Lake Zurich band wins contest, gets exposure

A Lake Zurich area group may soon be the envy of garage bands everywhere.Flowers for Dorian won an MTV/Comcast contest, earning its four members a trip to New York City where they were taped performing three songs.One of those songs will be featured in a commercial Sunday during the MTV Video Music Awards show. Additional footage -- including interviews with band members -- will be shown on Comcast MTV2 "On Demand" cable for two months in the Chicago and northwest Indiana region."I'm just really excited," said bass guitarist James Feuerbacher, 20, a 2005 graduate of Lake Zurich High School. "I still can't believe that it actually happened. It's not going to seem real until we actually see the video."The experience was far more nerve-wracking than playing to live crowds, Feuerbacher said.The band has played about 40 shows this summer in the Chicago area, and generated enough hype on MySpace.com to get noticed. Its fan base went from 3,000 fans to roughly 18,000 fans in about four months, said manager Michael Bidegain with Demo Entertainment. "They are one of the most rapid growing bands as far as the indie rock genre goes," Bidegain said.Band members posted bulletins on MySpace and received 77,000 votes in a week for the contest. They were selected from among the top five vote-getters by an MTV tape the five videos. "MySpace is the reason the guys are where they're at right now," Bidegain said. "It really is a wonderful tool for bands these days."The 2007 Video Music Awards will be broadcast live from The Palms Resort Casino in Las Vegas at 8 p.m. on MTV. Visit the band's Web site at www.myspace.com/flowersfordorian."Flowers for Dorian" will independently release an album titled "Phone calls, car rides" in about two weeks. The band does not have a contract with any record labels, but Feuerbacher hopes the VMA show will change that."I'm just hoping it's going to take us to the next level," Feuerbacher said.