Fang Island

Fang Island
Background information
OriginProvidence, Rhode Island; Brooklyn, NY, US
GenresIndie rock, progressive rock, math rock, post-rock, instrumental rock
Years active2005–2015
LabelsSargent House
MembersJason Bartell
Chris Georges
Marc St. Sauveur
Past membersNicholas Andrew Sadler
Philip Curcuru
Pete Watts
Websitewww.fangisland.com

Fang Island was an American indie rock band formed in Providence, Rhode Island, and based in Brooklyn, New York City. The group consisted of the guitarists Jason Bartell and Chris Georges, the bass guitarist Brock Hengin and the drummer Marc St. Sauveur.

Biography[edit]

Fang Island began in 2005 as an art project with original members, Philip Curcuru, Chris Georges and Pete Watts, while attending Rhode Island School of Design.[1][2] They were later joined by Bartell, St. Sauveur, Jacober and the guitarist Nick Sadler, a former member of the band Daughters.[3] Fang Island took its name from an article in The Onion.[3] Bartell recalled, "I think it was just a funny blip about Donald Rumsfeld having a secret hideaway, and it was on Fang Island."[3]

The band describes its sound as "everyone high-fiving everyone"[4] and their goal, according to Bartell, is to "make music for people who like music".[5]

The band independently released Day of the Great Leap in 2007, followed by an EP, Sky Gardens, in November 2008. Their song "The Absolute Place" was remixed by Chris Keating of Yeasayer in 2009.[6] Fang Island was named one of the year's top 10 albums by Brian Cook of The Stranger.[7] The album's lead single "Daisy", which has an electro-organ introduction and chanted vocals,[8] was played during a series of commercials promoting the MTV reality show The Buried Life.[9] Adam Pfleider of AbsolutePunk described it as a "wild party" that "listeners will want to relive ... over and over again".[10] Dan Goldin of Decoy Music praised the album for "successfully combining the luster of indie pop music with the technical eccentricities of progressive rock".[11] Ian Cohen in Pitchfork Media called the music on Fang Island "honest and life-affirming and infectious".[9] In 2010, Fang Island performed at the SXSW music festival in Austin, Texas,[3] and were named by the social networking analytics site Next Big Sound as the artists who experienced the fastest growth in online fandom during the festival.[12] While in Austin, the band also recorded three songs for a Daytrotter session.[13] Fang Island entered the Billboard Heatseekers Albums chart in April 2010.[14]

In a 2012 interview with New York Music News, Bartell admitted the happy undertones of the band's music, saying, "I am pretty ding-dong-doodily-delighted, all the time."[15]

Their song "Chompers" from the album Major is a playable track on the video game Rocksmith 2014[16]

Bartell began to produce new music as Mythless.[17][18]

Band members[edit]

Discography[edit]

Albums
Year Album details Peak chart positions
U.S. Heat[14]
2010 Fang Island 27
2012 Major
  • Release date: 24 July 2012
  • Label: Sargent House
 11
EPs
Year EP details
2005 Demo
  • Release date: 2005
  • Label: Self-released
2006 Day of the Great Leap
  • Release date: 5 May 2006
  • Label: Self-released
2008 Sky Gardens
  • Release date: 1 March 2008
  • Label: Corleone Records

Music videos[edit]

Year Title Director
2009 "Daisy" Carlos Charlie Perez[19]
2010 "Life Coach"
"Careful Crossers" ZFCL[20]
2012 "Sisterly" Behn Fannin[21]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Gillespie, Blake (9 December 2009). "Fang Island – Debut". Impose. Retrieved 15 March 2010.
  2. ^ Monger, James Christopher. "Fang Island – Biography". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 15 March 2010.
  3. ^ a b c d Raftery, Liz (15 March 2010). "Fang Island Interview: SXSW 2010". Spinner. AOL. Archived from the original on 11 November 2011. Retrieved 15 March 2010.
  4. ^ "Approved: Fang Island". Complete Music Update. 25 March 2010. Archived from the original on 14 April 2010. Retrieved 25 March 2010.
  5. ^ Young, Susannah (3 December 2009). "Fang Island – Biography". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 15 March 2010.
  6. ^ "Yeasayer's Chris Keating Remixes Fang Island". Stereogum. 29 April 2009. Retrieved 15 March 2010.
  7. ^ Cook, Brian (30 December 2009). "My Top Ten Albums of 2009". The Stranger. Archived from the original on 6 March 2010. Retrieved 15 March 2010.
  8. ^ "MP3 At 3PM: Fang Island". Magnet. 20 February 2010. Retrieved 15 March 2010.
  9. ^ a b Cohen, Ian (15 March 2010). "Album Reviews – Fang Island – Fang Island". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 15 March 2010.
  10. ^ Pfleider, Adam (26 February 2010). "Fang Island – Fang Island – Album Review". AbsolutePunk. Retrieved 15 March 2010.
  11. ^ Goldin, Dan (18 February 2010). "Fang Island – Fang Island Review". Decoy Music. Archived from the original on 21 February 2010. Retrieved 15 March 2010.
  12. ^ Winistorfer, Andrew (24 March 2010). "Fang Island (And Some Emo Band) The Most-Buzzed Bands From SXSW". Prefix Mag. Retrieved 25 March 2010.
  13. ^ Zimmerman, Angela (23 March 2010). "SXSW From the Frontlines of Daytrotter: Fang Island". Crawdaddy!. Retrieved 23 March 2010.
  14. ^ a b "Fang Island Music News & Info". Billboard. Nielsen Company. Retrieved 25 March 2010.
  15. ^ "Jason Bartell of Fang Island". New York Music News. 27 August 2012. Retrieved 23 September 2012.
  16. ^ "Rocksmith 2014 Setlist". Ubisoft. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
  17. ^ "Mythless' Jason Bartell Talks New EP "Patience Hell," Fang Island, and Maximalism". POST-TRASH. Retrieved 2 July 2018.
  18. ^ "Mythless reveals the Origins of his new song and video "Statue"". Consequence of Sound. 27 February 2018. Retrieved 2 July 2018.
  19. ^ "Fang Island Announces U.S. Tour Dates, Van is Stolen". MVRemix Rock. 2 March 2010. Retrieved 15 March 2010.
  20. ^ Fitzmaurice, Larry (1 July 2010). "Video: Fang Island: "Careful Crossers"". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 14 August 2010.
  21. ^ Fang Island "Sisterly" (Official), archived from the original on 2021-12-15, retrieved 25 October 2019

External links[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fang_Island&oldid=1216819041"