Make-A-Scene!

WASILLA — Josh Fryfogle isn’t above making a public scene.

The 31-year-old Valley musician may not have hit the big time with breakout national success, but he’s a driving force for local musicians and bands. A singer/songwriter with one album under his belt (”No Previous Record,” produced five years ago), Fryfogle is also the publisher and editor of “Make A Scene,” a music publication that focuses on the grassiest roots of Valley music.

“It all started because I’m a book reader as well,” Fryfogle said. “That evolved when I was reading about the music industry and was more naive about how that works. Like a lot of musicians, when they’re young and dreaming of making it big — and we all have that dream — my solution was not so much to just dream, but to study it.”

What Fryfogle learned was that the standard music industry doesn’t work for most musicians, especially those so geographically removed in a place such as Alaska.

“Over time, I developed a book-learning type of understanding of the way it works, and I realized, wow, this is totally corrupt,” he said. “There is no equal reward for your effort. At the time, the only reason I pursued the dream was my love for music, and my love for music didn’t die. But my rose-colored glasses of the industry definitely went away.”

Rather than become disillusioned and give up his music, Fryfogle wanted to change the system from the ground up. Six years ago, he held his first Make A Scene competition, a contest that challenged local musicians to bring in an audience and perform. The one with the largest attendance won time in a local recording studio.

“Really, though, it were the losers who got the most out of it, because they got exposure to an audience they normally wouldn’t have,” he said. “The whole idea was simply promotion, to have an appreciative audience where they can play their music.”

Make A Scene was a hit, so much so the fire marshal had to shut the place down it was so crowded.

In May 2007, Fryfogle began publishing “Make A Scene,” an eight-page newspaper that distributed 3,000 copies. Today, it has grown to 20 pages and 10,000 copies.

But for Fryfogle, making a scene in Valley music began much earlier.

Always around music

Growing up, Fryfogle credits his love for music to his father, Glenn.

“He bombarded me with music my whole life,” he said. “I don’t remember a time when there wasn’t music playing. And he always had a Hi-Fi system, had a bass guitar sitting around the house.”

The youngster grew up to the sounds southern rock — Pure Prairie League, Fleetwood Mac and Lynyrd Skynyrd. In fact, his first concert was one he attended with his father.

“One of my first musical experiences was at a Skynyrd concert,” Fryfogle said. “My dad took me to see him, I was about 12, and I remember that every nuance totally blew me away. The tour was called ‘Rocktoberfest’ and it was mostly southern rock. Molly Hatchet was there, the Georgia Satellites.”

While his father dabbled with music, Fryfogle said he’s really “more of a strummer. He’s never performed, that I’m aware of. But he definitely taught me my first couple of chords and everything.”

Today, Fryfogle plays mostly his own music, which he describes as acoustic progressive folk and nothing like his first album, which was more electric rock.

“Once I started playing, I realized I’ve got a bad case of the OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder),” he said. “I would say primarily I’m a singer-songwriter. I’m a guitarist by necessity, but it’s more about the creative process for me.

“I’ve done the bar scene, and I can play that and do the cover tunes, but that’s not where my heart is.”

And his heart is also in the Valley he loves. His ultimate dream is to bring a permanent theater that can be a good place to host local concerts and attract big names from the Lower 48.

“What we really need is a good theater-style venue,” Fryfogle said. “We don’t get a lot of touring artists here, and that’s a real bummer, because they don’t want to come up here for two or three venues.”

Most musicians or bands want to host concerts at multiple places, but here that usually means Anchorage and Fairbanks, he said. If the Valley had a viable theater, that would put a venue in between the two bigger cities and make an Alaska tour more palatable.

But until that happens, Fryfogle said he intends to continue to make a scene in the Valley.

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.

IF YOU GO

Want to hear Josh Fryfogle’s brand of progressive folk? He’s performing tonight at 7 p.m. at Sofia’s Kafe Neo along the Palmer-Wasilla Highway.