fey

For those of us that grew up on rock, grunge and alternative in the 90s, Fey will hit home almost instantly.
Fey is a culmination of several established Vancouver based bands. The members are: Sam Caviglia – Vocals/Guitars, Jeff Wang – Guitars, Taylor Compo – Bass and Scotty Miller – Drums. Fey have just unleashed their 7-track album – “BYE BIPOLAR”.

For those of us that grew up on rock, grunge and alternative in the 90s, Fey will hit home almost instantly. Make no mistake, “BYE BIPOLAR” is a magnificent album. It is inventive, progressive, current and modern, highly inspired music, yet feels classic 90s at the same time. It is a marvelously dynamic album that has many peaks and valleys and it actually feels like an experience from start to finish lyrically, musically and thematically.

Fey have the ability to weave a tapestry of rock vibes that will appeal to a very broad audience. The songs are still thick walls of sound that wash over the ears. “The Day We Meet” opens the album. Initially it seems a simple and straight forward rocker, but the layering is solid, the arrangement is surprising, the song picks up incredible momentum, and “BYE BIPOLAR” never looks backs. “Rent Free” starts out with a, choppy guitar groove but the effects on Sam Caviglia’s screeching voice are incredible and pulls what could easily be a chaotic song into something hypnotic. The almost out of place, opening soft tones of “Rent Free” turns into another one of the album’s wall-banging highlights.


Aggressive at times, softer at other this album has a huge depth which can be overlooked on an initial listen. The riffs are heavy and it’s easy to see how this affects and interplays with Sam Caviglia’s wailing vocals. He has the power, emotion and range to scream and serenade with equal ease. Apart from the awesome riffs and wailing vocals, Fey deliver haunting melodies, and euphoric interludes that augments their percussive rhythms.

When you combine the abilities of Sam Caviglia and Jeff Wang on guitar, with the drumming of Scotty Miller and monstrous thunder of Taylor Compo’s bass, you hear a blend of four musicians who gel in a way that makes the whole band rise above the norm. Their performances brim with brilliance in many hues.

The band seems to hit their full stride about track 5, on “Zero One”, when they navigate unusual structures, changing time signatures and screaming vocals, making it all sound natural. But for me, the song that truly transcends the rest is, “Compass”. It’s really hard to close a rock album better than this.

Furious and uncompromising, “BYE BIPOLAR” is filled with beautiful arrangements that are sonically fascinating while the album’s thematic angst lies heavy within the grooves. If Fey remains focused and committed to perfecting their craft, they could go just about anywhere from here! - Rick Jamm

FEY – BYE BIPOLAR
Seven songs of pure power. It’s rare to capture the power of a live heavy metal grunge rock performance in an album…few bands can get the essence, power and emotion that whirls around from the stage to the audience and back to the stage again. I felt the power behind this album though.

Sam Caviglia delivers a vocal performance spanning a long range between soft melodic and powerful belting creating the dynamic foundation of emotional drive that carries the album from start to finish.

Song three “Replaceable History” is my favorite on the album, starting with a slow guitar riff played by Jeff Wang and an ambience which slowly build into a steady rock beat held steady by Scotty Miller (drums) and Taylor Compo (bass). Around 1:20 the song transforms completely and continues building throughout into ride you just need to take. Emotional lyrics, ripping guitar solos, big tom-heavy drum fills makes this song a must-listen.

What I like most is that the entire album has a sort of stripped down feel. Something I love about good rock and grew up on. Good rock needs some imperfections…I hear too many rock album that are killed by over-processing, auto-tuning and adding too many instruments that don’t need to be there. This brings back a feeling, an emotion to the music that too many bands miss nowadays. They hit it right on the head and that’s why you can feel the power behind every lyrics, every solos and every drum fill.

This is an album you can immediately play again as soon as it finishes…and trust me, you’ll want to. I can tell by listening to the album that this is a show you want to see…if you’re in the Vancouver area make your way out to catch one of these shows.

Make your way to bandcamp to check this album out: https://feysounds.bandcamp.com - A site for your ears

Fey - 'Bye Bipolar'

Independent Spotlight is a continuing series on Stewart’s blog. The series revolves around independent artists and bands sending their music to Brett to review. No band is promised a positive review, and all music is reviewed honestly in an effort to better independent music.

In this Independent Spotlight, we take a look at the Vancouver based hard rock act, Fey. Fey has just dropped their new album, ‘Bye Bipolar,’ and this is an in depth analysis of the seven track album. First, though, it is important to understand the most we can from Fey’s own interpretation of themselves.

Fey has a fairly vague online presence at this point in time, with only a Bandcamp page and a Facebook page to support the act and provide information. With that said, it doesn’t sound like Fey gives a shit, which may be the point. They list their genre as ‘God Damn Noisy Grunge,’ and describe their music as ‘dirty and pure,’ citing influence from the 1990’s and an era when music was rough and unprocessed. Does Fey sound like their self-description, though?

When you delve into ‘Bye Bipolar,’ you are immediately met with ‘The Day We Meet,’ a song that opens up with a peculiar 1950’s style anecdotal piece from the radio reminding you that “this program” is about mentally ill and disturbed children. That’s certainly one way to start a record. Afterward, queue the overdriven guitars and stark drums.

It makes sense to immediately talk about the vocal style of vocalist Sam Caviglia, since the artistic direction of his performance is introduced in the first few songs and remains prominent the whole record. During the 1990’s grunge movement, the line between hard rock and screamo blurred, with forerunner bands like Kyuss pushing that style. Now, it’s a style that works, but it is also complex and artistically confused by nature. Caviglia’s performance resembles a young David Lee Roth, with can appeal to a broad demographic of hard rockers. However, when he flips the switch into raging mode, that demographic is immediately lost, pushing Fey into a 1990’s subgenre.

The issue that unravels from this point is that it is a difficult scene to appease today; music has moved past that screaming vocalist movement by and large, and outside of places like Portland, a market for it is very niche. At the heart of Fey’s ‘Bye Bipolar,’ they have an excellent rock record for hard rockers. When he gets screaming, that pool shrinks. Now, I get where the inspiration to do it comes from, but Caviglia is a good rock vocalist, I applaud that side of him. It seems wasted when he devolves into screaming. Pulling back the Kyuss example, Josh Homme ended up evolving into Queens of the Stone Age, a hard rock act that is definitely one of the best in this past generation of rock. If Fey evolved a bit as well, they could land a bigger audience and their music would go farther.

Vocals aside, let’s talk about the music. Well, like I said, it is a surprisingly good hard rock album for an independent act. These guys have skill, and they shred away like no other act I’ve heard in quite some time. The electric guitar is powerful and tactfully harsh, not going off on needless tangents and detracting, but rather complementing the grunge sound. The drummer is also exceptional.

True to their description of themselves, ‘Bye Bipolar’ feels like a fairly untouched record. There isn’t a lot of overproduction, though songs like ‘14 Years’ prove they are willing to delve deeper into the mix to achieve a more introspective sound from their instruments. ‘14 Years’ is probably one of the better tracks on the record, exhibiting a really fantastic production.

The band seems to love sampled intros, whether that be radio presenters, police scanners, or wave sounds. It works to open the record, but by the time you’ve reached ‘Grease Pit,’ it gets a tad old. In any case, each song stands on its own instrumentally.

‘Zero One’ feels overproduced and contrived, though, with a stupid intro of Caviglia screaming and muttering incoherently over a guitar which was overdriven way too hard on the mix. It feels like a mosh pit number with no real purpose on a record of otherwise more tactful songs.

‘Compass’ ends ‘Bye Bipolar’ with a Nirvana-esque guitar lick introduction, a hauntingly intriguing one at that. Again, a sampled introduction is layered in, though in its brevity you barely notice it. At the two minute mark, the beautiful instrumental escalates into a forceful garage rock number. After nearly another minute, the music changes again, turning this song into an odd mixture of a Foo Fighters track, a Kyuss rocker, and ‘Band on the Run.’ ‘Compass’ is by far the best track on the record - a really sweet ending to the album, acting as a rock opera-like exit.

‘Bye Bipolar’ is a great record; I enjoyed it, despite being very removed from their target demographic. With that said, my criticism of the vocal delivery still stands, even considering Fey’s intent. ‘Compass’ was the most compelling track, and he only utilized his screaming style on certain lines, rather than devolving into a raging machine, much like how Dave Grohl handles his vocals on Foo Fighters records. Fey can remain in the 1990’s, it was a great sound and still is. Utilizing numbers like ‘Compass,’ however, will keep the essence of their inspiration, broaden their demographic, and make them seem like a much more musically intelligent band.

Fey's Music: https://feysounds.bandcamp.com/ - Tilting Windmill Studios

If you already know one thing about me…it’s that I’m listening to music all the time, from every genre we’ve created as a collective whole. If there are two things you know about me…you know there’s a secret shortlist in my brain that waits for certain bands to put out that next album…and today is one of those fantastic days. Vancouver-based ‘goddamn noisy grunge’ band Fey have, at long last, released their debut album into the world…Bye Bipolar is HERE.

Since first seeing Fey live on stage in Vancouver, I completely knew I was witnessing a REAL band with a REAL sound. The way they attacked their music with such a relentless onslaught & genuinely massive presence…I couldn’t help but sit there on the sidelines with my mouth wide open & jaw on the floor. How did I not know of this band already?

As many of you know, we invited them out to do SBS Live This Week…I had to re-confirm what I already knew; Fey fucking rocks. The band, armed with a galleries worth of gnomes, made themselves at home at SBS, answered some questions and then slayed a mind-blowing set right in front of my very eyes and ears. It was by and large one of the highlights of music in my LIFE – what a privilege…what an honor…

…what a fucking performance! I mean…technically my ears just stopped ringing…nearly a year later…and here we are now, with them perfectly tuned-up and ready to listen to the official disc from Fey, Bye Bipolar. I’ve heard these tunes in many different settings now…and you all know I’ve already proclaimed Fey to be one of the most exciting sounds I’ve heard in rock happening RIGHT NOW…so no bullshit, obviously expectations are huge here.

Here’s a bit about my own process…I could have reviewed this album two or more weeks ago…we were lucky enough to have a pre-release copy direct from the band. BUT…in knowing that my tendencies are to find something to like ANYWAY…I had to be extra careful that what I liked about Bye Bipolar wasn’t simply a reflection of me earnestly wanting to really support these guys. No secret here – this is a band I’d really love to see ‘make it’ one day…they play their music like their life is on the line for it, every time they hit the stage. So yeah…I pulled back…listened several times…as objectively as these ears would allow me to.

And you know what? Fey fucking ROCKS. I can pull back as hard as I want, but this music pulls me right back in. So WHAT if they happen to be four great guys? This music on the album Bye Bipolar is separate from all that for me for the moment…had I never met these guys even for a moment, my conclusion would still be exactly the same – this music explodes right out of the speakers and burrows straight into your dome hard, fast and unapologetically.

Breaking you in is the opening track “The Day We Meet,” a track that switches perfectly between a jagged verse right into a full-on onslaught of in-your-face screaming grunge. Vocalist/Guitarist Sam Caviglia is bringing out his inner demons right from the bottom of his chest and draining every square inch of air into these powerfully rage-filled screams. And yeah, they’re screams – that’s not to say that Fey doesn’t include melody into their sound, it’s present through the vocals and music all the way through this album, securing a tightly-made crossover sound.

“Rent Free,” is a a stop/start pleasure that really maximizes the use of Fey’s ability to shrink or expand their sound at will. The loud/quiet aspect of Bye Bipolar is in full gear as this machine-beast of an album explodes from one dynamic to another. The end of this track just cranks at the maximum right to the final breakdown and by the time it’s over…you definitely have to get your bearings again; it’s a dizzying fury of non-stop in-your-face, rock-wall of superior sound.

With perfect layout on this album accompanying the wickedly raw material, “Replaceable History” brings it down just slightly, allowing you some time to change the brown out of your underwear put there at the end of “Rent Free;” but the reprieve won’t last long. In fact…thinking about it…just go ahead and put your brown pants on cause you’ll shit yourself listening to how HUGE “Replaceable History” gets once it kicks into gear.

Always a standout track to me since I’ve known about Fey, is their song “14 Years.” Now, in a way, this is the most radical departure from their heaviness in a truly melodic and honestly darkly-beautiful song. It has great pop-hooks, but not so much that it feels outside of any other song on this album; it fits, right in the middle, perfectly. Many props to the band, Jeff Wang perfectly plays these songs on guitar; whether in a solo, leading or carrying the rhythm – this guy has developed parts that explode out of the amplifiers and right onto the record. Scotty Miller…this guy is such a beast to watch play and to listen to here on Bye Bipolar, great timing, brutally-hard hits and completely inventive & unique writing in his parts. Of course, the man holding all of this down & keeping the Fey songs slaying from moment one to the end, is the unsung hero Taylor Compo who I personally thought was great before yeah, but he really brought it up a level to kick some extra ass on this low-end grunge monster-piece of an album. Together, led by the searing vocals and shredding guitars of Sam Caviglia, they show through “14 Years” that the depth of talent in their band and songwriting is an endless well of pure rock awesomeness.

In contrast to “14 Years,” you get hit in the face with “Grease Pit,” which, with its own gnashed-tooth gnarliness…is just a complete winner and unreal song. Whether or not you ‘dig’ the screaming thing, you can’t deny just how powerfully a track like this comes across. It’s as in-your-face as it gets; and Fey is far from done.

I once saw a show where lead-singer Sam jumped straight into the audience, who held him up while he crowd-surfed screaming out the words to “Zero One.” Listening to this song on record was an important one for me…the music needed to capture that feeling that made him jump in there that night, it needed to have enough energy to support a raging crowd-surfing grunge-punk and musically give me a reason why I’d want to hold him up there, even if it’s a recording and not live!

And it DOES. “Zero One” is an uncaged monster; this song out-performed all my expectations and perfectly encompasses the enormity of seeing them live.

As they carry on into the final track, “Compass,” it starts out solidly instrumental for nearly three minutes before launching into a second-half in a pure highlight and solid finale for Fey’s Bye Bipolar. There’s elements of possible influences like the Deftones, Quicksand, Failure, Chevelle…all heavy-hitters and giants of the genre that have always guaranteed to lay the heavy on you like never before.

Fey can rest assured; if they keep putting the power into their music like they are here on Bye Bipolar, they’ll be joining the ranks of these incredible bands and calling their influences their peers real soon.

Get the new album Bye Bipolar from Fey direct here: https://feysounds.bandcamp.com - Sleeping Bag Studios

Many people, including me, are not huge fans of the over polished music of today. The use of technology is great but when it sucks out the realness and true sound of a band it has gone too far. A band that agrees with our take is our recent find FEY.

Forming in Vancouver, Canada from pieces of already established local bands, Fey is a raw, in your face alternative rock band that makes no excuses. From Sam’s screaming vocals, Jeff’s maniacal guitars, Taylor’s pounding basslines and Scott’s thundering drums the real power of the music shines through upon first listen. The influence of the 1990’s alt-rock sound is evident but Fey takes it a step further with an explosive raw power that does not use any auto-tune or samples just as an attempt to meet the popular masses.

Earlier this month Fey released their album Bye Bipolar. The 7 track record is a perfect introduction to the raw power that is FEY. Straight from the opener “The Day We Meet” the energy reaches out and grabs you. This must be an amazing band to see live. The band seems to slow it down on “Replaceable History” with its mellowed out stoner feel. Sam’s vocals stand out with his ability to change the tone of it from verse to verse. The sound seems to come at you from all angles on “Grease Pit” with its jumpy vibe filled with emotion and anger. This brought back memories of some of the grunge rock pillars of the early 90’s. The closer “Compass” is an over 8 minute opus that creates an atmosphere of dark deepness. This is meaningful music that builds into an explosive raw energy powerhouse that leaves the listener begging for more.

Please have a listen to Fey here and remember who introduced them to you first:

https://feysounds.bandcamp.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/feysounds - indiebandguru@gmail.com