Band Name: The Frustrations
Current Lineup: Kristen Soltis (vocals, keys), Jim McEvoy (guitars), Lee Stafford (bass), Nick Marinakis (drums), Andrew Swanekamp (tenor sax)
Estimated total band weight: 500 pounds without Andrew, 3 tons with Andrew
Location: DC area
MySpace Page: myspace.com/frustrationsdc
Buy their music at: our MySpace page. You can get a physical copy of the record or buy the tracks digitally!

• Jim: Nick and I have played together for about four years now.  We had a house party gig lined up in Fall 2006, and put together a band with a bass and trumpet player.  A week before the gig both guys dropped out, so we had to scramble to find a band.  We found a bass player through some friends, and Nick knew a guy who played trombone, but had no idea how to reach him.  So, he sent an e-mail to what might be the 'bone player's gmail saying, "Hey, if this is the right John, here's a party gig opportunity and a set list."  About a day later John had responded with a song-by-song breakdown of the set list and said, "Hey, I have a trumpet player I could bring, too."
  
  Anyway, we crush the party and rock really hard, and decide to make a band out of it.  The bass player couldn't commit, so John invited Lee to jam.  Lee was at the house party.  Doug, the trumpet guy, invited Andrew to jam on tenor sax.  A few months later I met Kristen at a karaoke bar, and knew she belonged in our band.  And then we started writing and playing gigs.  And now we have two records.
• Kristen: To my knowledge the band got together somewhat at a 90s party, and then added me in March after my karaoke rendition of "Take Me Or Leave Me" from Rent left Jim breathless.... OK, not really, maybe it was my tipsy version of Billy Joel's "Scenes From An Italian Restaurant," a birthday tradition.  Either way, I'm not very helpful on giving the history of the band as I was kind of the last one in the door.
• Lee: Nick randomly emailed Mr. Johnny Cain because he thought it would be fun to have a horn section at a prom party gig they were playing.  John called up Doug and invited me to come to the party.  Good times were had and later through John Cain, I joined the band.
• Andrew: The Frustrations came together for a house party in late 2006.  I got pulled in when a party with a funkier vibe was requested, though I am the antithesis of funk.  We got Kristen in March '07, and it's fired off from there.

• Kristen: One of the band's original members had some, well, frustrations in his life.  Thus, the name.  I'll say no more.
• Jim: The exact location, I think, was in Lee's car driving home from band practice.  I think we were right near Rt. 1 in Crystal City.
• Lee: Sexual frustration.
• Andrew: One of our founding members had some... lady frustrations.  Thus, well, Ta Da!

• Kristen: For me - I have no other musical things I'm doing now.  Last time I did anything musical I was on stage in my high school's production of 42nd Street.
• Jim: Nick and I were in bands named Runaway Jim (jam/funk), Steeprock Park (drugs, mostly), No Connotations (bad).  I was in a punk band in high school called Live Nudes, and another band in college called We, the Turtle.
• Lee: I started out back in good old Silver Spring, MD in the Juice Mafia (a no good bunch of ska raggamuffins).  I then went on to more ska fame in the DC band Dr. Zaius.  After creative differences, I joined the reggae/ska band the Defectors which became the Inducers.  We recorded a never-released CD with King Django and then broke up.  Two years later that same band called me up and we started an alt. country band called Percey and Maud, which became a noise band called River's in Fields. Damn that is a lot of bands.  I then did some solo work before joining up with the Frustrations.
• Andrew: I've only ever played in high school bands, such as jazz and marching.  I once played in a wedding, but it was Kenny G.  I can't believe I just admitted that.
• Nick: Other than rocking with Jim in No Connotations/Steeprock Park/Runaway Jim.  I was in a terrible high school cover band called Citronella that never booked a single gig. I also had a brief stint in a jam band in college called the Four-Headed Monster.

• Kristen: Amy Winehouse, the Gossip, Mute Math, Plumb, Joss Stone, Gwen Stefani, Stevie Wonder, the Rapture, Mark Ronson.
• Jim: I like to consider my guitar playing a little Santana, a little Tim Mahoney from 311, but it's mostly just a ménage trois with Trey Anastasio from Phish, Iron Maiden's Adrian Smith and punk guitar power chords.
• Lee: The Slackers, the Pietasters, Rx Bandits, the Police, Neil Diamond, Beck, Johnny Cash, Rancid, Cake, Prince, the Toots, the Clash and lots and lots of 80's and 90's TV.
• Andrew: Dexter Gordon is by far my favorite saxophonist.  I also really dig Clarence Clemons work with the E Street Band. And on a more general note, when Bowie gets funky, damn he does it well.
• Nick: Stewart Copeland (the Police), Chris Tsagakis (Rx Bandits), Jon Fishman (Phish), Steve Gadd, John Bonham (Led Zeppelin).

• Kristen: If the Rx Bandits had Kelly Clarkson on lead vocals.  Yeah, I'm flattering myself, but whatever.
• Jim: Upbeat, spastic, focused and spontaneous.
• Lee: Savory, yet sweet.  A good balance of flavors.  Baked at 425 degrees in a high-altitude oven.  Let the music cool before consuming.
• Andrew: My sound?  Loud and inappropriate.  The Frustrations sound like audiodynamite and are very much an Rx Bandits vibe, but I think Kristen sounds more like Lilly Allen than Kelly Clarkson.
• Nick: Rx Bandits, assuming Matt Embree got a sex change and funk injection.

• Kristen: World domination, obviously.  We just put out another EP and we're already writing the songs that will be on the next project, whenever it happens.  We're really a song machine.  We'd like to start traveling outside the Beltway to gigs, maybe doing a tour of some colleges this Fall.
• Jim: Destroy our bank accounts for another EP or full-length (if someone wants to give us money…please), and play more shows.  We've met so many cool people through playing shows.
• Lee: To lose less money, and play lots of gigs on the East Coast.
• Andrew: We're going to conquer Manhattan on Memorial Day Weekend, and when I say conquer, I mean the set will turn that place into a living Cloverfield.  I think Lee is going to go bass in the face on the Statue of Liberty.
• Nick: Rocking as hard as possible as often as possible.

• Kristen: The Capitol.  It was the first one I saw when I visited DC the first time when I was in high school, and I just couldn't stop looking at it.  Also, its why I'm in DC and had a chance to meet these guys.
• Jim: Union Station.
• Lee: Union Station.
• Andrew: The Jefferson in the fall, hands down.  Beautiful colors, no stupid tourists.
• Nick: ...and the Washington Monument (blinks) goodnight.

• Kristen: I think we've all had some pretty spectacular Ben's Chili Bowl experiences.   On a total yuppie note, Matchbox rules.
• Jim: Definitely not Crystal City Restaurant.
• Lee: If you don't like a half-smoke at Ben's at 2am, then you should get out of town.
• Andrew: If you like tots, Solly's U Street Tavern.  If you like real food, I've never had a bad meal at Dino in Cleveland Park.
• Nick: I'm generally more interested in a good beer... meals are commodities. Pizzeria Paradiso is a good place to get both.

• Kristen: I'm really bad at this part, everyone else in the band knows ska very well, and I still think I'm cool because I bought the Mighty Mighty Bosstone's Lets Face It in the 8th grade.
• Jim: Rx Bandits - the Resignation, Hello Tokyo - Sell the Stars, and the Planet Smashers - Life of the Party, which has been spinning in my CD player for at least a year.
• Lee: I hope that everyone that reads DCska already has Redlight by the Slackers.  It's just great.  I've recently been listening to some dub stuff by the Thievery Corporation and the American Recordings by Johnny Cash, which are kick ass.
• Andrew: The self-titled album from the Frustrations?   Also, the soundtrack from Step into Liquid.
• Nick: Rx Bandits - Live from Bonnaroo. Everything else I like isn't too ska-tastic.
  
  

• Kristen: The Gossip.
• Jim: Nickleback, Seether, Live, Disturbed, or Slipknot, but mostly Nickleback.
• Lee: Tacos.
• Andrew: The Killers with Horns.
• Nick: Puppy dogs and ice cream? Interesting music that still makes you want to shake your groove thing?

• 2008 - The Frustrations, Recorded and mixed at Inner Ear Studios, Arlington, VA.  Mastered Lucid Production, New York, NY.
• 2007 - Monday Night Tiki Bars, Recorded and mixed at Inner Ear Studios, Arlington, VA