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It’s obvious from the outset that the Fear and Trembling are something spectacular, a band smitten with pyrotechnic swagger and orchestrated opulence. This Nashville outfit demonstrates oversized ambitions and creative designs which—aside from occasional comparisons to Abraxas-era Santana, Hendrix’s Electric Ladyland and the whole of Mahavishnu Orchestra—propel them into celestial realms entirely their own.
Octopus seems a challenging read even after successive listens. Songs may start in meditative mode but abruptly accelerate into a relentless assault that spirals toward the stratosphere. Mellower passages offer a transition between reflection and resolve, while titles like “Higher Than Infinity” and “The Sound of Breaking Down” reinforce a sense of epic intent. The trepidation of their moniker aside, Octopus snares the listener as a bold first attempt. - Performing Songwriter
Discography
The Fear and Trembling's Octopus LP - 2007, Lock and Roar EP - 2006
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Bio
It's obvious from the outset that the Fear and Trembling are something spectacular, a band smitten with pyrotechnic swagger and orchestrated opulence. This Nashville outfit demonstrates oversized ambitions and creative designs which ... propel them into celestial realms entirely their own.
-- Performing Songwriter, March/April 2008
The Fear and Trembling was formed in early 2005 by four friends in Nashville, TN brought together by diverse yet similar tastes in both popular and experimental music as well as a shared penchant for brewed barley and hops. Multi-instrumentalists/vocalists Ryan Stimpson and Adam Bains had begun writing songs together around a year earlier and, after joining forces with bassist Matt Strickland and drummer/collaborator in mischief Morgan Loy, the band began performing in Nashville. Later that year they recorded the Lock and Roar e.p. at Haptown Studios in Nashville with Jason Blackburn, who would be the magic man behind the boards for future sessions as well.
In early 2006 Strickland announced that he would be leaving to pursue his education, and the remaining members were left at a crossroads. Instead of attempting to immediately replace Strickland, Bains and Stimpson began work on the songs that would become the first full-length album by The Fear and Trembling. The rest of 2006 was spent honing this set of tunes as well as producing demo versions of every song at TFAT World Headquarters. Armed with these demos and a year of writing, recording, and rehearsal under their belts, Stimpson, Bains, and Loy went back into the studio with Blackburn in early 2007 and spent a two-week blur of 12-15 hour days recording The Fear and Tremblings Octopus (with help from several extremely talented Nashville musicians). In the following months Loy mixed the album at TFAT World Headquarters and the band was joined for rehearsals by bassist Cameron Paxton and guitarist Gene Gravel. As a 5-piece the band was finally able to express itself in a live setting, and it is with this line-up that the band has released The Fear and Tremblings Octopus and is currently busting eardrums and expanding minds in and around Nashville.
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