Fairmont is an American indie rock band from New Jersey, fronted by Neil Sabatino. They have released twelve full-length albums, as well as six EPs, and toured across the United States for over two decades of their existence.
Fairmont is a five-piece rock band, based in North Jersey that formed in 2001. That year, after leaving the Eyeball Record's emo-punk band Pencey Prep, Sabatino signed with Reinforcement Records under the moniker Fairmont, a homage to the Minnesota city. Fairmont was initially a solo acoustic project. Over the years the group became a blend of indie rock and pop.[1]
Early years
The debut sixteen-track album, Pretending Greatness is Awaiting, was released on December 3, 2001.[2][3] Work on the second album Anomie was delayed in March 2003, as three of the members quit the night before recording began.[4] Shortly after, former Pencey Prep bassist John McGuire joined Fairmont, as did guitarist Kevin Metz.[5][1] During that year, Fairmont performed at local venues, such as Arlene's Grocery in Manhattan, New York City, with Fighting Gravity and Val Emmich.[6] By 2005, Fairmont made three tours across the United States, in addition to performing locally with Nada Surf and Ted Leo. That same year, they released their third full-length Hell is Other People, an album heavily influenced by McGuire's fondness of bands like the Replacements and Hüsker Dü.[1] The content of the album was conceptually based on Jean-Paul Sartre's play, No Exit.[7] It was jointly released by Reinforcement Records and Renfield Records.[8]
Fairmont's fourth full-length Wait & Hope, an up-tempo indie rock album, was released on June 12, 2007.[9][10] It is the last to feature McGuire.[1] Longtime collaborator Teeter Sperber provided vocals for three of the songs, "Fredo", "Dahlia" and "Yearbook". In an interview with Deborah Draisin in Jersey Beat, Sabatino describes it as a "very minimal[ist] album."[1][9]Wait & Hope is also the last Fairmont album released under its previous indie labels; in 2007 Sabatino founded Mint 400 Records, and retroactively released earlier Fairmont albums.[11]
Mint 400 Records
Keyboardist Christian Kisala joined the group in 2008. After writing songs with a female counterpart in mind, Sabatino contacted friend Teeter Sperber, as well singer of The Narrative Suzie Zeldin.[1] Both would appear on the 2008 release Transcendence, which was produced by Bryan Russell.[12] The album appears at No. 52 in Gary Wien's book Are You Listening?, a listing of his top 100 albums of a decade, which was compiled from a six-month review of over 2,220 releases.[13] It was followed by a national tour supporting Life of Agony frontwoman Mina Caputo, starting in August 2008.[14][1] The six-track EP The Meadow at Dusk was released on 12"-vinyl in 2009, and debuted on CMJ charts at No. 176.
Fairmont in 2013; from left to right: Christian Kisala, Neil Sabatino, and Sam Carradori.
In 2010, Fairmont released their sixth album Destruction Creation, and the following year Mint 400 Records compiled a retrospective collection of Fairmont's first decade of releases. The Grand and Grandiose was released in 2013, followed by a live acoustic EP in 2014. For their 2015 album 8½, Christian Kisala moved from Malletkat to Xylarimba and Vibraphone. Fairmont performed at the 2016 North Jersey Indie Rock Festival.[15] As they finished work on 2017's A Spring Widow, Kisala switched solely to Vibraphone, and the band also saw the addition of Matt Cheplic, a current member of the Bitter Chills, and bassist Mike Burns who formerly played with Sabatino in the punk band Little Green Men in the 1990s. Their tenth studio album We Will Burn That Bridge When We Get To It was released in 2018, and features Lisa Grabinski on keyboards and vocals. Kisala moved to drums, while longtime drummer Andy Applegate went on medical leave. In January 2019, We Will Burn That Bridge When We Get To It debuted on the NACC radio charts at No. 143 and climbed to No. 126 in its third week; Fairmont's second release to chart on college radio charts. With the 2020 album Liminal Spaces Fairmont changed lineups again to include Matt Cheplic switching to bass guitar and Evan Pope joined on rhythm guitar.[16] In December 2020, Liminal Spaces debuted on the NACC radio charts at No. 127 and peaked at #116 in its four weeks on the charts; Fairmont's third release to chart on college radio charts.[17] On Fairmont's 12th studio album Recluse Jamboree they debuted at #98 on the NACC charts, the highest the band had ever charted and landed at #14 on the Sub-Modern Chart in its first week and spent 3 weeks on the charts.[citation needed]
Additional work
Sam Carradori, Christian Kisala and Neil Sabatino also record as Ted Dancin!.[18] Christian Kisala records for Mint 400 Records as CK Vibes, and appears as commacommaspacespace on the Mint 400 Records compilation album, At the Movies & At the Movies II. Neil Sabatino also records as Shallows, with AJ Tobey & and as Mergers & Acquisitions with Teeter Sperber.
Band members
Current members
Andy Applegate – drums (2003–present)
Matt Cheplic – guitar and backing vocals (2016–present)
Lisa Grabinski – keyboard and backing vocals (2017–present)
Christian Kisala – keyboard, malletkat, xylorimba, vibraphone and drums (2008–present)
Neil Sabatino – lead vocals and guitar (2001–present)
Lamp Light The Fire: A Compilation of Quiet(ER) Songs, Vol. 3 (2020)
At The Movies II (2021)
Zoe's Project (2022)
Standard Issue (2022)
Flannel Dreams (2023)
Shane-Michael Vidaurri & Friends (2023)
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