People from Wisconsin may know the Katie Todd Band for winning the 2002 Summerfest Big Break Competition and for its numerous appearances at the music festival. Three years after that big win, the band is still garnering attention.
The four-piece Chicago band -- comprising Katie Todd on keyboards, Travis Dow on guitar, Mark Cameron on drums and Evan Cantor on bass -- has opened for some big name artists and got to the semifinals of a songwriting competition.
But one honor bestowed on the band can make most up-and-coming bands jealous: iTunes featured the Katie Todd Band's song "Face Down" as a single of the week.
"All these other bands were like, 'How did you get that?' We said if we could do that for you we would. Getting responses from people is hit or miss," Katie Todd says. "We submitted to iTunes and they contacted us and said that they really liked 'Face Down' and 'we'd like to feature it.'"
That one song has helped the band gain attention nationwide. Todd travels around the U.S. playing solo on college campuses and has gotten plenty of feedback.
"As soon as I leave the Midwest it's like starting all over again. People come to the show specifically to hear that song," she says.
But another song, "In and Around," has drummed up some international news. The band submitted the song to the International Songwriting Contest and got as a far as the semifinals from a group of over 15,000 songs.
Todd said she submitted the song on a whim, but just felt good about it.
However, Todd says that the band has more to offer and that people can experience the band best at one of its live shows.
"People have said that we haven't captured on CD what our live show is about. I'm happy about the way our last CD came out, but our live show is better than our CD. We can't completely translate passion on studio CD which I would really like to do."
And Todd has plenty of passion to share. She says that the band plays the songs really well, but it's more about band dynamics and what comes from playing the song, especially upbeat songs.
"As far as my band goes, we play ('In and Around' and 'Face Down') really well," she says.
"They're really upbeat songs, but we don't just play them really loud, that defeats the purpose of conveying the song to somebody."
The one thing that Todd isn't too happy about, oddly enough, is the band's name.
"I don't particularly like the name Katie Todd Band. I started out as a solo project thing. I was doing my own thing, it was just my name. The band came about short time after that and became much more collaboration. It doesn't represents what we're about," she says.
So the group slapped on band after Katie Todd and the rest is history. Todd doesn't believe that they could change the name now. A name change could create more problems since the band already has a following.
Jokingly she says, "I think this name is kind of cheesy. It'd be better to be Katie and the Nervous Mondays or something like that, but not really."
The Katie Todd Band plays Shank Hall April 14 with Down the Line. Its web site is katietodd.com and its myspace is myspace.com/katietoddband.
Originally from Des Plaines, Ill., Heather moved to Milwaukee to earn a B.A. in journalism from Marquette University. With a tongue-twisting last name like Leszczewicz, it's best to go into a career where people don't need to say your name often.
However, she's still sticking to some of her Illinoisan ways (she won't reform when it comes to things like pop, water fountain or ATM), though she's grown to enjoy her time in the Brew City.
Although her journalism career is still budding, Heather has had the chance for some once-in-a-lifetime interviews with celebrities like actor Vince Vaughn and actress Charlize Theron, director Cameron Crowe and singers Ben Kweller and Isaac Hanson of '90s brother boy band Hanson.
Heather's a self-proclaimed workaholic but loves her entertainment. She's a real television and movie fanatic, book nerd, music junkie, coffee addict and pop culture aficionado.
