Rockers from Frontier Natural Products head to Los = Angeles

Rockers from Frontier Natural Products = head to Los=20 Angeles
Unlikely band selected = for Rock=20 and Roll Hall of Fame competition

by=20 Sustainable Food News
May 26, 2009

= Aeroroot=20

A motley crew of employees from Frontier Natural Products Co-op, the = nation's=20 largest supplier of bottled organic spices, is heading to Los Angeles = next month=20 to compete in Fortune magazine's 9th annual Battle of the = Corporate=20 Bands.

The band Aeroroot was selected as one of 16 corporate bands to = compete in=20 regional semi-final events to perform at The Key Club on Sunset Blvd. in = West=20 Hollywood on June 20.

Up against corporate titans like NBC, Symantec and Johnson & = Johnson, the=20 band is staying focused on the prize: a chance to play in the final = competition=20 at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland on Oct. 3.

LISTEN: To=20 the band.

=93To be honest, if we thought we really had a chance, we would have = been too=20 nervous to even record our entry,=94 said Clint Landis, lead vocalist = and=20 guitartist, and chief marketing officer for Frontier.

The band formed on a lark five years ago during a lunch break at = Frontier=92s=20 on-site organic caf=E9. The name Aeroroot comes from the herb arrowroot, = with a=20 nod to rock legend Aerosmith.

Other Aeroroot members include: lead guitarist Brett Karminski, = Frontier=20 brand manager; drummer/back-up vocalist Steve Krusie, director of public = relations; and bassist/back-up vocalist Tracy Tunwall, former vice = president of=20 Human Resources for Frontier (now ass't professor at Mount Mercy = College).

The band was intended to just play at the annual holiday party but = with the=20 performance "an overwhelming hit", the band decided to stay together and = began=20 playing for charity functions, including fundraisers for the American = Cancer=20 Society and Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

Norway, Iowa-based Frontier - the first U.S. certified-organic spice = company=20 - is a major manufacturer, distributor and marketer of natural and = organic=20 products and carries about 9,700 items across 290 brands including = several=20 thousand items under its own four brands =96 Frontier, Aura Cacia, Aura = Cacia=20 Organics, and Simply Organic.

Before heading to Los Angeles, for the semifinals, Aeroroot is slated = to play=20 June 13 at the Floodstock Festival in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, an outdoor = benefit=20 concert to assist in the recovery of the devastating eastern Iowa floods = of=20 2008.