lyrical plotline. All the subtleties of a chime or the bellow of a horn become necessities.

While growing up watching musicals like West Side Story and attending live orchestras at Theatre in the Park in Shawnee, it’s no surprise Frederick has a talent for composing unique melodic pop.

Check the group’s Myspace page for news and to a few songs from the upcoming album, including “AA Batteries,” to see where they take you.

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