Fast Car

Fast Car plays as the opening act for Circa Survive at their performance on Sunday.

Protesters at the Occupy headquarters use art and music to provide entertainment and comradery.
City Hall is quite the happening place these days. With the Occupy movement spreading across the nation, the community in Philadelphia is becoming more of just that: a community. As one walks around the tent city and they will notice a public library station, a medical tent and one tent labeled “safety.”
There are food and clothing donation centers, a media tent and a booth where protesters can vote on what exactly they want their message to be, since it is still considered by some to be a bit fuzzy.
But one thing that has worked to unite the people of Occupy has been art – visual art, performance art, the art of discussion and learning and passion for what they are doing.
At the site, an open mic welcomes all kinds of performers, from musicians to spoken word and dance, at least five hours a day, and weekends often include more official concerts and information festivals.
“Music gets people involved,” said Andrew Fangmeyer, a musician originally from the Washington area. “It centers people, draws people out and leads to more discussion.
It’s definitely brought some life to the movement.”
Michael Blas is one of the lead organizers of the music collective at Occupy Philly.
“The music is about camaraderie, it’s about becoming a family and working toward a common goal,” Blas said. “When we become a family, then we can make a statement.”
Matt McCloskey, a professor at a nearby community college said the Occupy movement has brought together people who would not normally interact, and has encouraged them to talk about issues that really matter.
“Even though we all live in these isolated worlds, here people realize that their problems are everyone else’s problems, too,” McCloskey said.
Well-known performers have played at numerous Occupy sites since the protests began. Circa Survive played at Occupy Philly this past Sunday.
“The messages in our songs are really parallel to the themes of Occupy,” Anthony Green, the front man for Circa Survive said.
“I have a family to provide for,” Green added. “We need to be comfortable and safe.”
McCloskey said he tries to encourage the dialogue by volunteering at a book exchange table and encouraging reading among the occupiers as a way to not only pass the time, but educate themselves about current issues.
Mike Romano, a resident of the greater Philadelphia area, first became involved in the Occupy movement in New York, when he witnessed the police violence against the protesters marching on the Brooklyn Bridge. Romano has been involved in the Philly movement since its inception and helped to organize the newly-formed music collective.
“Basically started up by a bunch of kids bringing a couch [to the plaza] and saying ‘we’re going to be here for a while,’” Fangmeyer said.
Fangmeyer said each day there is a little more involvement and that when people show up they can just join in.
“It’s a free people kind of thing,” he added.
But even when the music isn’t totally spontaneous, there is still a free-people aspect to it.
“There’s a very spiritual and freeing surrender aspect to music,” Green said. “Music is important to any revolution – it allows it to gain more visibility.”
Green warns, however that no one can just expect changes to be made immediately.
“It’s not enough to sit outside City Hall and demand change, you have to go out and make it happen,” Green said. “I think the drum circles are great, but you have to keep that momentum going.”
“Music is universal, an essential part of the human language,” Romano said. “The music committee’s founder calls it ‘the soundtrack to a revolution.’”
People can hear songs from this soundtrack just by walking around the movement on a typical day. Romano himself plays an enormous hammered dulcimer with the company of two mandolins and a guitar to the tune of “The Times They Are a-Changing.”
“This is my first day here,” senior information science and technology major Ezra Match said. “I did the walk-out, then came here and commandeered a mandolin.”
He was not surprised to find himself in a mix of artists in the tent city of City Hall.
“This movement is about justice and good music is often about justice,” Match said.
Match said he did not feel that people had to drop everything and live at Occupy to be participate in it.
“You don’t have to take it seriously,” he said. “If you show up, you’re doing something.”
Romano said he hopes to organize more performances like the impromptu string quartet, to add to the morale of the movement.
Fangmeyer said he agreed music would heighten the feelings of the Occupiers.
“The nights are always slower when there is no music,” Fangmeyer said.
Rachel McDevitt - Temple News

Fast Car infuses synth, piano, violin, drums, guitar, and bass to create melodic soundscapes. And in just a short amount of time, the 3-piece has released their debut album while performing with the likes of Anthony Green and Yip Deceiver (featuring members of Of Montreal).

Superbowl Sunday will be in full effect tonight, and the majority of places out there will be giving into the big game fever. But World Café Live is open for a night of music (while projecting the game between band sets) and a good cause as it plays host to Rock to the Future’s next benefit. The organization will be raffling off a bunch of great prizes during the event (a $100 gift certificate to Cantina Dos Segundos, Dr. Dre Beat Headphones, concert tickets, and more!), and their all-star band Amaranthine will be playing. But there will also be a diverse lineup of supportive local acts. Fast Car infuses synth, piano, violin, drums, guitar, and bass to create melodic soundscapes. And in just a short amount of time, the 3-piece has released their debut album while performing with the likes of Anthony Green and Yip Deceiver (featuring members of Of Montreal). They’ll be joined by The Danger O’s whose genre bending music flows from 60’s pop psychedelia into 70’s shoegaze punk and more. Add in the explosive indie pop of Polar Ice Cap and the debut performance of world beat blues jazz ensemble Jampa, and you have a good reason to escape the gridiron. (Let’s face it – both teams losing isn’t really an option. So why torture yourself?) World Café Live, 3025 Walnut St., 7pm. $7 (+ processing fee), All Ages - Bill McThrill - The Deli Magazine

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 5th
Rock To The Future Benefit featuring Polar Ice Cap + The Danger O’s, Fast Car, Jampa! at World Cafe Live (7 p.m., all ages, $7) - WXPN blog The Key

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 5th
Rock To The Future Benefit featuring Polar Ice Cap + The Danger O’s, Fast Car, Jampa! at World Cafe Live (7 p.m., all ages, $7) - WXPN blog The Key

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 5th
Rock To The Future Benefit featuring Polar Ice Cap + The Danger O’s, Fast Car, Jampa! at World Cafe Live (7 p.m., all ages, $7) - WXPN blog The Key

"We keep it Pop yes, we love memorable, infectious melodies. We grew up on it and we love it.
Also we keep it Rock, der… we play guitars with distortion, rip solos, and play big loud fast drums, it’s tradition…"

Hey! Thanks for taking this interview. Please, introduce yourself and give us a quick description of the band and its music.

Well Hi!! We’re a band called FAST CAR. We’re 3 close friends who grew up together in the suburbs of Philadelphia. We play in a predominantly pop/rock style, but we consider it pretty classy pop rock with all the different styles and instruments that we incorporate. We put all of our effort into our music and we think that’s apparent in our musicianship, melodies, lyrics, and performance.

What’s progressive about FAST CAR? How do you understand the progressive rock concept?

I’m not sure I know the definition of progressive rock music, or if anyone does for that matter. Music that sounds a certain way always eventually gets some specific word associated with it over time i.e pop, punk, emo, indie, progressive etc…
It’s difficult to deal with having a general label slapped onto the music you’ve been crafting your whole life but the best of artists seem to handle it pretty well.
My older brother did blogs and reviews on live bands for campus philly and he once said he considered us progressive. I’d like to just be considered good music, but I’m more fond of the term progressive in music than most. It makes me feel like the music is moving forward, evolving, progressing, and I think in one way or another, ours is.
We keep it Pop yes, we love memorable, infectious melodies. We grew up on it and we love it.
Also we keep it Rock, der… we play guitars with distortion, rip solos, and play big loud fast drums, it’s tradition….
That’s not where it ends though, we’ve got pianos, violins, synths and organs backing us up via samples both in studio and live.
If you listen to “That Just Happened” our live album, you’ll hear r&b inspired tunes like “Story Ever After”, Motown styled tunes like “Leave You Now”, club bangers like “What You’ve Been Waiting For”, and blues ballads like “We’d Have The Road”, all that on top of our energetic Pop/Rock tunes like “Careful Who You Wave Your Guns Around” and “Until You Go”.
I guess in our case, not being afraid to play 5 different styles of music at the same show is how we understand the Progressive Rock concept.

How’s Philly these days? Tell us more about your local music scene.

The scene is pretty divided these days, but it’s coming back together right before our eyes which is pretty exciting. We’ve seen the punk scene come and go, which used to be insanely huge with bands like the Low Budgets playing out more often.
The Pop/Rock scene came and went, and took with it VALENCIA who blew up pretty big. We used to play with them in previous bands that we had which is crazy.
The skate rock/skate thrash scene seems to be standing the test of time with bands like MCRAD still playing regularly, also FDR locals like THE TROWELS and Zwaanendale keeping things just as exciting as they’ve ever been. Just the other week I was at a show with all three of those bands and there were at least 3 jumps off the venue’s balcony into the crowd. That scene isn’t going anywhere!!!
It’s just a shame that’s not our scene, given our nicer presentation, what with the Pop singing and all… Our scene is coming together though, it’s just a matter of time.

You released your first live album in September 2011. Please describe “That Just Happened” and tell us what can we expect from it and where can they get it. How do you distribute your music?

It’s a great live album and for only 10 bucks. It has 16 songs in total and the quality is really exceptional for us doing it ourselves. I listen to it every once and a while and it never seems to get old. On top of that it’s a really good indicator of or live skills. We definitely pride ourselves on being able to play just as well live as we do on our records. There really isn’t enough of that these days.
The live album as well as our two singles “Careful Who You Wave Your Guns Around” and “Until You Go” can be purchased online for digital download at www.fastcar.bandcamp.com.
We prefer that platform over itunes because aspiring artists like ourselves can earn 100% of their sales.
Also we have a pressed copy of our studio recorded Singles which are free if you come out to a show!!

It’s pretty awkward to first capture your live skills before even thinking about releasing a studio album. How did you decide to do that?

Well we didn’t have the money to record a whole album in the studio, but we had like 20 songs that were studio ready, so we decided to put on our own show where we could play as long as we wanted for friends and family. I decided to bring my laptop which has pro tools LE, and we did a pretty decent recording of our live set that night this past July. Doing a live album, I felt like there wasn’t as much pressure to have amazing production value, and we definitely didn’t have the budget to be putting that kind of pressure on ourselves. Fortunately, the album came out very clear and plenty worthy of distribution.
We’re definitely not afraid to show that we can play our songs live. In my opinion, if you can’t play your songs well live, you shouldn’t be the one playing them in the first place, stick to being a writer or something if you can’t hack it on stage…

I guess touring is very important for you? How many shows have you been playing so far? What are your future touring plans? What can people expect from your live set?

I mean getting the sound out there to new ears is definitely very important. We’re currently planning some traveling gigs including NY, Virginia, Baltimore, NJ and wherever else will have us.
It’s hard to “tour” tour when I myself have a dayjob and a nightjob [laughs]. Most of my money goes into promoting our band though and I believe it will pay off and we’ll hit the road sometime in the near future.
More than ever I really feel that me and my bandmates are seriously on the brink of something that could be huge, and with that will come extensive traveling for sure. As for right now we play out 2 to 3 times a month tops.

What are your future recording plans?

Right now the Idea is to record a really solid 8 song studio e.p. which will include all of the songs that we’re playing at our next show Feb. 5th at World Cafe Live in Philadelphia. It should be a nice teaser and plug for the e.p. that’s coming. We’re going to be recording out of a studio in Springfield PA that’s owned by a friend of a friend. I’m pretty excited to get started!!

Is it your first band? What other music activities have you been involved in?

This is definitely not our first band [laughs], far from it. I myself have played in Pop/Rock or Pop/Punk bands such as THE SELLOUTS, FIVE PIE, BELIEVER, KID ONE and Punk bands WILD IN THE STREETS, and MCRAD.
Anthony played in KID ONE with me.
Matt was actually signed with a band called HERO FROM A THOUSAND PACES and also played with me in FIVE PIE and BELIVER.
So no, not our first band but undoubtedly our last!!! We’re gettin too old for this starting fresh bullshit…save for any trippy side projects we decide to mess with for self amusement [laughs].

Thank you! Is there anything you’d like to add?

Yes!! One thing, and this is news that you are hearing first, before anyone else as we are announcing it at our next show Feb. 5th.
Until now the bands line up has been myself, Aaron Hindorff (guitar/vocals), Anthony (Blue) Carnevale (drums) and Patrick Bickel (bass).

Patrick has been having trouble with availability due to work/school and as much as he wishes he could play all of the shows, he hasn’t been able to. We’ve come to a mutual agreement that we should search for a new and more permanent member, and remain great friends. Patrick still works closely with the band giving feedback on bass ideas, production ideas and tons of help with repairing/building gear (Aaron’s amp, guitars and pedals etc). He is extremely talented and loyal and we appreciate everything he’s done for us in the past year and a half.

Our new bass player is long time childhood friend Matt Bates, former bass player of FIVE PIE, BELIEVER, and HERO FROM A THOUSAND PACES!! We’re so insanely excited for Matt’s debut performance with us on Feb. 5th at world cafe live!!

Current line-up is:
Aaron Hindorff (guitar/vocals)
Matt Bates (bass/backing vocals)
Anthony (Blue) Carnevale (drums) - Idioteq