Music

Texas is rapidly becoming a breeding ground for a new generation of pop musicians, ones who believe that record labels are unnecessary.

Lewisville native Brad Skistimas, 24, is emerging as a leader of that new charge. The evidence: Every song from his self-released 2005 debut CD, Fry Street, was used on television shows, including MTV's Laguna Beach and the CW's One Tree Hill, and in August he became the first unsigned artist to sell his CDs in Wal-Mart stores.

But the Flower Mound Marcus graduate, who performs his charming acoustic pop as Five Times August, knew better than to use his admittedly clunky last name as his bugle.

"I didn't want to promote my music as 'Brad Skistimas' because nobody will remember that when they go home to their computer and want to type in 'BradSkistimas.com,' " he says from home in Waxahachie. "Since my birthday is Aug. 5, I decided to come up with a band name based on that."

Such shrewd music-business sense isn't the only reason for Mr. Skistimas' burgeoning national emergence. As is frequent in pop music, incessant work, a savvy circle of friends and sheer luck have also dictated his path.

On the work front, he and his manager (and recent bride), Kelly, maintain his Web sites, design and sell all of FTA's merchandise and book his tours.

"Most bands don't realize that if you have four guys in your band, if they all worked 16 hours a day they can accomplish a lot," Mr. Skistimas says. "We continually push ourselves, 16 or 18 hours a day."

His skill at marketing himself online and elsewhere comes from family. His father is a former graphic designer (and the musician briefly studied the field himself at the Art Institute of Dallas), and his brother, Craig, runs an online video-game site.

"I started at the right time, at the boom of independent marketing online," Mr. Skistimas says. "That was in 2001, and I've learned to take advantage of Internet marketing.

"I don't have to hire or wait on anybody to update my Web site; I save a lot of money doing that as well. And it moved my career a lot faster. Many bands don't know how to do that stuff. It slows them down because they have to wait on people, and I don't have to do that to get a new song out there or do a mailing list or newsletter."

His song-placement success on TV was sheer fortune. An MTV producer discovered his music in 2004 on CD Baby, an online store for independent musicians, and asked to use an early Five Times August track, "Better With You," on Laguna Beach's first season. That motivated Mr. Skistimas to recruit a full band to record and release Fry Street, which he also sent to MTV. That triggered the placement deluge.

"He ended up using four or five of those songs on the show," Mr. Skistimas says. "I think music supervisors are all kind of in a circle together, so the more of my music was ... in their hands, the better.

"And there's nobody else to contact except the artists in these situations; they just have to write me and ask and get me to say OK. I think that makes it easier for them, and they like that."

The Wal-Mart feat, however, was a product of all three factors. He and Kelly e-mailed Wal-Mart contacts continually as Five Times August gained more programming credits, and they finally grabbed the attention of the right person.

"I wouldn't have written them if I were just some guy with a CD because that wasn't going to fly with them," Mr. Skistimas says. "But if I slap a big sticker on that CD with MTV and One Tree Hill and other placements on it, they might take interest. And they did."

He renamed his LP The Independent for the Arkansas-based chain, which has sold more than 13,000 FTA CDs to date. "A lot of my fans that watch those shows don't have credit cards to get it online, so I wanted to get it in one store in particular, and I felt that Wal-Mart would be a great place since there are so many of them."

The next step is nigh. Mr. Skistimas will release Brighter Side, his second full-length, on March 18. Recorded and produced at Bass Propulsion Laboratories in Dallas, its first single, "The Good Life," is already available on iTunes and elsewhere. Another new track, "Sentimental Spell," accompanied a scene montage on the season finale of MTV's The Real World: Sydney in January.

Still, Mr. Skistimas has no record deal. His reaction? Big deal.

"When I first started, the idea was to get a record deal," he says. "People who aren't in the music industry ... think that that's the epitome of success. That was kind of my attitude, too, but as I accomplished more, the record industry got more and more weird.

"Besides, when I put out a song, it's not so much mine anymore. It's the listener's."

Five Times August performs with Stephen Speaks at 8 p.m. Sunday in the Cambridge Room at the House of Blues, 2200 N. Lamar St. Doors open at 7. $8. Ticketmaster, 214-978-2583.

ARCHIVES: Search for more stories on this and other topics | Search Tips

SUBSCRIBE: Get The Dallas Morning News delivered to your home