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Frontier band moves on to Battle of Bands finals

06-24-2009 | Music

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Aeroroot, a rock band made up of employees from Frontier Natural Products Co-op of Norway, is moving on to the finals.

The band competed June 20 in Los Angeles at the Fortune's Battle of the Corporate Bands regional semi-final competition and was selected as one of four finalists to go on to the next round. The band will compete in the finals at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony Oct. 3 in Cleveland.

"It was completely exciting," Brett Karminski, lead guitarist and brand manager at Frontier, stated in an e-mail. "We were the sixth band out of eight to play and after watching the first five bands, we were blown away by their talent and were sure that we had no chance of making it."

The group plays covers of jazz and rock songs by artists such as Tab Benoit and The Who.

"We knew that we needed to step it up a few notches and we ended up playing our set about as well as we have ever played it," he stated. "At the end when the qualifying bands were announced, they announced the first three, and our name had not been announced yet. We figured that since the band from NBC TV was not included, we were sure that they would be the last band chosen, as they had amazing talent, and they were saving the best for last. Much to our surprise, instead of hearing, 'from NBC,' we heard, 'from Norway, Iowa.' That is pretty much all we remember hearing before we were overcome with excitement. I still get chills thinking about it."

Aeroroot was chosen as one of 16 finalists to compete in the semi-finals. They performed at the Key Club on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, Calif., the site where legendary acts such as the Doors, Tina Turner and Van Halen earned notoriety.