{"id":21092480,"date":"2026-04-13T13:05:01","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T17:05:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/?p=21092480"},"modified":"2026-04-13T17:19:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T21:19:14","slug":"fret-12-dan-tremonti-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/ru\/fret-12-dan-tremonti-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"FRET12: Dan Tremonti on Music, Authentic Craftsmanship, and the Road Not Taken"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

While most guitar shops are built to sell you something, FRET12<\/a><\/strong> is built to make you stay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Housed inside of a Chicago music venue, the soundcheck bleeds into the sales floor, and the people walking in already care about why any of this exists. But the space is only part of it. FRET12 has spent the last two decades turning itself inside out, shifting from a DVD project into a record label and a retailer, and now into something closer to a culture hub that happens to sell guitars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dan Tremonti has been behind it all since 2005. While his brother Mark Tremonti<\/strong><\/a> built a career on stage, Dan paid attention to everything around it: the gear, the people, the work that never gets seen. That perspective shows up everywhere: in the way the store is laid out, in the way products are made, and in the decision to double down on human craft at a time when much of the industry is moving in the other direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Altwire recently caught up with Dan to discuss why human craft and connection are so valuable in the age of AI. Read our interview below:<\/p>\n\n\n

Derek Oswald [Altwire]: What does FRET12 do that you wish some music shops would have done when you were growing up?<\/h6>\n\n\n

Dan Tremonti [FRET12]:<\/strong> Well, you know, FRET12 does what music shops and skateboard shops and all the things I loved when I was growing up did, I think. So much of the gear business has gone online and become decontextualized, and so much of the retail experience has become commoditized. I think there\u2019s a generation now that doesn\u2019t even remember what it was like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I was a kid, going to record stores or skateboard shops, we\u2019d go there without even any money because we wanted to hang out with other people in our genre. I wanted to be around other metalheads or in the skate shop with other skaters. It was very much driven by community and discovery. You formed a relationship with the person behind the counter, and they\u2019d turn you on to the next great band or whatnot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A big part of what we\u2019re trying to do with FRET12 is get people connected again and really build that community and that connection. We\u2019ve been doing that online for a while, but we have a store now that we opened in 2022, and it\u2019s really experiential. It\u2019s about getting people together to hang out and just celebrate music.<\/p>\n\n\n

Altwire: What are some of the local music stores that may not be around anymore that you grew up with that inspired FRET12?<\/h6>\n\n\n

Dan Tremonti [FRET12]:<\/strong> God, I have to think back because I moved around a lot as a kid. In Detroit, there was a place, I think it was Harmony House, and I think they even had a subscription thing tied to it. That was the big record store we would go to to check out records.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here in Chicago, I think it was Gand Music from a gear standpoint. It was kind of up north, we were in the suburbs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But honestly, I was a big skateboard kid and a huge music person. A lot of my musical upbringing was going to skate shops like Tom Thumb in Evanston. We\u2019d go with a boombox, listen to music, pick up tapes and play them. It was less about gear and guitar and more just music-oriented. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We’d be like “ma, take us to the shop” and in Evanston there\u2019s a record shop that\u2019s been around forever. I don\u2019t even remember the namem. It\u2019s right next door to where Tom Thumb was, and it\u2019s still hanging on. They\u2019re still selling records, and I don\u2019t know how [Editor’s Note: It’s called Vintage Vinyl<\/a><\/em>]. I look in there all the time and there aren\u2019t many people, but it\u2019s still there.<\/p>\n\n\n

Altwire: You grew up in a musical family and have a brother who is a musician. What was it like seeing that take off?<\/h6>\n\n\n

Dan Tremonti [FRET12]:<\/strong> Well, I guess I\u2019ll put it out there first that it could happen. All those kids out there in their room playing guitar and wanting to get to the big stages, that\u2019s what he was. So whether he had made it or not, it\u2019s what he would still be doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Growing up around it, it was amazing to see someone so dedicated to something and so in love with something where they would literally stay awake all night practicing and doing things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cool part about all of it for me, is I\u2019ve always been an artist and he\u2019s always been a musician. I introduced him to music. I played him \u201cCreeping Death\u201d from Metallica, and that got him into it. He took his first guitar lesson because he bought a guitar from a garage sale, and he was like, I don\u2019t want to play \u201cMary Had a Little Lamb,\u201d I want to play \u201cCreeping Death.\u201d From there, he taught himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think the biggest difference about him is that he was never really a guy that was trying to be technical. He didn\u2019t aspire to be like a Steve Vai or something. He was a songwriter. So he was always just focused on the melody and focused on writing, and then the guitar became more of support in his writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fast-forwarding through it all, it\u2019s kind of how FRET12 started. When it did take off, and it literally took off pretty much overnight, about a year earlier we were at Florida State\u2019s campus [with Creed] playing \u201cMy Own Prison\u201d in a muffin shop as the house band, in a place where there were two old people and us and our gaggle of 20-something friends. It was weird seeing it go from that to getting put on Underground Lounge on a radio station there. Then they started getting shows, and then it kind of took off, and they were touring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I always said to him, I\u2019ve watched you all these years teach yourself, and now you can go to Best Buy, you can buy your CD, you can see yourself at a big concert stage or on the radio. Why doesn\u2019t a guy like you, in the middle of his career, stop and let people in? Here\u2019s how I\u2019m writing, here\u2019s how I\u2019m approaching things, here\u2019s what the business is doing to me. Peel back the curtain so that it\u2019s really relevant and inspiring to other people in your situation that haven\u2019t made it yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so we started a thing called The Sound and the Story<\/a>. It was part documentary and part tutorial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then people started rallying around what we were doing, just with the love of music and meeting people and meeting up before concerts. We started a thing called the Army of 12, doing things before shows. It really became more about the shared love of live music and guitar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, this whole time, I\u2019ve always been doing album covers and merchandise, and I\u2019ve been backstage seeing what techs do. I\u2019m more excited when the trusses are going up, and the buses are rolling, and all the things behind the scenes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

People only see about 20% of what actually goes into being a big musician and a performer, from improvised practice spaces to all the stuff that makes the show go on, and the shows that almost don\u2019t happen. The patina of the beat-up road cases that have been around the world a hundred times. The big wads of strings and cables running across the stage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s what really inspires our aesthetic, and part of what we try to let people in on is that whole behind-the-scenes thing.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Fret
FRET12 Logo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
Altwire: You\u2019ve reinvented FRET12 multiple times. Was there anything that almost didn\u2019t work?<\/h6>\n\n\n

Dan Tremonti [FRET12]:<\/strong> I do other things, so I\u2019m able to kind of keep my baby alive, which has always been FRET12. So we\u2019ve done things over the years that we\u2019ve just done because we wanted to do them, for fans and for music, or to support bands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So mostly it\u2019s been that we\u2019ve maybe gotten out over our skis a little bit. Right now, there\u2019s a band being filmed at our shop, and we don\u2019t make any money on that. We just want to champion bands and help them. It\u2019s mostly been maybe overextending ourselves a little, trying to do too much, trying to help other people in the business. But that\u2019s kind of what we\u2019re here for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I didn\u2019t think in a million years someone would buy a $3,000 guitar online. I thought people would buy the $500 or $600 import kind of things, but a Maryland-made USA core model? Would I buy one of those without checking it out in person and holding it? And we started selling a ton of the USA-made ones because we were buying the right ones. So we\u2019ve just learned over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are so many people to compete with now, between the big boxes and the exchanges online and all of that. That\u2019s really not our thing. So we\u2019ve experimented, we\u2019ve learned, and we\u2019ve kind of landed now where we really want to be. What our strength is, is really doing that storytelling, creating access, getting people together, and then making products that are an expression of the love of music.<\/p>\n\n\n

Altwire: Everyone seems to be moving toward AI. With FRET12, you\u2019re going the other way. Why?<\/h6>\n\n\n

Dan Tremonti [FRET12]:<\/strong> Well, I\u2019ve been thinking about this for a long time. We bought, and we haven\u2019t launched it yet, but I bought a URL called backtocraft.com that we\u2019re about to launch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we got into the guitar stuff, there were things that were more mass-manufactured, and then there were these craftsmen making these beautiful things where every inch of wood, every inlay, every wiring of the pickups is so detailed. It made me wonder, is this stuff going to go away someday?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I really love the idea of craftsmanship and craftspeople. Someone for whom it takes six months to apprentice just to be able to do a finish on a guitar. I\u2019ve always been very aware of where things are going and the idea that we need to teach the next generations. I love the imperfectly perfect, the imperfections of handwork, the nuance of that kind of thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My kid is in college right now. He\u2019s never picked up a book in his life. I saw him reading a book, and I almost tripped. People are literally putting down phones, and it\u2019s not even like a super conscious thing. There\u2019s just a movement toward doing things, using your head, getting together, whether it\u2019s getting back into going to the schoolyard, playing sports, or doing whatever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think people are getting off devices to a degree. People are really getting back into ritual. Obviously, we\u2019ve seen it in music. It\u2019s crazy that vinyl sells the way it does. We\u2019re doing a lot of stuff around that. Literally the word \u201canalog\u201d on a shirt, or \u201cI miss my old stereo,\u201d just doing our part to capture what we think is not AI counterculture, but just an appreciation for craft and human interaction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the shop, it\u2019s fun because someone comes in and they see that shirt and they\u2019re like, man, I miss my old stereo. So I think there\u2019s a fork in the road, a hard fork in the road, that\u2019s already happening in pieces and parts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again, not against technology. I use AI myself to write or do things. It has its place, but it doesn\u2019t have its place so much in the arts. Obviously, making a guitar, CNC machines, and technology are very useful. But I\u2019m a big believer that people believe in craftsmanship. They believe in the human hand and touch, and in using your mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You even see it in the alcohol space now. Younger audiences are drinking less because they want to have meaningful connections. Maybe something happened through the pandemic where people changed their mindset. You were pulled away and spent so much time on technology, and now you have this chance to be with people again and do things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m betting on the opposite of AI. It has its place, but at the end of the day, people will always be making things and will appreciate that.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Dan
Dan Tremonti’s creation the FRET12 String Thing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
Altwire: How did the String Thing come about?<\/h6>\n\n\n

Dan Tremonti [FRET12]:<\/strong> So I was side stage talking to a tech at a show, I think I was in Detroit. He opened up the bottom drawer of his tech case, and there were all these neatly coiled sets of used strings. They had a piece of gaff tape on them that said the venue and the date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was like, whoa, what\u2019s all that? He said it\u2019s kind of his thing. He collects the strings, and it\u2019s also a big no-no to have string waste on a stage, because it can get wound up in a road case wheel or something. And he just didn\u2019t like throwing them away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right away I thought that was a great thing. First, that he\u2019s being responsible about doing this, but also the idea that those were strings from real shows, from real players. That\u2019d be pretty cool. So I asked if I could take a few.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They went into my junk drawer when I got home. Later, I was going through that drawer, and there was a random action figure in there with them. I just started wrapping it in the guitar strings, and I was like, this is actually pretty cool. I made this little mummy, photographed it, turned it into a t-shirt, and that became the String Thing<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That kind of inspired me. If you zoom in on a guitar string, it has a really cool industrial look. I\u2019m an artist, so I started photographing them in different compositions. It\u2019s intricate, and depending on how it catches the light, it\u2019s always different. People have always really loved it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People don\u2019t really think about it. It\u2019s something that wears out, so you throw it away. But really, it represents your time as a musician. I thought, can I make this into something instead of it going into a landfill? It was actually really hard to figure out how to make it work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We get asked all the time if we\u2019re going to make another shape, like a skull or something. I\u2019ve wrapped everything you can imagine. But there\u2019s something about how this one stands that just works. It\u2019s become our mascot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve also done collaborations. We did the Hoof <\/a>fuzz pedal with Earthquaker Devices, and that has the String Thing artwork on it. The goal is to really change that mindset of holding onto these things. Put it on your shelf, put it in your studio, build an army of them.<\/p>\n\n\n

Altwire: Is there gear in your shop you really push people toward?<\/h6>\n\n\n

Dan Tremonti [FRET12]:<\/strong> We try to highlight smaller builders. When you go to NAMM, the big brands are upstairs, but downstairs, there are all these independent luthiers doing amazing work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s like Spotify. There\u2019s so much of it. Finding the real gems is the challenge. We\u2019re working with a local builder, John Furlan. He makes Furlan Guitars<\/a> and can build almost anything. He\u2019s a true craftsman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being inside a music venue helps. Artists walk in, see something they\u2019ve never heard of, and get curious. We can connect them directly with the builder, host events, and create content around it. We sell PRS as well because of the craftsmanship, but supporting local makers is a big part of what we do.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Inside
Inside of FRET12’s Chicago-area store.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
Altwire: Do you want every FRET12 store to be inside a venue?<\/h6>\n\n\n

Dan Tremonti [FRET12]:<\/strong> When I first talked about it, people thought I was crazy. They\u2019d ask if concertgoers even want to shop. But where else are you going to find people who care about music this much?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The space we\u2019re in has history. You can feel it. Even if you took everything out, it would still be a cool place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t know if every location would be a venue, but I\u2019d always look for spaces with that kind of character. Old clubs, places with history. If we ever had something like the Double Door in Chicago, I\u2019d want to put a stage back in it. Let local bands play, let people hang out, make it part shop, part community space.<\/p>\n\n\n

Altwire: What\u2019s next for FRET12?<\/h6>\n\n\n

Dan Tremonti [FRET12]:<\/strong> We\u2019ve got a bunch of things going on behind the scenes with the String Thing and some collaborations. We did a beer last year with Hoplature, so we\u2019re exploring things in that space too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A big focus right now is doing sessions with bands and helping promote local artists. We\u2019re creating a lot of that content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve also built our own manufacturing to hand-cut and sew clothing in Chicago, in our shop. It\u2019s really hard work, from sourcing textiles to actually producing everything. We\u2019re making clothing that feels like it belongs on the road. Something you\u2019d wear on a bus or backstage. It\u2019s not just merch anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So now it\u2019s gear, clothing, art, collectibles, all tied back to the same idea. Just expressing a love of music in different ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

FRET12 is based in Chicago, Illinois. You can find them at fret12.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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