March 10, 2003
Done Waiting
Robert Duffy
Strange Currencies: donewaiting.com and Fiction Plane
The debut album from Fiction Plane comes out tomorrow, and it reminded me of a story that I forgot to tell last month.
On February 1, 2003, we celebrated the official donewaiting.com launch. We did this with a huge concert here in Columbus OH, featuring some of my favorite bands: Miranda Sound, Manda and the Marbles, Stardrop, and Ken Gould.
A few weeks before the show I got a call on my celly telly from the William Morris Agency in Los Angeles. These are the guys who represent bigtime musical talent. I called them back, wondering if maybe they had interest in giving Miranda Sound lots of money, or something like that.
Wrong.
See, the guy calling me was representing one of their newest bands on the roster, Fiction Plane. They were desperate for gigs, and were willing to play for free, even. They wanted to play on the donewaiting.com show because it fit with their schedule, and they wanted to be a part of the event.
I said no.
It wasn't because I didn't like their music, it was because this was our launch show, and each band on the bill were close to me in their own ways. And besides, adding a band that featured the son of Sting (yes, that Sting, and no, we couldn't advertise it as the son of Sting) just wouldn't fit right.
For whatever it's worth, now you know.
Done Waiting part 2:
March 26, 2003
Truth or Fiction (Plane)?
Duffy turned down the opportunity to have Sting's son's band, Fiction Plane,
play at the donewaiting.com relaunch party. Probably a good move considering
the fact that he was told that he wouldn't be allowed to say "Sting's son" in
any of the promotions or advertising.
This weekend I picked up a copy of Fiction Plane's debut, Everything Will
Never Be OK, for $2.50. It's not awful, at least not as awful as I expected.
Not as moody as a band like Remy Zero but they kind of fit into that same
college rock bucket. If you're expecting the Police Jr., think again.
I just read a feature on the band over at CMJ.com. It takes a few paragraphs
for them to even mention that Joe Sumner is the son of Gordon Sumner (aka
Sting). Personally, if I were Joe, I'd want people to report that right away
because people like myself are interested in hearing what Sting's son sounds
like. If I didn't know the connection I would never have bothered to even
spend $2.50 on this release. Anyway, here is an excerpt from that feature:
"Citing Fugazi, Jesus Lizard, Pavement, Nirvana and "every Seattle band that
came out" as its primary influences, Fiction Plane takes all that is
aesthetically pleasing with indie rock and crafts it into an album that is
just as accessible to College Radio music elitists as it is to the casual
listener."
Fiction Plane sounds as much like Fugazi, Jesus Lizard, Pavement and Nirvana
as they do the Police which, in other words, means they sound nothing like
their influences.
FYI -- I'm glad to see I'm on target with the CMJ writers who say recommend
Fiction Plane if you like Remy Zero, Ash, and Stereophonics.
~chip midnight
http://216.239.57.100/search?q=cache:TtaVJsG1sZMC:www.donewaiting.com/+fiction+plane&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
