Fairmont (band)
Fairmont | |
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![]() Fairmont live in 2018 | |
Background information | |
Origin | North Jersey, U.S. |
Genres | Indie rock, alternative rock, punk rock |
Years active | 2001–present |
Labels | Reinforcement Records, Renfield Records, Go For Broke Records, Mint 400 Records |
Members | Andy Applegate Matt Cheplic Evan Pope Lisa Grabinski Christian Kisala Neil Sabatino |
Past members | Mike Burns Dave Caldwell Sam Carradori Clancy Flynn John McGuire Kevin Metz Corneilius "Corn" Moore Bruno Rocha Scott Wyden Kivowitz |
Website | fairmontmusic |
Fairmont is an American indie rock band from New Jersey, fronted by Neil Sabatino. They have released eleven full-length albums, as well as six EPs, and toured across the United States for over a decade of their existence.
History
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.
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]
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)
- Evan Pope – rhythm guitar (2019–present)
Former members
- Mike Burns – bass guitar (2015–2019)
- Dave Caldwell – drums (2001–2002)
- Sam Carradori – bass guitar and backing vocals (2008–2015)
- Clancy Flynn – violin and viola (2008–2009)
- John McGuire – bass guitar (2004–2007)
- Kevin Metz – guitar (2003–2007)
- Corneilius "Corn" Moore – drums (2002)
- Bruno Rocha – bass (2001–2002)
- Scott Wyden Kivowitz – keyboard (2002–2003)
Timeline
![](/images/timeline/7ewmhem6m2c8w2vxxgkhcf7144hfjc5.png)
Discography
- Albums
- Pretending Greatness is Awaiting (2001)
- Anomie (2003)
- Hell is Other People (2005)
- Wait & Hope (2007)
- Transcendence (2008)
- Destruction Creation (2010)
- The Grand and Grandiose (2013)
- 8½ (2015)
- A Spring Widow (2017)
- We Will Burn That Bridge When We Get To It (2018)
- Liminal Spaces (2020)
- EPs
- The Hand That Holds the Knife Must Be Cold and Steady (2002)
- LeMal (2003)
- Subtle Art of Making Enemies (2006)
- The Meadow at Dusk (2009)
- A Valentines Day EP (2010)
- Live & Acoustic from the Forest of Chaos (2014)
- Morning Coffee Vibes (2021)
- Compilations
- A Retrospective 2001–2011 (2011)
- Demo's & Lost EP's 2001–2005 (2019)
- Songs From The Radio (2020)
- A Retrospective 2011–2021 (2021)
- Appearing on
- Reinforcement Records Presents Spring 2002 Music Sampler (2002)
- Reinforcement Records Presents Summer 02 (2002)
- 52 Lessons On Life (2003)
- Our First Compilation (2011)
- A Very Merry Christmas Compilation (2012)
- Independent Clauses Presents Never Give Up, A Tribute To The Postal Service (2013)
- Mint 400 Records Presents the Beach Boys Pet Sounds (2013)
- Patchwork (2014)
- Transformed: A Tribute To Lou Reed (2014) as Neil Sabatino
- 1967 (2015)
- In a Mellow Tone (2015)
- 24 Hour Songwriting Challenge|The 3rd Annual 24 Hour Songwriting Challenge (2016)
- Guitar Rebel: A Tribute to Link Wray (2016)
- Mint 400 Records Presents Nirvana In Utero (2017)
- At the Movies (2018)
- NJ / NY Mixtape (2018)
- Don't Fade On Me: A Tribute To Tom Petty (2019)
- 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)
References
- Citations
- ^ a b c d e f g Draisin 2008.
- ^ Interpunk Staff 2001.
- ^ Morse 2002.
- ^ Eisenberg 2003.
- ^ Pettigrew 2006.
- ^ CMJ Staff 2003.
- ^ Top40-Charts Staff 2005.
- ^ AllMusic Staff 2005.
- ^ a b Greene 2007.
- ^ Dylan 2007.
- ^ Parciak 2010.
- ^ AllMusic Staff 2008.
- ^ Wien 2011.
- ^ Eisenberg 2008.
- ^ Mehalick 2016.
- ^ NACC Staff 2019.
- ^ NACC Staff 2020.
- ^ Mint 400 Staff 2011.
- Bibliography
- AllMusic Staff (2005), "Hell is Other People", AllMusic, retrieved February 24, 2014
- AllMusic Staff (2008), "Fairmont "Transcendence" credits", AllMusic, retrieved January 24, 2019
- CMJ Staff (August 11, 2003), "Tour Tidbits", CMJ, retrieved February 21, 2014
- Draisin, Deborah (2008), "Jersey Beat Interview: Fairmont", Jersey Beat, retrieved February 25, 2014
- Dylan, Nathan (July 23, 2007), "Fairmont–"Wait and Hope"", Wonka Vision, retrieved February 17, 2014
- Eisenberg, Adam (March 7, 2003), "NewsBriefs: Chronic Chaos, Minmae, Fairmont and more...", Punknews.org, retrieved February 21, 2014
- Eisenberg, Adam (August 3, 2008), "New Music Roundup: Coptercrash Records, Four Fingers, Keith Caputo", Punknews.org, retrieved February 25, 2014
- Interpunk Staff (2001), "Fairmont-Pretending Greatness Is Awaiting", Interpunk, archived from the original on March 4, 2016, retrieved February 21, 2014
- Greene, Jo-Ann (2007), "Wait & Hope Review", AllMusic, All Media Network, LLC, retrieved February 17, 2014
- Mehalick, Mike (September 12, 2016), "Live Review: The North Jersey Indie Rock Festival", Speak Into My Good Eye, retrieved February 6, 2019
- Mint 400 Staff (April 5, 2011), "Mint 400 Records Compilation Benefiting The Special Olympics Releasing April 12th", Mint 400 Records, archived from the original on September 24, 2015
- Morse, Dana (2002), "Pretending Greatness is Awaiting", Punk Planet, no. 51, p. 128, archived from the original on March 9, 2016 Alt URL
- NACC Staff (January 8, 2019), "Top 200 Week Ending January 8th", NACC, archived from the original on December 15, 2020
- NACC Staff (December 15, 2020), "Top 200 Week Ending December 15th", NACC[failed verification]
- Parciak, Brooke (2010), "How To Run a Record Label: An Interview With Neil Sabatino of Mint 400 Records", Jersey Beat, retrieved February 16, 2014
- Pettigrew, Jason (January 31, 2006), "My Chemical Romance, Escape Artists", Alternative Press, retrieved January 28, 2019
- Top40-Charts Staff (January 22, 2005), "Fairmont hits the road with new CD, 'Hell Is Other People'", Top40-Charts, retrieved February 24, 2014
- Wien, Gary (2011), "#52 Fairmont", Are You Listening?, p. 113, ISBN 978-0-9836857-0-8
External links
Media related to Fairmont at Wikimedia Commons
- Official website
- Fairmont discography at Discogs
- Pages using the EasyTimeline extension
- Articles with short description
- Use mdy dates from August 2022
- Articles with hCards
- Pages using infobox musical artist with associated acts
- All articles with failed verification
- Articles with failed verification from March 2021
- Commons category link is defined as the pagename
- Official website not in Wikidata
- AC with 0 elements
- Indie rock musical groups from New Jersey
- Musical groups established in 2001
- Mint 400 Records artists