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You have probably heard the song "Blow It Out" anywhere from WMTS 88.3 to Nashville's WZPC 102.9 The Buzz to retail stores like American Eagle.
Now, the band behind the song is coming to MTSU to rock the campus.
The Features, a major-label band straight out of Murfreesboro, will kick the weekend off playing at Tucker Theater on Friday. Feable Weiner and The Clutters, two Local Buzz bands, are opening, giving students a triple-shot of rock to end the first week of classes.
Tickets are $7 in advance for MTSU students and $12 for the public. On Friday night, tickets will be $10 for students and $15 to the public.
"We wanted to play another show in Murfreesboro," said Matt Pelham, vocalist/guitarist for The Features. "We played one not too long ago at Wall Street [on the Square], and we like to play in Murfreesboro."
"For one, we don't have to travel far," he said, laughing. "So, when we were asked to do the Tucker Theater, we thought that would be cool."
It's fitting for them to play on campus, considering the Features came to Murfreesboro in the fall of 1993 to pursue degrees in the recording industry.
"Three of us-myself, Roger [Dabbs, bass guitar] and Parrish [Yaw, keyboards]-we grew up together and started playing together for lack of anything else to do in Sparta, TN, Pelham said. "We moved to Murfreesboro, started going to MTSU and then quit going to MTSU."
"We lost a couple of band members. Then we ended up with the current line-up with Rollum [Haas, drums]. We started pretty much how every band starts, but we began really young."
The Features signed to Universal and released two albums in 2004 - an EP called The Beginnings in the spring and a full-length debut, Exhibit A, later that fall. They then embarked on tours, including an opening slot on a Kings of Leon tour.
"We played this theater in Germany; it was like an old movie theater," Pelham said. "It was all seats. We were opening up for the Kings of Leon, and it was a weird thing. We had to struggle through two nights of playing that venue because no one knew who we were … and they just sat."
Pelham said the audience didn't stay seated long, rising from their seats when the Kings came out on stage.
"It's always kinda weird being the opening band, " he said. "It makes it a little more exciting. You have to prove yourself, especially if you're opening for someone like the Kings of Leon, who are as big as they are."
The overseas tour with the Kings of Leon was different compared to the shows Pelham and the rest of the band were used to in the United States.
"We had a good time because we hadn't really ventured out of this area - Atlanta, Lexington, Ky., that's the farthest we would go for shows," Pelham said. "We were playing to 200 or 300 tops capacity, and we had done that for years and years."
"Then we went from that to playing in front of 5,000 or 7,000 people. It was the most stressful part of it, but apart from that, it was fun."
The band also had a run-in with the outspoken Dee Snider from '80s hair band Twisted Sister.
"We were doing a radio show in Chicago, and it was sort of like a Bob and Tom thing, but it's one guy [Mancow] who just rambles on," Pelham said, recalling the interview. "He was interviewing Dee Snider while we were doing a live set. I don't remember what Dee Snider said, but he didn't care for us very much."
"It was one of those kind of things where it feels like maybe he had to say something funny. He insulted us pretty well. But he came in, apologized later and shook our hands. We still like him."
When it comes to musical influences, Pelham doesn't name just one.
"I think we all like, in general, older music more than current music. I like the Kinks and Bob Dylan. Everyone in the band has completely different influences. I could name bands all day, but it would go on forever because there isn't one particular thing that we're all into."
Although the Features are often compared to the Bravery and other contemporary rock/pop bands, Pelham finds it difficult to describe exactly where the band falls within that genre.
"We sort of fall between commercial pop and indie, " he says. "We're kinda between the two - it's not that and it's not that. It might hurt us, but that's what we like."
"Personally, I'm not an indie guy, but I'm not, definitely not, some sort of mainstream guy. I like good pop songs and that's what we try to do. We're not trying to be too left of center or too far to the right. We just try to walk a line down the center. It's a hard thing to be."
Currently, the band is in the process of writing songs and cutting demos for the next album, which Pelham says he hopes will be released later this year. He added although the band may play bigger venues, they still appreciate smaller, local shows.
"We've always enjoyed playing at The Boro, Sebastian's when it was open, and Wall Street and playing the new songs for this audience," Pelham said. "Hopefully we're going to play a few shows here, play the new songs here and test them out."
As for the current set list, he said they have taken older songs, "cutting them up" and changing them to keep them fresh. The Features have been together for more than 10 years, and Pelham believes there is one reason why they have lasted so long.
"It's what we like to do," he said. "It's what we wanted to do. Anything we run into now, it's not anything we haven't seen many times before."
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