Farewell Fighter

Next on the bill was Nashville's Farewell Fighter, who hit the stage in full-on showbiz mode. Let me admit my bias right now: having grown up in the underground emo/hardcore scene of the 90s, in which bands played in garages and on basement floors while delivering impromptu political manifestos between songs, I often find conventional "rock n' roll entertainment" style stage presences off-putting. However, Farewell Fighter are part of the modern, commercialized emo scene that draws its base from Hot Topic and The Warped Tour, and in that scene, the same showbiz moves that weird me out are standard operating procedure. Nonetheless, it can be hard, when evaluating bands in that scene, for me to set aside my old prejudices and appreciate modern bands on their own terms. Farewell Fighter's stage presence was therefore a bit of a stumbling block for me--they made moves that sometimes seemed like a post-y2k update of the 80s glam-metal era. Substituting nerdy cuteness for the Aquanet and spandex that dominated those days takes some of the edge off, but I'll probably never be comfortable with watching bands strike poses and wink at the girls in the front row. But, having said that, please don't think that I disliked Farewell Fighter's set. For one thing, after a couple of songs, I got used to their stage presence enough that I could chuckle rather than cringe at things like the singer dedicating a song to "our lovely bartender" (actually, this was especially amusing because Strange Matter bartender Lauren had stepped outside for a cigarette, leaving only her bearded coworker Ron behind the bar. I'm sure he enjoyed being called beautiful, though). For another, more important, thing: Farewell Fighter are just a great band. They opened with a short, introductory tune that their singer played by himself, but as soon as that was over and they tore into their first real song of the night, I found my doubts fading away. Their riffing was excellent, the choruses were extremely catchy, and the way their twin-guitar attack combined the perfect amounts of distortion and melody was just incredible. I was never completely able to put their overstated stage moves out of my mind, but by the end of the set I couldn't help but forgive them for all of it. They were just so goddamn good. - RVA

Farewell Fighter in a power pop, rock group from Nashville, TN who knows how to infuse the proper level of synth and rock to create a sound that holds its own in an over saturated genre. The band is composed of Kenny Fleetwood (vocals, guitar), Lee Morton (guitar, vocals), Preston Jackson (bass), and Matt Hooper (drums). Although The Winning Team is not exactly a stand out album, it holds promise for the young band and showcases their talent in a positive light.
The album starts off with “It’s All In The Hips,” a song that starts with a great musical introduction that it automatically hooks the listener in for the crisp vocals that follow. The theme is all too familiar for this genre: another love-hurt anthem that pits lusting after a girl against having the strength to walk away. However, where Farewell Fighter struck genius is in the way they change the tone of the song to reflect which side of the story the listener is receiving. This upbeat dance song flows almost perfectly into the following track, “Square State Syndrome.”
Contrasting sharply to the commonplace power pop song is “Square State Syndrome,” which features nice breakdowns that give the band members a chance to demonstrate their musical talent. The slower portions of the song partner nicely with Fleetwood’s vocals, creating a fluid sound that highlights many synth portions. Versatility is exactly what this track is about and delivers perfectly for the boys of Farewell Fighter.
The Winning Team gets slightly repetitious at the middle of the album with “Anthem West” and self-titled “The Winning Team.” It isn’t that these are not good songs, it is simply that they both seem to string together, as if the band became stagnant. Focusing too heavily on creating a true power pop sound and consequently struggling to explore their own true sound.
However, Farewell Fighter seemed to hit their stride again on “Have Spacesuit Will Travel,” which clearly sounds more like the band’s true sound and less of a generic power pop song. I feel as though this track shows the full potential of the band and acts as a slower track with uplifting tones that keep the attention of the listener. Moving into the final track on the album, Farewell Fighter made a beautiful metaphorical reference to Where The Wild Things Are with the title “I’ll Be Max, You Be The Monster.” This track is more of a true power rock song that establishes the bands potential for more mature music, separating them from the rest of the generic sounding pop bands crowding the genre.
Overall, this album is one of growth; one that will surely generate some interest around Farewell Fighter and pave the way for them to create a mature and well-crafted full-length. The band has already been booking shows in the Tennessee area, producing a fan base and posting some strong numbers for an unsigned band on MySpace. I have a feeling these guys have a career ahead of them and we can be sure we will not be saying farewell to them any time soon.
For Fans Of: Single File // Sing It Loud // Mae
Overall Rating: 7.5/10
Top Tracks To Listen To: I’ll Be Max, You Be the Monster, The Winning Team, It’s All in the Hips
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/farewellfighter - Shred News

Nashville, Tennessee (famously known as Music City USA) may be the mecca of country music, but it’s also home to four-piece indie-powerpop band Farewell Fighter. These hometown heroes spent the past two-and-a-half years fiercely following their dreams and rising to the top of the Nashville indie rock music scene–but they’re not slowing down. They’re just getting started.


Lead singer/guitarist Kenny Fleetwood, guitarist/back up vocalist Lee Morton, bassist David Jahns, and drummer Matt Hooper are mostly Nashville “by-way-of” residents and found each other through one common denominator and one mutual interest: they were all musicians who wanted to be in a band. Kenny began searching for members and like-minded musicians the only way a 20-something who grew up during the birth of social networking knew how: the internet.

“When I moved to Nashville, I didn’t know anybody here,” Kenny said. “I wanted to get into the music scene but I didn’t know where to start, so I did what everybody else does: I went on Craigslist.” Listing a few of his own influences, Kenny got responses from people who were also interested in creating that nostalgic 2002-era pop punk sound, but with an updated spin.

After a few member changes, the current Farewell Fighter line up is more diverse in music tastes and influences, which helped the band create their own sound. Lee said,“At first, we kind of had image of what wanted to sound like when we were a younger band, but as time went on, we started to really embrace our own brand of pop rock music. We kind of twisted it and made it our own.”

That sound is even layers of indie, pop, rock, and pop punk, and the band fleshed that out on their January 2011 EP The Way We Learn. It’s a seven-song soundtrack to each stage of growing up: from your first crush, to your first heartbreak, to the first time you had to learn to let something go.

The album’s theme is meant to help make the process of growing up easier, and does so with catchy hooks and upbeat, positive lyrics. “I think a lot of people go through the same stuff that we do and I think sometimes people forget that they’re not the only ones going through certain things,” said Kenny. “Being able to release a record like The Way We Learn, that has the movements of life and the important things we go through, it meant a lot to me to be able to do that.”

Lee agreed, saying “That’s something that I always wanted to do, was make kind of a themed record about growing up. So once those songs started coming out the way they did I was just very excited about it and it was very natural to me.” That natural progression in their songwriting helped Farewell Fighter to write an EP that can be compared to albums like The Ataris’ So Long, Astoria and The Starting Line’s Based On A True Story.

The positive message in their music is something that Farewell Fighter was founded on. The band Kenny had started when he was in high school broke up when he was 21 and it was hard for him to let go of something he loved and worked so hard for. After that experience, he knew he wanted to name his next band Farewell Fighter because “I wanted it to embrace the concept of being able to let something go, but still develop into something real and understand it’s okay to move on and become something else,” he said, “because as you live, you grow, you become something more.”

And they did. Farewell Fighter has been hard at work not only perfecting their music and musicianship, but they’ve also been climbing up the social networking ladder. Through Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and other websites, they built a fierce fanbase that supports them completely–from fans getting lyrics tattooed on their skin to faithfully voting the band into numerous contests.

David said “When we won the AP 'Hometown Heroes' contest, if we had not done the social networking we had done the year before that to build that fan base online, we wouldn’t have had the fan base to vote us into the magazine. And AP Magazine impresses promoters when we go to get booked in other cities and that allows us to get a show there, then that impresses the local bands and [makes them] want to play with us.”

Kenny agreed: “Technology has made Farewell Fighter what it is, literally from finding members to promoting. The core of being a band these days is social networking.”

The members of FF are kids who grew up on bands like Brand New and Taking Back Sunday at the dawn of social networking and it shows. They’re also business-minded, handling every aspect of their careers themselves: from writing to recording to booking shows to promoting. They do everything themselves, on their own terms. They’re currently unsigned and to Farewell Fighter, that’s not such a bad thing. When asked if they had any dream labels, Lee said “The ultimate dream for us would be unsigned and doing it ourselves. That’s ultimate success.”

Kenny said, “To be able to say that we’re successful at doing ‘insert amaz - Substream Music Press

Farewell Fighter - The Way We Learn
Release Date: January 18, 2011
Record Label: Unsigned

Are you starting a new semester of school? Stressed out over your new schedule and all of those internships and jobs you haven't heard back from? Are you having trouble getting back into the rhythm of your normal work week following the holidays?

Well then do I have the cure for you. Farewell Fighter's The Way We Learn EP is something of a throwback to times when you didn't have much to worry about. Back to days like senior year of high school when all you worried about was getting to school and basketball practice on time and which girl you were going to date over the summer.

Take the opening lines to standout track "Growing Pains", where vocalist Kenny Fleetwood soars. "Remember when we were young? / We got so good at being bad / We would shake responsibility so carefully / And would protect everything we had." Lyrics like those pepper The Way We Learn as Fleetwood's vocals are a definite point of emphasis. That isn't to undercut Farewell Fighter's musicianship, though.

On short opener "Well Wishing", which leads into "Growing Pains", the band flexes its muscle instrumentally for a bit. They show that even though they may not be doing anything new or strikingly special, they have the capacity to make enjoyable and entertaining instrumental portions, something that even more established pop punk groups can have trouble with.

While this band has been compared somewhat extensively to You, Me, And Everyone We Know, they're really more in the vein of perhaps a poppier Motion City Soundtrack or Taking Back Sunday, at least instrumentally. The almost-sugary vocals are the defining aspect of the group, carrying songs like the bass-centric "Terminal". The YMAEWK comparisons do come out on this EP, however, especially in "Love, Lust, Or Losing It". Fleetwood at times does show stylistic comparisons to You, Me, And Everyone We Know's Ben Leibsch, especially in his lyrical delivery.

"Where I Belong" is probably the band's most pure pop punk song, as it's faster-paced than most of the EP. One of the rare instances of gang vocals on the EP provides a great moment in this song, with the entire band chanting "Let go, let go / Don't sweat the rain / Life's not that bad today." Over a buzzing guitar line and rhythmic drums, that bridge is undoubtedly one of the highlights on The Way We Learn.

The five-and-a-half minute "Golden" proves to be the best song on the EP, however. Being the closer, Farewell Fighter makes it obvious that they're going for a bit extra on this track, and they certainly pull it off. The song starts slow enough, building slowly with well-orchestrated guitar parts to accompany Fleetwood's ever-steady vocals. The band comes into the picture in full force about halfway through the track, but then the song takes a step back, showcasing a track-over of children's voices.

The relaxed soundscape is lit up when Fleetwood comes back in, passionately belting out, "Golden / We are golden because we're alive / We are nothing without our goodbyes / Illuminate our own way from inside / We shine so bright, we shine so bright." At that moment, some well-timed gang vocals kick in, making for a more than memorable outro to the EP.

These relatively young Nashville, Tenn. pop-rockers are doing things the right way for an unsigned band. They're organized, they know what sound they're going for, and they're working their tails off to make their dreams become reality. The Way We Learn EP will be a great jump-off point for the group, and should hopefully lead to them landing some label support to get things going at an even faster pace.

Recommended If You Like
A You, Me, And Everyone We Know-infused Motion City Soundtrack or something along those lines.
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Bare Essentials
1. Well Wishing
2. Growing Pains
3. Never Have I Ever
4. Love, Lust, Or Losing It
5. Terminal
6. Where I Belong
7. Golden
Run Time: 26 minutes
Star Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Stars - Absolute Punk