Don't Forget to Write band follows own advice

"Apple GarageBand is the savior of our band," Tepper said, "Bryan will send me lyrics, and I'll put them to music that I either make up for the song, or something I have in my back pocket, lay down a low quality recording on GarageBand using my laptop mic, and send to Bryan. He can easily listen to it and give me feedback and we can talk about it."

"I can't count the number of texts I send to Tepper each week about little lyrical notes or ideas for songs," said Chabrow, "We're also big on email and Facebook. Usually we use Facebook messages to discuss ideas a little more in depth. Email is mostly used by us for sending files and things we've recorded or written," Chabrow said about their multimedia collaboration.

Tepper and Barnes meet when they can to practice while Chabrow practices on his own when he can't get to New York and they aren't able to come up to Boston. When it gets close to a gig, Chabrow makes the effort to meet up with them in New York a day or two before.

But even though Barnes and Tepper are in the same city, it's still difficult for them to find the time to go over material.

"We used to practice a lot more," said Barnes in an email, "this year it's a lot harder cause we don't live together and we're a lot busier.

From left: Bryan Chabrow, Tom Barnes and Daniel Tepper
Photo: Lorena Mora

Even with the late nights, Williams said his roommate handles his two life callings well and attributes Tepper's energy to his love for both music and acting.

"He does a very good job at keeping both a priority in his life. We do [drama] shows many weeks out of the year, and the rehearsal period is usually 6 rehearsals a week, on top of an a cappella group we both perform with- we rehearse that twice a week on top of performances around the east coast. Daniel may not have as much as time he'd like to devote to the band, but it is a pretty big feat to still be performing with DFTW on top of being an acting student in New York."

When they recorded their first EP, "In the Den, In the Dorm," the band used microphones and interfaced the sets. But for their newest release, "Handsome Expectations," they were able to record at the WERS studio at Emerson College.

"It was amazing!" said Tepper about the experience.

And now that they've discovered the luxury of a professional space, they are already planning their next move.

In the future we're planning on recording at a studio in Cambridge," Chabrow said. He's been interning at the Cambridge studio since summer and part of the perks is free studio time. He said he planned to use the saved time in the next few months."

So far the band has only released digital files, sometimes burning a CD to sell here or there.

"Making professional CDs in classy looking cases is expensive and we don't have the money to do that at the moment, or the fan base to make back what we would spend," Tepper said.

"I'd really love to make physical CDs for our next release though. It would be a great step for us," Chabrow said.

Until then, another Apple product, iTunes, will continue to be a big help towards getting the word out for Don't Forget to Write.

Tepper says that Apple's digital music store is the way to go.

"We reach people from all around the world using social networks Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook and Myspace, and with our music on iTunes it is super accessible for those people to find and purchase, and we don't have to deal with any shipping and handling. Also, when people find out that we have an EP, the first question is usually, 'Oh! Are you guys on iTunes?' not 'Oh! Are you guys sold in Best Buy?' so I think we've made the right decision thus far."

And the distance doesn't bother Tepper and Chabrow too much. "I like this because I guess it is like being in a long-distance relationship, except instead of going for months without sex, we go months without playing music together," Tepper said, "I'm not really sure, but Bryan and I seem to have it down pat. The thing is Bryan and I never lived near each other because we met and bonded at sleep-away camp so we became used to only seeing each other for a couple months out of the year. I think having this already be the basis of our friendship has made it easier."
"It gets frustrating being so far away but I've never really thought about not making it work," Chabrow said.

Once the three of them graduate in 2012, Chabrow said he plans to move to New York City to join his band mates so they can give themselves a chance at making it as full-time musicians. But for now, they are plugging away at school and planning for their next EP.