Frontman & the Managers

Raggabombom

Frontman & The Managers is a reggae band with elements of soul, blues and much more….The project started on the island of Mallorca in the winter of 2014 with the intention of leaving their mark in the world of reggae. What happened next goes to prove the proverbial phrase, ‘When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!’

IRIE Magazine caught up with Felix Frontman, who had just pushed a broken motorbike 40 km over a Vietnamese mountain, to learn the secret story of the foundation of the Frontman & the Managers. The story of this band is really unconventional. It starts with its lead singer, Felix Frontman. Felix was born in Spain, in a bilingual place called Mallorca, an island in the Mediterranean, near Barcelona. His mother is english and his father, German. He says he never fully learned a complete language however his spanish does him well. When Felix was born, he was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), a degenerative eye disease, the same disease as his grandfather on his mother side. Felix knew that by the time he reach the age of 30, he would be legally blind. From this inherited disease, two important things were defined in Felix’ life. One, Felix would learn to play the piano, and two, Felix would travel around the world. This was his fathers wish. His father felt that it was important for Felix to see all the colors of the world before he became blind. And by learning to play the piano, Felix discovered that music was his love.

We fast-forward to the fall of 2014. Felix is living in Amsterdam when he received a call from his best friend, who just happens to be an amazing electric guitarist. His friend got an offer to play backup for the winner of a big TV show in Spain. He asked Felix if he wanted to play piano with him. Felix readily took him up on the offer and flew back to Spain.

At first, things were great. Felix and his friend got to see the world that many musicians dream of living when they work hard and become successful. They were living the life of a successful commercial musician. But things quickly unravelled. This golden opportunity turned out to be a broken dream for them because of the bad experience the band had dealing with the managers of the show and the big labels (this is where the name The Managers comes from). They felt broken-hearted. From that experience, Frontman got a glimpse of what it is like to follow the path of a musician in the 21st century. When the managers of the show didn’t do their part of the deal, Felix and his friend came to a decision… let’s leave this place and do our own reggae.

For Felix, 2015 was like the previous years. He planned a new trip, this time to travel around Asia. With little time on his hands, Felix was able to record some samples of how their sound could be and even produced a music video on the last day before his departure. They did it for fun and with no expectations. While in Asia, Felix started receiving attention that convinced him to return home soon to continue the project and pursue it more seriously.

Equipped with only a macbook, a keyboard, a guitar and a microphone, Felix and his friend set out to make their own reggae music. The fruits of their labor are two extraordinary reggae tracks, ‘Make Me Smile’, and ‘Raggabombom.’ Give a listen to ‘Raggabombom’ and take in the words as you listen to the melody. You’ll soon discover why Frontman & the Managers is on our recommended playlist.