Austin, TX. (Top40 Charts/ Five Times August Official Website) - You may not know it, but chances are you've already heard the music of Five Times August on your favorite TV show. Twenty-four year old singer/songwriter Brad Skistimas (Dallas, TX) fronts his solo music project while getting major music placements on MTV, ABC, CBS, FOX, The CW, Lifetime, Oxygen, and most recently an entire two and a half minute commercial on HBO featuring his song "Do It Again."
Skistimas started Five Times August at the age of 18 and has since set the bar pretty high for today's Do-It-Yourself musician. Brad, with his wife/manager Kelly, take on the many responsibilities of an entire record label between the two. In doing so they accomplished nationwide Wal-Mart distribution for the last Five Times August album "The Independent," becoming the first unsigned act in history to do so.
Their 15-hour a day, 7 day a week work schedule is paying off, too. USA Today, Billboard, Guitar Player Magazine, Performing Songwriter, Music Connection, Teen Vogue and Windows Media have all recognized Five Times August as an artist to watch.
Alongside the TV placements, Skistimas is known as a relentless Internet marketer. Five Times August has been spotted in the top 10 unsigned artist charts on Myspace.com, with over 15 million song plays to date. A rarity that an artist actually manages their own website, Brad self-runs Five Times August's myspace, facebook, youtube, ilike, and purevolume profiles, not to mention he designed and maintains the official Five Times August website (https://fivetimesaugust.com). Though busy bouncing between the many sites, Skistimas still makes enormous effort to write back to the fan e-mail.
While Brad is sifting through those messages and writing songs, Kelly is booking the tours and handling the business management. In 2007 the husband and wife team toured colleges across the nation for 8 months out of the year, visiting 43 of the 50 States. They've continued the momentum so far in 2008 and another extensive tour for 2009 is in the works.
Earlier this year Five Times August released the new album "Brighter Side," which achieved further distribution in Best Buy, Border's Books & Music, FYE and other brick n' mortar stores. With a growing list of major accomplishments, Skistimas' career is starting to rival that of many major-label artists.
"It's a lot of hard work," Skistimas admits. "People have a tough time grasping the concept that Kelly and I really do everything. I wouldn't be afraid to say we are probably the hardest working people in show biz!"
Five Times August Upcoming Tour Dates:
8/7/08 - Phoenix, AZ
8/8/08 - San Diego, CA
8/9/08 - Seal Beach, CA
8/14/08 - Monterey, CA
8/16/08 - Portland, OR
8/17/08 - Seattle, WA
8/18/08 - Boise, ID
8/19/08 - Salt Lake City, UT
8/28/08 - Akron, OH
9/13/08 - Columbus, OH
9/19/08 - Searcy, AR
9/26/08 - Nacogdoches, TX
9/27/08 - ACL, Austin, TX
10/14/08 - Aurora, IL
10/16/08 - Arnold, MD
10/21/08 - Altoona, PA
10/30/08 - Dallas, TX
11/2/08 - Peoria, IL
11/15/08 - Farmville, VA
