blue october

Blue October is a rock band originally from Houston, Texas. The band is best known for the singles "Hate Me" and "Into the Ocean" from the album Foiled. The band was formed in 1996 and currently consists of Justin Furstenfeld (lead vocals), Jeremy Furstenfeld (drums, percussion), Ryan Delahoussaye (violin/viola, mandolin, keyboards, vocals), C.B. Hudson (guitar), and Matt Noveskey (bass guitar).

History

Blue October was formed in 1996 by lead singer/songwriter/guitarist Justin Furstenfeld, his brother, drummer Jeremy, multi-instrumentalist Ryan Delahoussaye, later joined by guitarist/vocalist CB Hudson and bassist Matt Noveskey. Managed by Justin and Jeremy's parents under the name "RoDan Entertainment", Blue October released their first album, The Answers, in 1998, a well-received debut which sold over 5,000 copies in Houston alone.^[1] Due to a fan-based connection with the local ABC network television affiliate, Blue October was able to schedule an early-morning news performance — the band's first live television performance.

Blue October caught the attention of the major record labels, and in 1999 was signed to Universal Records for the release of their second album Consent to Treatment. For a variety of reasons, the band was dropped by Universal Records in 2002. Ironically, the band's third album History for Sale — re-released on Universal, due to larger than expected album sales with label Brando Records — is largely a response to the control the label placed on the group during the Consent to Treatment production process.^[2]

Blue October received a larger audience as their single "Calling You", featured on the American Wedding movie soundtrack, begin to get radio play in Dallas, TX. The band was invited to play at a large radio produced annual concert known as Edgefest. Later hits off of History for Sale included "Inner Glow" and "Razorblade". However, "Calling You" remained the group's largest mainstream success until their 2006 single "Hate Me", which peaked at number two on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart. The music video for "Hate Me" debuted on VH1, later making a splash at number thirteen on VH1's user-controlled video countdown show VSpot Top 20 Countdown; it eventually peaked at number twelve for the week ending on May 5, 2006.

The band's latest album, entitled Foiled, was released on April 4, 2006. The band made their network television premiere on April 14, 2006, performing "Hate Me", the first single from Foiled on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. They appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live on June 28, 2006. "Into the Ocean", the second single from the album impacted radio on July 17, 2006 and the video for the song debuted at number three on VH1's VSpot Top 20 Countdown during the show's final week of 2006.

As a result of reaching a new audience that Blue October has found with its Foiled album, Blue October has recently undergone an expansion of its tour locations. Originally restricted to Texas and parts of the Midwest and Southwest United States, Blue October is now touring major locations covering the entire United States, in addition to adding locations in Hawaii, Canada, Mexico, England, Germany and the Netherlands to their schedule. On November 14, 2006 Blue October opened for the Rolling Stones in Boise, Idaho.

Discography

Studio albums

¹ Currently active on charts. These are the peak chart positions.

Compilations and Soundtracks

• Gravity Games 2000: Summer Sounds Vol. 1 (2000) - The single "James" is the twelfth track on this sampler album.

• Local Licks Live 13: (2002) - Blue October contributes the live track "Ugly Side" (from the then forthcoming History for Sale album) to this compilation released through Austin radio station KLBJ-FM. Procedes from the sale of the album benefited Austin Victims of Domestic Violence Emergency Fund.

• American Wedding (2003) - The single "Calling You" is the fifteenth track on this soundtrack album. In the movie American Wedding, "Calling You" can be heard somewhat muted in a bar scene playing on a jukebox. Many fans consider the inclusion of "Calling You" in the soundtrack to be the beginning of Blue October's move towards a bigger national airplay and recognition.

• Live from the Planet Archives: Volume 1 (2004) - A compilation disc released in stores in the Kansas City / Lawrence area by the radio station 97.3 KZPL "The Planet." KZPL recorded these shows and put together two separate albums of the best performances from such notable artists as Ben Harper, The Jayhawks, Melissa Ethridge and Maroon 5. The disc includes an acoustic version of Blue October's "Calling You."

• Stormaid: The Concert (2005) - A concert CD from the September 18, 2005 Hurricane Benefit concert held at the Gypsy Tea Room in Dallas. It was produced by Disc Live and the local 102.1 KDGE radio station. It is a two CD set which includes songs by Texas artists Zayra Alvarez, South FM, The Burden Brothers and others who played the concert. The Blue October tracks "Calling You" and "Inner Glow" are included. Proceeds from the sale of the album go to the Red Cross.

• Now That's What I Call Music! 20 (2005) - The live performance of "18th Floor Balcony" from the Argue with a Tree concert DVD appeared on a limited edition promotional DVD included in a run of 20,000 copies.

• Saw III soundtrack (2006) - Blue October's "Drilled a Wire Through My Cheek" is track seven on this soundtrack for the horror movie Saw III.

• The 97X Green Room: Volume 2 (2006) - A live acoustic version of Blue October's single "Hate Me" is track three on this compilation produced by Tampa Radio station WSUN.

Singles

¹ Currently active on charts. These are the peak chart positions.

Promotional

• "Hate Me Acoustic", a promotional CD included with the Foiled family pack.

• "Foiled Again", a 3-track promotional CD given away to customers who purchased Foiled at Best Buy stores in 2006. It includes the acoustic version of "Hate Me" as well as live acoustic versions of "Razorblade" and "Into the Ocean".

Videography

• "Calling You", a music video first shown in 2003 on MTV2's Subterranean. The video was also released as a promotional DVD that was available at Blue October concerts.
• Argue With a Tree, recorded live on June 4, 2004 at Lakewood Theater (Dallas, Texas) and released as a DVD on February 22, 2005
• "Razorblade", a music video featured as an extra on the Argue with a Tree DVD
• "Hate Me", a music video that premiered March 23, 2006 on Yahoo! and entered rotation on VH1 March 27, 2006
• "Into the Ocean", a music video that premiered November 28, 2006 on VH1.com

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