A local quartet turned to the game Rock Band’s name generator and it offered The Lonely Friends.
The Lonely Friends
The group formed in 2011 to play a marching band fundraiser for Maumee High School.
Alumni of the school, Geiman, Kitts and Duszynski had been in the marching band and Barlos was in choir, so they gave it a shot, thinking it was temporary.
Fast-forward two years and the four released their first disc, Paper Bridges, last month. Tracks include “Light a Fuse,” “Home,” “Do You Remember,” “Humanizing,” “Gold” and “Loud Day, Quiet Night.”
The Lonely Friends will play some songs from that disc at Music Fest 2013. The group, which won the UT Local Band Challenge, will open the free event at 3 p.m.
Described as “old-school rock with influences of blues and some metal to keep it fresh,” the band was selected from performance videos uploaded to the Music Fest Facebook page in July. Community members voted for the local group they wanted to see perform at Music Fest, and the majority of votes — more than 8,000 — came for The Lonely Friends.
“I was surprised that we won,” Geiman said. “We kept posting the competition to Facebook throughout the week and were in the top 10, but we didn’t think it would be us. Everyone is happy that we won.”
Music Fest will be the biggest show the band will play to date.
“I hope everyone enjoys Music Fest, and hopefully they take something away from the music we play and can relate to it in some way,” Geiman said.
For more information about Music Fest, visit utoledo.edu/musicfest, and for more about The Lonely Friends, visit facebook.com/TheLonelyFriends.
