Meet The Frst

Today we’d like to introduce you to The Frst.  

The Frst, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Hey, thanks for having us! So ‘The Frst’ (pronounced “first”) is an Indie Rock band I started in Nashville in 2017 after spending some years as a session and touring musician.

Our line-up is constantly evolving, but mostly consists of- me (laughs – Mikei Gray), Andrew Leahey, Taking Back Sunday’s touring guitarist Nathan Cogan, Billy Ray Cyrus’ keyboardist Ryan Prewett, Rodney Atkins’ bassist Justin Smith, and Insane Clown Posse’s touring drummer Jeffrey Cashmere.

I suppose our best-known song is probably “Tarantino” (#78 on the iTunes Top 100 – Rock Chart and #1 at KXFM), but we had three other songs on the SoundCloud Charts (USA Rock): “Ammo” which reached #1, “Seven Eleven” which reached #2, and “Duh” which reached #3.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Is anything that’s ‘worth-while’ ever easy??? (Laughs)

Yeah, let’s see…so for starters my right ear was surgically cut off and sewn back on (twice) to artificially create a new eardrum. That was after it exploded in the hands of a doctor (yikes)! I feel incredibly grateful to be alive and hear decently out of it. But I’ve also been serving as the band’s producer for the last few records, and that definitely doesn’t make things easier! (laughs)

About a decade before that I had to relearn the guitar after a hand/wrist surgery that removed some nerves. It had a bit of a different feel… Coming out of the cast and breaking up all the scar tissue enough to fret chords again was a big challenge.

Going all the way back to the very beginning though, I grew up in a trailer surrounded by cows, and that’s definitely not the kind of place you’re going to put a rock band together. (Laughs.) So, I moved to Miami with no plan (or smartphone) and eventually learned my way around and a little bit of the language, thanks to some incredible folks there.

After that, I moved to Orlando, Gainesville, Tampa, Bowling Green, and then spent the last decade touring out of Nashville. Moving is always a big challenge. But if you’re a musician then living out of a suitcase is par for the course!

…And I suppose I couldn’t wrap it up without mentioning all of our fallen bandmates we’ve lost over the years… [RIP Adam, Richard, Josh, Corey, etc]

…OK, I better stop there or you’ll have my whole bio! (laughs)

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
If you’re into Alternative, Rock, Indie, or even Punk or Metal, give ‘The Frst’ a Google…I think you’ll enjoy at least a song or two.

Our goal is to keep our sound unpredictable, because that’s what keeps things fresh and exciting for us as well as the fans.

We’ll be announcing some new singles soon from our upcoming full length album, This Never Happened, along with new music videos, guest features, a revamped store, and more.

At the moment though, we’re mostly focused on recovering from Covid, it knocked us out pretty hard.

Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
I got my first guitar right before I turned 11. It was very very cheap and came with a plastic amp that I smashed about a year later. (laughs) I still have the guitar though…We tricked it out with neon tape and used it in the “This Is Me Now” music video.

Contact Info:

• Email: TheFrst.com
• Website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Frst?wprov=sfti1
• Instagram: @thefrst
• Facebook: @thefrstofficial
• Twitter: @thefrstofficial
• Youtube: https://www.YouTube.com/thefrst
• SoundCloud: https://www.soundcloud.com/thefrst
• Other: https://bio.site/thefrst