Tom Frietchen uses the catch phrase “Rock and Roll with Country Soul,” and it couldn’t be more fitting for the Strongsville, Ohio native. Growing up Frietchen always had a passion for music and started playing guitar at age 10 and was writing songs when he was still in his teens. He formed a heavy metal band that had success with their original music which received airtime on radio and was even featured in Billboard Magazine.
Music was changing in the 90’s and so was Frietchen’s personal life. He married and had two daughters and focused more on being a husband and father and started his own painting company. But music was something that always stayed with him.
“Once the music gets in you, it doesn’t just stop,” Frietchen admits.
Fast forward to 2011 and Frietchen was painting the home of one of his one of his clients. As fate would have it the home had a recording studio in the basement and after talking for awhile to the homeowner he was offered the chance to come back and record.
He went home and started writing and returned to record the songs. His music now was more of a mix of rock with country and the subject matter was more about real life and relationships. “I did a song called “Just You and Me” and submitted it to iHeart Radio and that made it all the way to No. 1 for unsigned artists on their charts,” said Frietchen. The song went on to be played on more than 350 radio stations nationwide and was considered for a Grammy nomination.
“The greatest thrill was listening to WGAR with my daughters and hearing them say here’s Tom Frietchen of Strongsville, Ohio.”
“From there I got the band together and signed with Tate Music Group,” Frietchen added. The Tom Frietchen Band was back on the map and started playing live shows and recorded more songs and released their debut album It’s Been So Long. He followed up with his second CD, Quarter Mile. The CD’s are both available on iTunes and Amazon.
“That’s what it comes down to – the music. And, people relating to your music,” Frietchen said.
As Frietchen and his band started to play more shows his fan base grew, both at his live performances and on social media.
“Music is a numbers game. On Twitter I have 32,000 followers now and I get messages from all over the United States. I get messages from people asking when I am coming here or when am I coming there. People don’t realize that we are not a touring act. I wish I could just pack up and just go do a show in North Carolina and drive back to Cleveland, but it’s just not feasible.”
Frietchen actually had to take a break from performing this past year all together after a shoulder injury and almost nine months to fully recover.
“I remember doing shows and I would have Jonnie (TFB guitar player) sling the guitar strap over my shoulder because my arm wouldn’t move, then I would slap my arm over the guitar because I couldn’t move my arm.”
Tom Frietchen
“The break revitalized me to get me going again,” Frietchen explained.
He headed back in the studio earlier this year to start work on the music that will make up the tracks for his next CD he hopes to have out later this year.
“Two songs are done and we are sending them to Nashville to be mixed and mastered,” “Next Red Light” and “Smile and a Tear” and I am doing a couple of fun tunes called “She Woke Up Her Neighborhood” and “I Just Wanna’.”
The new music has more of today’s current country sound because Frietchen didn’t want to write the the same stuff he had already done. He also has been recording with new musicians in the studio – Dougie Manross on guitar, Garrett Tresch on bass, John Cardilino on Drums, and his long time fiddle player Raj Ghahremani. They are recording at Colbrunn Studios and Robb Colbrunn is engineering the recording, as well as playing drums and percussion on the tracks.
Frietchen and the band recently recorded the video for the new song “Next Red Light.” The band is doing the filming locally and used the Mason Jar in Aurora as the backdrop for the video which is currently in the editing stage.
Frietchen will continue to record more songs for the new album and will be back to performing live in 2017. His enormous fan following is definitely waiting and will be happy to see him back soon.
Here is the video to Tom Frietchen’s song “What You Want” from the album It’s Been So Long.
