Garth Michael McDermott
Upon moving to Portland, Oregon, in April of 2004, NYC-transplanted singer/songwriter Garth Michael McDermott began writing a new record that evolved and took shape in parallel with all that often comes with settling into a new city. What resulted was "Highways and Ghosts," a rootsy and movingly reflective compilation that granted the listener a brutally honest look at McDermott's search for himself, his music, and his own personal happiness while embracing all the roads he's traveled along the way. After the release of the record in 2006, McDermott set his sights on assembling a band that could not only perform the new music, but one that could add their own stamp on the tunes where McDermott played most of the parts himself. The Fingerprints were born – consisting of some of the top-notched players in town, including a former member of local darlings “Pinehurst Kids” and “Turning Eleven” as well as a recent LA transplant who played with acts such as Zoo People (Atlantic Records), Five Easy Pieces (MCA) and most recently Lapdog (consisting of members of Toad The Wet Sprocket).
Much of 2006 was spent promoting the sale of Highways and Ghosts and fine-tuning the band, while achieving some great success – all without much commercial radio airplay. In Portland, the band landed some great promotional visibility at events such as KINK’s Noon Tunes Concert Series (who also featured them on the local music spotlight), Music Millennium’s annual Customer Appreciation Fest and various Pioneer Courthouse Square events, but on a national scale “Highways and Ghosts” started to pick up steam in a different way – as it had almost half its songs placed in various major network televisions shows ("What About Brian," "How I Met Your Mother" and "Wedding Bells"). Simultaneously, clothing retailer Martin + Osa selected 4 songs from “Highways and Ghosts” to be featured in a number of their lifestyle movies. As a result, Garth’s music began to show up on hundreds of Pandora Radio playlists, and his myspace site received a considerable influx of add requests from folks all over the country who been exposed to his music in these various mediums. He has also been featured on a number of national internet radio stations including a featured artist and interview on Michael Jonzun's "Audition Radio" in Daytona, FL, Preying Lizard Music's Soft Rock Indie Showcase and Lost Cat Records' "Great American Music Hour. In May, 2006, Garth was one of New York’s “Internet Records” contest winners and his song “When I Took The Bait” was included on one of their compilations.
2007 came with some of the same type of TV network song placements - and a great deal of studio work, as Garth put on the producer’s hat in recording and producing Portland songwriter Scott Gallegos’ debut release, “est. 1976.” From Sept - Nov, Garth spent 2 months on the road (with guitarist, Jeff Koch) performing up and down both coasts performing select tunes from "Highways and Ghosts" as well as trying out new material that has found their way onto the upcoming release with "The Fingerprints" currently scheduled for an August street date.