Friendly Foes have announced the band's split. Cue the violins, they've been rehearsing in my head since I heard the news. Guess Friendly Fires outlasted to win the Name Game.
Last show ever: 21 Aug 2010 19:30 Fucking Awesome Fest @ The Magic Stick Detroit, MI
The Silvery Lining:
The members of Friendly Foes might continue to make music, just not together. I thought guitarist/singer Ryan Allen was still fronting Thunderbirds Are Now!, but I've been corrected - I "suck at blogging", according to somebody named hawksorama. Bassist/vocalist Lizzie Wittman has made music with Kiddo, though I'm not entirely sure if that's a going concern or not. Wittman also has a project called Lettercamp, which I also learned from hawksorama. I stand corrected, mostly because hawks spanked me hard. Anyway, Allen and drummer Sean Sommer both play in The Cold Wave, too.
In other potential silver lining-type news, rumours are flying that the 4 surviving members of The Cars are reuniting. This gossip was passed along to me by Slicing Up Eyeballs, now we're both rumour-mongerers, right?
Has every possible band name based on the English language been used already? Probably not yet, but the tipping point may be coming soon. This series of posts is being created to ensure you can tell the which from the what when that catastrophe finally occurs.
Friendly Foes are a trio who call home "just outside of Detroit", according to their bio. And I believe the bio. Know why? The rest of the bio nails down their sound as well as could be done - it speaks the truth. Band members are "Inspired as equally by 70s punk-songwriters like Nick Lowe and Elvis Costello as they are the glory days of 90s indie rock (Superchunk, Guided By Voices, Chisel) — with a healthy dose of Husker Du and Replacements-style bash 'n pop thrown in for good measure — Friendly Foes craft rag-tag, rough around the edges rock songs that do away with pretense". Yeah. That's about right. Add a reference to power-pop's Pleasure Island, and I'm just going to stand back and let you listen. Comment below if you think the writer got it right or wrong, here's Get Yr Shit Together.
The above track is available as a free download from here, or you could simply hit the arrow pointing down in the embedded songplayer above.
Here's another, Couch Surfing.
Another thing I like about this band is that a sense of humour is in evidence. Check out the live acoustic cover of the mighty Danzig's Mother.
You can listen to the whole album here by using the name-brand electronic device at the right side o' the page.
Friendly Fires are a UK band that were just recently nominated for a Mercury Award, and they've previously shown up on Best-of lists for NME, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork. The band is an earnest bunch of guys who create big beats, sharp pop hooks, and danceable grooves. Smoothly-produced singles have ensued, but in an live, stripped-down setting, the group's songcraft is evident - check out this version of On Board from Sterogum.
Friendly Fires make me think of bands like Coldplay and Keane (the aforementioned earnestness) but with less restraint, less adoration of mid-period U2, and more desire to hit listeners on a physical level - whatever makes a human shake his or her rump.
If that didn't appeal to your discoball, get a load of this finely-tuned concoction of non-stop funkified slap bass, twitchy guitar, desperate vocals, and tasty percussion (more cowbell, anyone? tambourine? hand-claps?). It's my favourite new tune, download here.
Here's a version of Paris without the production trickery.
If you wanna see Paris on Jools Holland featuring crazy dancing and ecstatic singing, go here.
mp3s will be posted for a limited time and are for promotional purposes only. If you like it, buy the albums, go to the shows, buy the t-shirts - support the artist so they can keep on keepin' on. Artists - if you would like an mp3 or video removed, please contact me directly at chrisyakchart@hotmail.com.
If you've got something Scruffy should hear, same email. Snail mail is cool too.
Scruffy the Yak 34 Allenby Cres Winnipeg Mb R2C 3J4
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