When they're not busy delighting New York City audiences as The Undisputed Heaveyweights, Casey Shea, Jeff Jacobson, and Wes Verhoeve are all busy with other music-related pursuits. Verhoeve runs the music company Liberated Matter, which includes the record label Family Records. Jacobson and Shea both perform solo and have released albums on Family Records, and Shea also plays in the band Sundown.

Heavyweights front man Casey Shea has a talent for writing folk-pop songs that sound like classics from another decade. His solo debut, Take the Bite, draws on influences such as The Beatles and Crosby, Stills and Nash, while his work with Sundown reveals a love for the music of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Although he is currently devoting his time to Sundown, he enjoys having three separate projects. He explains, "The Heavyweights allows me to do the front man thing, Sundown lets me sing these great harmonies with two other extremely talented musicians/singers who I also click with from a writing standpoint, and my solo thing lets me be who I am." He recently spent several weeks in London with his Sundown bandmates Andy Stocks and Wes Hutchinson, writing, recording, playing shows, and meeting with music industry professionals. His experience in the close-knit New York City music scene has helped him keep a positive attitude while dealing with the realities of the music business. "I think the fact that I do come from a scene where I've been dealing with real friends and we've all been supportive of each other makes me realize how lucky I've been," he says. "It's not so cutthroat, we want each other to succeed." Jeff Jacobson, a guitarist since age five and a songwriter since his teens, began performing his own material in 2003. The strength of his songs was immediately apparent; the first original song he ever performed was included on a compilation released by Underground Music Online, entitled The 14 Best Singer/Songwriters of Greenwich Village, Vol. 1.

He now considers himself part of the Lower East Side music community, performing at venues like Rockwood Music Hall. His self-titled solo debut is a well-crafted collection of acoustic pop songs. He has worked as a professional musician and currently makes a living as a freelance music transcriber, creating the scores for instructional guitar books for popular rock albums, though his ultimate goal is to support himself with his own music. He believes that this goal is more attainable that many people acknowledge; between licensing songs for film and TV and selling CDs online and at shows, musicians "really can be independent these days more than ever before." Shortly after Wes Verhoeve moved to New York City from the Netherlands in 2004 to work in the music industry, he encountered "a splintered music scene...where people would play their show, pack up, leave." He soon met Jay Goettelmann, another recent transplant to the city, and together they founded Liberated Matter and began the Cross-Pollination music series in order to stimulate interaction between local musicians. The successful series pairs two singer-songwriters or bands for a show at Piano's each Tuesday, at which they each play a set and then collaborate on a special, pre-rehearsed set of three songs. Liberated Matter now encompasses several other projects, including Family Records. For many of the label’s releases, Verhoeve is involved as the executive producer and art director, among other roles. "It's exciting to help realize an artist's vision that I agree with, it becomes a very hands-on thing," he says. In keeping with the label's focus on community, a portion of the proceeds for each album is donated to a charity of the artist's choice. As Verhoeve sees it, "Music is a positive force, it's not just about the artist and their dream. Let's see if we can help some other people."