Texan Colby Donaldson may not have survived Survivor, but North Texas has a new reality-show winner on its hands: the local rock band Flickerstick.
For the past four months, the Fort Worth group has been featured on the VH1 series Bands on the Run, a Survivor-like reality show that has pitted Flickerstick against three national bands.
While the VH1 cameras continually rolled, a la Survivor, the bands crisscrossed the country, duking it out in nightclubs for a hefty prize package of $50,000 cash, $100,000 in band equipment, a video that will air on VH1 and a shot at a major-label record deal. The series began April 1. During the course of the show, two of the four bands were eliminated. Last night's final episode was a battle-of-the-bands competition between Flickerstick and the San Diego rock group Soulcracker. Flickerstick emerged the winner.
"We thought we were going to be the first ones to get kicked off," said Flickerstick singer Brandin Lea. "Then we thought we'd be second to get kicked off. I don't think anyone expected us to win. We sure didn't."
On VH1's dime, Flickerstick, Soulcracker, an all-female rock band named Harlow and the earthy Josh Dodes Band slugged it out in clubs across the nation, trying to rack up merchandise sales and win judges' votes during battle-of-the-bands competitions, the two main factors in the contest.
Flickerstick continually lost in the merchandise-sales department but won each of the three battle-of-the-bands competitions, including the final one in Miami, which was taped in December and aired last night.
"I think that we won for the right reasons," Lea said. "We definitely didn't play the we're-gonna-sell-T-shirts-to-strangers game. It feels good to have won by playing in front of people."
The outcome pleased VH1's Jane Lipsitz, too.
"It's really cool they won, because of the way they won," said Lipsitz, the executive producer for Bands on the Run. "We loved all the bands, but a heavy theme of the show was art vs. commerce. We're a music channel, so obviously we're happy that the band that won did so because people liked their music."
The band members - Lea, his bass-playing brother Fletcher, guitarists Cory Kreig and Rex Ewing and drummer Dominic Weir - have known for several months that they won the event. But because of strict confidentiality agreements - a norm in reality-TV shows - they and those associated with them had to keep it a secret.
"We're excited about winning, but I think we're more excited that we can finally start talking about it now," said Kreig. "Six months of not being able to talk about this has driven us nuts."
Flickerstick's appearance on the show has heightened its profile, not just locally but on a national level. Shows on the band's current tour have been selling out; major-label record companies, such as Atlantic and Columbia, have approached the band about signing deals; and both the band's Web page and VH1's Bands on the Run site have logged innumerable hits.
The band members formed Flickerstick four years ago, putting out a self-titled CD soon after. Two years ago, the group tweaked its sound and lineup, jettisoning hard-rock riffs for a more psychedelic, radio-friendly sound.
The group released its most recent disc, Welcoming Home the Astronauts, last summer.
Around the same time, the group's manager, Paul Bassman of Dallas, landed the group on a Billboard magazine compilation CD that was sent out to music executives. One of the CDs wound up in the hands of VH1, forming the relationship that led to the band's participation in Bands on the Run.
Even before Sunday night's announcement, Flickerstick was the show's star attraction. Chalk that up to the group's on-camera shenanigans, which included heavy amounts of drinking, fighting with one another and the other bands and, in the case of Fletcher Lea, cheating on a girlfriend.
The band's rowdiness entertained a fellow musician so much that he started an Internet discussion group focusing on the band and the show.
"Out of all the bands, Flickerstick seems the most real," said Jon Wurster, drummer for the Chapel Hill, N.C.-based rock group Superchunk. "In a way, they're the most likable, even though they do horrific things.
"Dominic and his unquenchable thirst for the ladies, and the whole drama with Fletcher - it's horrible but these are the kinds of things that normal people go through every day. They have the same kind of flaws that everyone else does. That's why I think they're the most realistic band, and the one that I can't get enough of."
Fletcher Lea's girlfriend, Angela Stallworther, has a different opinion of the show.
"I'm hurt and embarrassed by the whole thing," Stallworther said. "It's definitely not cool that everyone who watches the show knows me as the girl who got cheated on."
Fletcher Lea said the couple, who have a 1-year-old son, remain together. "I made a big mistake, but we worked it out."
Kreig said he and his girlfriend worked out his on-screen misbehavings in another way.
"At first, it was kinda hard, dealing with the girlfriends, but once they all leave you, it's not that hard anymore," he said.
Brandin Lea said he was also a little apprehensive about the opinions of his parents, Bruce and Frances Lea, who are well-known dance instructors and former Broadway performers.
"They're not exactly thrilled to have our behavior shown on TV," he said. "But they've always been behind it, in a weird way. They're proud."
Frances Lea concurs.
"Brandin and Fletcher have been on stage all their lives," she said. "Brandin would go on the Johnnie High show with little sequin outfits on and sing and clog. 'Why do you make me sing?' he'd ask me. Now he's like, 'Now I know why.' And yes, I am proud of them. Very proud."