British musicians Dan Brown, Seton Daunt and Joe Sumner make up the band Fiction Plane, which played St. Andrew's Hall.
By Andrea Bonaventura
South End Contributing Writer
A mass of awkwardly dressed young people stood motionless in line outside of Saint Andrew's Hall in the bitter cold of an early February afternoon. Their bodies may have been chilled, but their faces showed an excitement and assurance that the show tonight would make it all worth it. After all, The Juliana Theory and Something Corporate were playing, with opening acts Vendetta Red and Fiction Plane.
"Where are you going?" asked one girl as my friends and I walked past the line and toward the doors. No time to answer her question - we were on a mission. We were about to be late for our interview with Fiction Plane - a London troupe of musical talent.
The band's members, Dan Brown, Seton Daunt and Joe Sumner, enter. Three completely down to earth young men with British accents and faces surely fit for TRL. But is TRL what these guys have in mind?
"Right now we're making a really great foundation," said Brown, the bassist. "As for MTV status, maybe one day, but only on a 'they come to you' basis.
"We won't put out singles and stuff just for them - we're going to play to people and build an audience."
Fiction Plane has been on the road with The Juliana Theory,
Something Corporate, and Vendetta Red for the last couple of weeks, but it won't be until the end of this year before the London boys head home.
"That's just what happens when you get signed to a U.S. company," said Daunt, who plays guitar. "We like the States. It's very different."
Saint Andrew's is a fairly small venue, holding about 1,500 people, but larger than what many up and coming bands go through first.
The band said it preferred a large show or a smaller, more intimate one.
"It's a different kind of enjoyment," said Sumner who leads the band with vocals and guitar. "Small shows are hugely fulfilling; we just love playing a gig.
"We're up for anything."
Previously called Santa's Boyfriend, the three laugh as they tell the story of simply wanting a new name.
"Fiction Plane is the name of a song that Joe wrote, and we all liked the idea," Brown said.
"It's like a fictitious place, or escape, which really fits in with what music does for us," he said.
Fiction Plane was inspired to start a band during the grunge movement. Their influences include classic American rock bands, and some others including Nirvana, Pavement and Radiohead.
"We're basically an American band, but British," Brown said.
But on a tour with the pop-punk sounds of Something Corporate, the Christian-influenced, emo-rockers Juliana Theory, and the hardcore metal 'screamo' sounds of Vendetta Red, where does Fiction Plane fit in?
"We try not to fit into a genre," Brown said. "Music that has strong impact lyrically and musically is it, really."
After a brief but creative photo shoot with the guys, it was time to head downstairs for the show.
Following an interesting performance from Vendetta Red, Fiction Plane graced the stage and had no problem bringing energy and excitement to the crowd.
Their eyes and hearts lit up almost as if it was their first time in concert, but their mature and melodic performance told us otherwise.
March 11 marked the release of the band's first self-produced, publicly distributed album, Everything Will Never Be Okay.
"It's a dream come true," Daunt said.
We were lucky enough to get our hands on a few copies of their Everything Will Never Be Okay sampler.
There are the kind of albums that you buy for one or two songs and then skip through the others, then there are the kind that you want to listen to completely. Those are the albums that leave you hanging on each chord and lyric. This album certainly falls into the latter category.
"Hate" is an angry song, entailing angst and frustration with the world and all of its inhabitants, yet it has a surprisingly upbeat and catchy sound. Lyrics, including "I woke up to decide/The world is ugly/and I wanna be blinded/We're cool, we're different and we hate things/We hate people," are surely to leave a lasting impression.
Everything Will Never Be Okay is another pessimistic song, yet one that many music-loving, edgy young people can relate to. "Living in a world of music you feel no pain/Everything will never be okay/There'll always be some part of you in pain."
"Fallow" is a slower track that takes a different spin on life compared to the negative perspectives of the others. Encouraging lyrics like "Let the panic slip away/Don't hold too tightly to this day/Don't crush it's life away" and "You're sure to find a cure/Sensing that this is a dark day/I remember when the sun came again/I have seen better days/there will be better days," will leave you teary-eyed yet hopeful.
There is much more to say about this album - and it's nothing short of brilliant.
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