Frontier Ruckus

Frontier Ruckus emerged from East Lansing, Michigan, as a roots-oriented ensemble whose lyric-driven material weaves together strains of rock, folk, bluegrass, country, blues, and jazz. Singer-songwriter Matthew Milia and banjoist David Winston Jones launched the project during high school, initially operating as a trio once Eli Eisman joined on bass. Although Milia enrolled at Michigan State University and Jones attended the University of Michigan, the pair opted to enlarge rather than dissolve the group, recruiting drummer Ryan “Smalls” Etzcorn, harmony vocalist Anna Burch, and multi-instrumentalist Zachary Nichols—who contributes horns, singing saw, and melodica—all of whom Milia enlisted while still based in East Lansing.

In 2006 the band issued its self-released six-song EP I Am the Water You Are Pumping. Five of those tracks resurfaced on the 2008 debut full-length The Orion Songbook, issued by Quite Scientific Records and titled after Orion Township in suburban Metro Detroit. Around the album’s release Eisman departed, with Burch assuming bass duties. The next year Lower Peninsula Records presented The Orion Songbook as a double vinyl set whose fourth side featured the new six-song EP Way Upstate & the Crippled Summer, Pt. 1, while Ramseur Records, a North Carolina imprint focused on folk and roots music, added the band to its roster.

Frontier Ruckus slimmed to a quartet in 2010 as Burch exited ahead of the second album Deadmalls & Nightfalls. Brian Barnes handled touring bass, and several players—including Barnes—covered the role on the third album, 2013’s Eternity of Dimming, which also featured Burch’s backing vocals and marked a return to Quite Scientific Records. On 2014’s Sitcom Afterlife, Milia, Jones, and Nichols rotated bass chores alongside their customary instruments, Etzcorn remained on drums, and Burch again appeared as a guest vocalist. Following tours across Europe and the United States, the band entered the studio in 2016 with former Wilco drummer Ken Coomer producing the follow-up, resulting in the fifth album Enter the Kingdom, which appeared in early 2017.