Fishboy | |
---|---|
Origin | Denton, Texas, U.S. |
Genres | indie pop / twee, indie rock, folk punk |
Years active | 2000–present |
Labels | Business Deal Records, HHBTM Lauren Records |
Members | Eric Michener Adam Avramescu Grahm Robinson Sam Escalante Brooks Martin |
Website | Official website |
Fishboy is an American four-piece indie pop band from Denton, Texas which began as the solo project of Eric Michener. He was given the nickname while on a middle-school field trip after he was dared to pluck and swallow a fish at the Dallas World Aquarium. The band has released albums with Lauren Records, Happy Happy Birthday To Me Records in Athens, Georgia and associated with Business Deal Records, a music collective in Austin, Texas.
Their second album, Little D was acclaimed by the Dallas Observer [1] and Austin Chronicle [2] and named to a Best Local of 2005 list by the Dallas Morning News . [3]
The band's 2007 release, Albatross: How We Failed to Save the Lone Star State with the Power of Rock and Roll , is a record which Michener calls "a rock opera about how myself, the band, and the ghost of Buddy Holly attempt to save Texas by going on a tour/crime spree in order to perform all 8,030 of the songs I've written in my sleep since I was in the womb." [4]
In 2011, the band released Classic Creeps, described as "the first in an ongoing series of Fishboy records featuring characters whose lives interconnect to form a bigger story." Each track is listed in alphabetical order and each character's name begins with the letter A. [5]
in 2014, the band self-released An-Elephant. A rock opera and graphic novel about the death and after life of Topsy the Elephant as she plotted revenge against her murderer Thomas Edison and is given sage advice from Nikola Tesla. The albums release featured a website with the graphic novel formatted into small animated gifs. It can be found at An-Elephant.com
May 19, 2017 the band released Art Guards on Lauren Records. The album considered a spiritual successor to Classic Creeps, features nine songs about nine different characters all grappling with their relationship to art. Similar to Creeps the characters all meet at the end of the record.
Art Guards was released with a self-published mini-graphic nove l drawn by Michener.
Following the release of Art Guards the band toured with AJJ in 2017.
In 2017, Fishboy appeared on the podcast "Don't Feed the Artists" to promote their album Art Guards for Lauren Records.
On April 2, 2021, the band released Waitsgiving, the third in the series of interconnected story songs inspired by the real life forgotten time capsule of Denton, TX. The album features 10 songs about 9 characters across three generations who are all dealing with patience and celebrate a fictional holiday every May 17 called Waitsgiving.
In addition to Michener and bandmates, Waitsgiving features Matt Pence on drums and Sean Bonnette of AJJ singing backup vocals on Snocone Creator.
Following its release Michener has given a free performance of Waitsgiving on the down town Denton square every May 17.
Feb 2022, Michener released The Best Ever Boombox Cassette Tape from Durham to celebrate the 20th anniversary of The Mountain Goats album All Hail West Texas. Michener writes:
"As most Fishboy audiences are fans of this song/album we routinely get roped into small talk where we are pressed to explain that the Mountain Goats, as great as they are, have no hard connection to Denton, TX as far as I know.
One night in the car I told my bandmates that I should write a revenge song about the Goats hometown and have it haunt them in greenrooms and merch tables across the world.
This joke came in and out of my mind until I was giving a virtual interview last Spring by Riley Soloner. Again, he mentioned the song, and again I made the revenge joke but this time I felt compelled to give it a shot." [6]
In 2023 the band toured with Koo Koo Kanga Roo and The Homeless Gospel Choir
Elf Power is an American indie rock band that originated in Athens, Georgia, United States. The line-up consists of guitarist/vocalist Andrew Rieger, keyboardist Laura Carter, guitarist Dave Wrathgabar, bassist Bryan Poole, and drummer Peter Alvanos. They are part of the Elephant Six Collective.
Bush Tetras are an American post-punk No Wave band from New York City, formed in 1979. They are best known for the 1980 song "Too Many Creeps", which exemplified the band's sound of "jagged rhythms, slicing guitars, and sniping vocals". Although they did not achieve mainstream success, the Bush Tetras were influential and popular in the Manhattan club scene and college radio in the early 1980s. New York's post-punk revival of the 2000s was accompanied by a resurgence of interest in the genre, with the Tetras' influence heard in many of that scene's bands.
Sweet Baby was a pop punk band that originated from Berkeley, California, and was part of the 924 Gilman Street scene. They were signed to Ruby Records.
Corn Mo is the stage name of Jon Cunningham, an American, Brooklyn-based musician. Corn Mo sings, plays the accordion, keyboards, and sometimes performs as a one man band. His music style is a mixture of circus music, glam rock, and humorous novelty songs. He is currently recording his third solo album, and albums with his band .357 Lover. Many of his songs and stylings are heavily influenced by Meat Loaf and Queen.
Brutal Juice is a self-proclaimed "acid punk" band from Denton, Texas. The band formed in 1990 and officially disbanded in February 1997, although they held several reunion concerts between 1999 and 2012, which usually took place at Fry Street Fair in Denton. They officially reformed in 2012 and released their latest album, titled "Welcome to the Panopticon," on October 28, 2016. Brutal Juice still performs a few times a year, typically playing shows in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, or in Austin.
The High Water Marks is an indie rock band associated with the Elephant 6 collective. The band has two lead creative members, Hilarie Sidney and Per Ole Bratset, who co-write the band's music.
The Minders are an American band closely associated with The Elephant Six Collective. Started by Martyn Leaper in Denver, Colorado in 1996, the band's original members included Leaper on guitars and vocals, Rebecca Cole, on drums, Jeff Almond on guitar, and Marc Willhite on bass.
The Sunshine Fix was an American indie rock group that released three albums from 1993 to 2004. Their main singer and songwriter was Bill Doss, known from The Olivia Tremor Control. The name predated the Olivia Tremor Control and remained in use until Doss's 2012 death.
Fablefactory is a band from Athens, GA.
Baby Calendar is a three-piece indie pop band from Miami, Florida. In 2006, Baby Calendar was signed to Happy Happy Birthday To Me Records based in Athens, Georgia and known for releasing mostly indie pop and twee-pop bands, working with bands such as Of Montreal, Casper & the Cookies, and Bunnygrunt, and hosting the annual Athens Popfest.
The Ideal Free Distribution (IFD) were an indie rock band formed in Benton, Kentucky in 1997 and based in both Benton and Lexington, Kentucky. Heavily influenced by 1960s pop music and promoted by Robert Schneider, the band is indirectly associated with Elephant 6 Recording Company groups such as The Minders, Neutral Milk Hotel, The Olivia Tremor Control, and The Apples in Stereo.
The Silly Pillows were an American indie pop band formed by Jonathan Caws-Elwitt. They began as a home-recorded duo of Jonathan and his wife Hilary Caws-Elwitt, sharing tapes through the cassette underground. In the 1990s the band evolved into a studio-recorded full lineup, which dissolved in 2000. From 2005 to 2008, Jonathan and Hilary revived their home-recording career as "The Original Silly Pillows."
Calvin, Don't Jump! started as the solo recording project of J. Kirk Pleasant, a musician with extensive connections to the Elephant 6 Collective. Before moving to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, he contributed to releases from bands like the Olivia Tremor Control, Black Swan Network, and Pipes You See, Pipes You Don't. His own albums have featured contributions from musicians like Scott Spillane, Jeremy Barnes, John D'Azzo, as well as Peter Erchick, Eric Harris, and John Fernandes.
Will Johnson is an American musician, singer-songwriter, author and painter who is the lead singer of the bands Centro-matic and South San Gabriel. Called "one of the most prolific artists in American indie rock", Johnson has also released solo records, and is a member of the bands Monsters of Folk, New Multitudes and Overseas, and has also performed as part of the Undertow Orchestra. He is currently a member of Jason Isbell's band, the 400 Unit.
Albatross: How We Failed to Save the Lone Star State with the Power of Rock and Roll is the fifth album by Fishboy and the first of their records to be released on Happy Happy Birthday to Me Records. The album was released in 2007 and pressed to vinyl in 2011 by Fishstick Records.
AJJ is an American folk punk band from Phoenix, Arizona, originally formed in 2004 as Andrew Jackson Jihad. Their lyrics handle themes of shyness, poverty, humanity, religion, addiction, existentialism, and politics. Singer/guitarist Sean Bonnette and bassist Ben Gallaty co-founded the band, and have remained its sole constant members throughout. The band has released eight studio albums to date, with their most recent, Disposable Everything, having been released on 26 May 2023.
Cage the Elephant is an American rock band formed in 2006 in Bowling Green, Kentucky. They moved to England and settled in London in 2008, shortly before their self-titled first album was released. The band currently consists of Matt Shultz (vocals), his older brother Brad Shultz, Nick Bockrath, Matthan Minster, Daniel Tichenor (bass), and Jared Champion (drums). The band's first album was released to much success, spawning several successful radio singles and gaining the band a large following in both the United States and the United Kingdom. It was influenced by classic rock, '90s alternative, blues, punk rock and funk music. Lincoln Parish served as the band's lead guitarist from their formation in 2006 until 2013, when he left on good terms to pursue a career in producing.
Whitey was an American band playing rock, funk and Latin styles from 1989 to 1997. Originating in Denton, Texas, Whitey was popular in the Dallas and Austin scenes including Deep Ellum and became known for its wild stage antics. They toured extensively throughout Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Louisiana, and Arkansas.
Lauren Records is an American independent record label founded in Southern California in 2011. The label mostly specializes in indie rock, emo, and other melodic punk rock adjacent genres.
Matthew Louis Pence is an American recording engineer, producer, and drummer. He owns and manages The Echo Lab studio in Denton, Texas.
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