Christianity: Details about 'Five Iron Frenzy'
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Home
|
Five Iron Frenzy was a Christian third-wave ska band formed in Denver, Colorado.
HistoryThe band started as a local side-project of Reese, Keith, Micah, and Scott's band Exhumator. The band members never took themselves too seriously. Even the name started out as an inside joke. Although the original intent was for the band to stay local and help grow the local music scene, Five Iron Frenzy (FIF, or Five Iron) signed to Frank Tate's 5 Minute Walk records in 1995 and was touring nationally within a year.They reached the peak of their fame around 2000, with the release of All The Hype That Money Can Buy. In December 2002, they announced that they would be breaking up after a final tour. They played their final show on November 22, 2003 at the Fillmore Auditorium in Denver, which was recorded. This show had an attendance of over 4,000 people. The story behind the nameExcerpted from an interview between and Keith Hoerig. Jesus freak Hideout: What's the story behind the name "Five Iron Frenzy"? StyleFive Iron Frenzy's music was influenced most heavily by ska, punk, metal, and hip-hop. The band's performance style grew from the subcultures of third-wave ska, punk rock and heavy metal music, but had a somewhat tamer attitude than many similar bands; however, their music was unique. Scott Kerr wrote or co-wrote most songs on the first three full-length releases. After he left, the band began to explore a wider variety of musical influences, incorporating diverse influences such as Latin and swing into their musical palette. Dennis Culp's musical direction became more prominent, although the composition duties were spread more evenly amongst band members. Song lyrics and vocals were handled by Roper. Both Culp and Leanor Ortega penned lyrics to several of the band's songs. Production and engineering for every album was led by Masaki "Saki" Liu, a good friend of the band, at his One Way Studio. After the release of Five Iron Frenzy 2: Electric Boogaloo, FIF's sound leaned more towards horn-tinged hard rock than ska. GoalsFive Iron Frenzy never received any significant music industry awards, and received relatively little attention in mainstream media. They stayed with the small 5 Minute Walk label for all eight of their albums. On their final tour, Reese Roper continued his habit of forgetting entire verses to many concert standards. After clarifying that instead of "breaking up" they were more aptly "quitting," Five Iron's final sixty shows were named the "Winners Never Quit Tour". This self-deprecating humor is evident in much of their work. While the band's evolving musical style and skill showed dedication to their artistry, their fanbase remained strongest among those who enjoyed the quirkiness displayed at every show and on every album. They often performed their concerts while wearing full costumes. On one tour, they told fans to bring sock puppets on stage and help sing along. Their fanbase was diverse, ranging from the socially and religiously outcast to the parents of teenage fans. As a result, people from a variety of social and religious backgrounds considered their views genuine and thoughtful. The manner in which the band displayed their Christianity guaranteed them neither a place on Christian bookstore shelves nor automatic distribution in general-market outlets. But they found financial stability in a place that allowed them to critique both Christian and non-Christian culture. Recurring themes were the continuing injustices done to the Native American people ("Banner Year", "The Day We Killed", "Old West"), the evils of consumerism ("Fistful of Sand", "Vultures", "American Kryptonite", "Giants"), Christian hypocrisy and homophobia ("Fahrenheit," "Four Fifty One"), the shortcomings of the band ("So Far So Bad", "Eulogy", "The Untimely Death of Brad", "That's How the Story Ends", "Where Is Micah?") and from time to time joyous songs about finding renewal in their faith ("Second Season", "Every New Day", "On Distant Shores"). Discography
ChartsBillboard (North America)
Final Line-Up
Former Members
Other ProjectsExhumatorExhumator released a single track, "Spam Jam," on the compilation Green Manna (Fifty280 Records). Brave Saint SaturnBrave Saint Saturn, a studio side-project, is expected to release one more album in addition to the two releases already out. Guerilla RodeoGuerilla Rodeo was a short-lived pop-punk band consiting of members of Five Iron Frenzy (Reese Roper and Sonnie Johnston), Ace Troubleshooter (John Warne and Josh Abbot) and the OC Supertones (Ethan Luck). The band only recorded a three song EP before the members moved on to other projects, such as Roper. RoperLead vocalist Reese Roper has been signed on to 5 Minute Walk Records under a band fittingly named Roper. Yellow SecondFounding member Scott Kerr is in another band known as Yellow Second which once also included drummer Andrew Verdecchio, although in late 2005 the band announced their breakup. Dance Mexican DanceAfter embarking on a spoken word poetry tour with Reese Roper and Pigeon John , saxophonist Leanor "Jeff the Girl" Ortega-Till was briefly involved in an electronica project called Dance Mexican Dance alongside husband Stephen Till, who is the rhythm guitarist for Roper. Dance Mexican Dance has since been renamed His Love Fellowship. The Tills are also heading a T-shirt company called . Five iron frenzy Five Iron Frenzy
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||