Headed by Tony DeFeo, owner and operator of local coffee shop The Grind, TFG Productions is an agency that requires one thing of the local punk and indie acts it books around town: they have to play the loudest, hardest, fastest stuff they’ve got. In addition to a weekly show Saturdays at 3 Brothers, TFG has taken off with a variety of innovative shows that are breathing new life into Murfreesboro’s music scene and attracting musicians from the Nashville and regional talent pool. Here, DeFeo talks with the Pulse about the origins and vision of TFG.

Murfreeboro Pulse: What was the intent behind starting up TFG Productions?
DeFeo: The music scene has changed. There is media saturation. Before, you had to go buy and album or CD or go out to a show. Now anyone can listen to anything all day. It’s hard to get people to come out. We looked at it and tried to figure out why. We only book bands that have a high-energy sound. We tell them when they play our shows to play the loudest, hardest, fastest stuff you got. If we don’t see moshing and people banging their heads, we know they’re not doing the right thing.

Hurts to Laugh (photo by Nick Lampers) and The Turncoats
(pictured at top) will both be part of the next TFG Productions concert, May 10 at Social.

How do you structure your shows?
We set up multiple stages simultaneously. There are no breaks in our shows. These days if you’ve got a show, people go just to see their friends play and then split, so we try to combat that so everyone has the same audience. That’s what makes us different. We do large events called Clusterfucks where we’ve had as many as 25 bands and a split stage.

What are you working on now?
Now we’re working on Clusterfuck number five. We’re not going for big numbers; we have six bands, and they’ll be set in an outward-facing circle. What we’re doing is a kind of carnival deal, and you spin the wheel to find out who plays the next song, which makes the show unpredictable and hopefully goes into chaos and anarchy. We’re having Hurts to Laugh, The Tom Pappas Collection, The Turncoats, Spector, Echoes and Amplifiers and The Strumms.

Why is it essential to TFG to find the most high-energy bands?
Because today if you want to listen to music, you can just listen to it, you have your iPod, your computer, it’s free. The only reason you’d go to a show is to have an experience. It doesn’t have to be a mosh pit, but you have to get everyone moving. It doesn’t have to be a specific genre, but the audience only reacts to high energy. Anything else, they wander away. You think of house show mentality, and so far the feedback has been fantastic from everybody. We’re the only booking agency in the area that is actually focusing on the audience and the quality of the music. We’ve had more than one band say to us that it was the most fun they’ve ever had playing a show.

Why not take this to Nashville?
There are so many bands and musicians here in Murfreesboro. I’m not exaggerating when I say this, but I think there are more band members than audience members in Murfreesboro. It’s the way it is. Nashville has its niche for folk, country, and it does have an underground punk scene, but we want Murfreesboro to be the epicenter of punk rock, like New York City was in the ’70s, which is where I’m from.

Where do you want to see TFG Productions go?
I’d like to see it generate money. I want to become ridiculously wealthy and spend it on hot rods. I’m in a rush. I have to get this done—I’m 52.

The next TFG show is scheduled for May 10 at Social, 114 N. Church St. There will be a “Mosh ’Til You Drop in the Rage Cage” contest, for which there is a $50 prize.