Fat Day
Encyclopedia
Fat Day is a Boston
-based noisecore
band. Formed in Cambridge, MA in 1992 , they were associated with bands like Swirlies
, Kudgel, and Trollin Withdrawal
who formed the core of the Boston chimp rock
scene. Fat Day released three LPs and several EPs on their own 100% Breakfast! label, as well as an EP co-released with Donut Friends, and EPs released on HG Fact, Wabana
, and Ratfish. The Japanese-American label Devour Records released a CD of Fat Day's first two albums before 2002's IV came out on the Portland, OR Dark Beloved Cloud label and 2004's Unf! Unf! on the Providence
noise label Load Records
. Fat Day has toured the U.S. several times, the UK and Ireland in 1997, and Japan in 1998. They have released split EPs with the Ohio bands Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments and Harriet The Spy and the Japanese band Melt-Banana
(2007). They are most famous for originating the ironic mustache.
band has always been infused with a performance art
aesthetic. They have been known to play dressed only in clear cellophane
wrap or have vocalist Matt Pakulski locked inside a speaker cabinet for the entire duration of a live show. Their 1997 tour of the UK and Ireland featured a fifth member playing saxophone
that drew comparisons to Captain Beefheart
, and for their 1998 tour of the U.S and Japan the band built a set of oscillators that were activated by choreographed dances on four small trampoline
s. These homemade electronic
instruments were later condensed into a more manageable helmet
form that the band would wear and play songs on in the midst of their more guitar-based set.
Fat Day recorded a soundtrack
for guitarist Doug DeMay's film
Sexy Doings. They have also collaborated with the comic strip illustrator PShaw! on a comic strip
poster and a purple vinyl 45 RPM record set called Oskarrensaga, based on their elaborate 2002 rock opera of the same name that involved inflatable pool toys (such as swans and a curly sea serpent), and featured narration by PShaw. The album Fat Day IV is a collection of twenty-one pieces of music composed and mailed in by fans, and Iguanadonaland enlists a community orchestra
that performs throughout the album.
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
-based noisecore
Noisecore
Noisecore is a term for three separate music genres:* A subgenre of hardcore techno, similar to power noise or breakcore.* A form of grindcore, also known as noisegrind....
band. Formed in Cambridge, MA in 1992 , they were associated with bands like Swirlies
Swirlies
Swirlies is an shoegaze band from Boston that formed in 1990. They have often been compared to My Bloody Valentine.-Formation and early career:...
, Kudgel, and Trollin Withdrawal
Trollin Withdrawal
Trollin Withdrawal were a band from Boston, Massachusetts that existed between 1992 and 1995, whose lo-fi musical style had its roots in indie rock, classic rock and hip hop music...
who formed the core of the Boston chimp rock
Chimp rock
Chimp rock is a term coined in the early 1990s by members of the Boston-based band Kudgel, and "popularly" applied to various bands at a time when lo-fi recording was gaining credibility in the independent music industry.The word "Chimp" implies a primitive or unschooled approach...
scene. Fat Day released three LPs and several EPs on their own 100% Breakfast! label, as well as an EP co-released with Donut Friends, and EPs released on HG Fact, Wabana
Wabana Records
Wabana Records is a small record label in the United States. Its releases include albums by Acid Mothers Temple, Brainbombs, Billy Childish and Holly Golightly, Sunburned Hand of the Man, and Wolf Eyes....
, and Ratfish. The Japanese-American label Devour Records released a CD of Fat Day's first two albums before 2002's IV came out on the Portland, OR Dark Beloved Cloud label and 2004's Unf! Unf! on the Providence
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...
noise label Load Records
Load Records
Load Records is an American noise/experimental independent record label based out of Providence, Rhode Island. "Load Records might possibly be in possession of the world's most challenging record roster," writes Mark Hensch of Thrash Pit...
. Fat Day has toured the U.S. several times, the UK and Ireland in 1997, and Japan in 1998. They have released split EPs with the Ohio bands Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments and Harriet The Spy and the Japanese band Melt-Banana
Melt-Banana
Melt-Banana is a Japanese punk band that is known for playing extremely fast noise music mixed with experimental electronica and pop-based song structures. They have worked with artists as diverse as Merzbow, John Zorn, Mike Patton, and Discordance Axis...
(2007). They are most famous for originating the ironic mustache.
Projects
Fat Day's original inception as a standard guitar/bass/drums/vocals punkPunk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
band has always been infused with a performance art
Performance art
In art, performance art is a performance presented to an audience, traditionally interdisciplinary. Performance may be either scripted or unscripted, random or carefully orchestrated; spontaneous or otherwise carefully planned with or without audience participation. The performance can be live or...
aesthetic. They have been known to play dressed only in clear cellophane
Cellophane
Cellophane is a thin, transparent sheet made of regenerated cellulose. Its low permeability to air, oils, greases, bacteria and water makes it useful for food packaging...
wrap or have vocalist Matt Pakulski locked inside a speaker cabinet for the entire duration of a live show. Their 1997 tour of the UK and Ireland featured a fifth member playing saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
that drew comparisons to Captain Beefheart
Captain Beefheart
Don Van Vliet January 15, 1941 December 17, 2010) was an American musician, singer-songwriter and artist best known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. His musical work was conducted with a rotating ensemble of musicians called The Magic Band, active between 1965 and 1982, with whom he recorded 12...
, and for their 1998 tour of the U.S and Japan the band built a set of oscillators that were activated by choreographed dances on four small trampoline
Trampoline
A trampoline is a device consisting of a piece of taut, strong fabric stretched over a steel frame using many coiled springs. People bounce on trampolines for recreational and competitive purposes....
s. These homemade electronic
Electronics
Electronics is the branch of science, engineering and technology that deals with electrical circuits involving active electrical components such as vacuum tubes, transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, and associated passive interconnection technologies...
instruments were later condensed into a more manageable helmet
Helmet
A helmet is a form of protective gear worn on the head to protect it from injuries.Ceremonial or symbolic helmets without protective function are sometimes used. The oldest known use of helmets was by Assyrian soldiers in 900BC, who wore thick leather or bronze helmets to protect the head from...
form that the band would wear and play songs on in the midst of their more guitar-based set.
Fat Day recorded a soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
for guitarist Doug DeMay's film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
Sexy Doings. They have also collaborated with the comic strip illustrator PShaw! on a comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
poster and a purple vinyl 45 RPM record set called Oskarrensaga, based on their elaborate 2002 rock opera of the same name that involved inflatable pool toys (such as swans and a curly sea serpent), and featured narration by PShaw. The album Fat Day IV is a collection of twenty-one pieces of music composed and mailed in by fans, and Iguanadonaland enlists a community orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
that performs throughout the album.
Other appearances
Fat Day's song "Little Rachcles" is sampled on the 1999 album Planetary Natural Love Gas Webbin' 199999 by DJ Pica Pica Pica, a continuous mix of music compiled by Yamatsuka Eye. The song is incorrectly listed in the liner notes of that CD as "Burrega Theme".Members
- Arik Grier, bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
and electronicsElectronic musicElectronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
, now plays tuba in the Ethio-groove outfit Debo Band. - Doug Demay, guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
and electronics, sang for a DevoDevoDevo is an American band formed in 1973 consisting of members from Kent and Akron, Ohio. The classic line-up of the band includes two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs and the Casales . The band had a #14 Billboard chart hit in 1980 with the single "Whip It", and has maintained a cult...
cover bandCover bandA cover band , is a band that plays mostly or exclusively cover songs. New or unknown bands often find the cover band format marketable for smaller gigs, and these bands may be known as a wedding band, party band and function band. A band whose covers consist mainly of songs that were chart hits is...
, now plays in Exusamwa. - Matt Pakulski, vocals and electronics, majored in new musicContemporary classical musicContemporary classical music can be understood as belonging to the period that started in the mid-1970s with the retreat of modernism. However, the term may also be employed in a broader sense to refer to all post-1945 modern musical forms.-Categorization:...
composition in college and originally played bagpipesBagpipesBagpipes are a class of musical instrument, aerophones, using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. Though the Scottish Great Highland Bagpipe and Irish uilleann pipes have the greatest international visibility, bagpipes of many different types come from...
in Fat Day. - Zak Sitter, drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
and electronics, was a founding member of DQEDQE (band)DQE, or Dairy Queen Empire, is a band formed by singer/songwriter Grace Braun, New York photographer Chris Verene and former Fat Day drummer Zak Sitter in 1986 in Atlanta. The band later evolved into one built around the core of Grace Braun and her husband/drummer, music writer Dugan Trodglen...
.
Albums
- My Name Is I Hate You (1995)
- Burrega! (1997)
- Burrega!/My Name Is I Hate You (1998 CD release of first two albums)
- Cats of the Wild (2000)
- IV (2002)
- Unf! Unf! (2004)
- Snarl of Pulchritude: Singles 1993-2003 (2004)
- Iguanadonaland (2008)
EPs and singles
- 1st 7" (1993)
- Live Poultry Fresh Killed (1994)
- Bound for Glory (1995)
- Smell Me Silly! (1996)
- Split 7" with Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments (1997)
- Split 7" with Harriet the Spy (1998)
- Gun Court (1999)
- Poop E.P. (2002)
- Oskarrensaga (2006)
- Split CD with Melt-Banana (2007)
Compilation appearances
- One song on a flexidisc that came as an insert in Wingnut Magazine (Sealed Hotel Publications, 1993)
- One song on The Guide To Your Demise 7" compilation (1994)
- One song on the Stealing the Pocket compilation LP (Positively Punk, 1994)
- "All Your Winning Colours" and "Dub" appear on the Methodist Leisure Inc. freebie spazzcore compilation "Short Attention Span" (2009, Methodist Leisure Inc.)
External links
- Official site
- Myspace
- Mr. Fat Day comics by PShaw!
- Article by Douglas Wolk
- Review by Charlie Wilmoth
- Review by Marc Gilman
- [ Review by Rick Anderson]