Fucked Up

by Simon T Diplock

Pure punk rock

"Influenced by Minor Threat and NOFX alike, the band mix drunken yelling, layered guitars, danceable grooves, instruments from far outside their genre, ferocity, menace and melody in equal measures to come up with an original and hypnotic power-punch."

Fucked Up need to be careful. If they don’t watch out they’re quickly going to become more famous for the show they put on, and for that name, than for the actual songs they play. Ok ok, so celebrity will always be a side-effect of appearing naked on the front cover of the NME but this is a goddamn punk band we’re talking about. New-Noise isn’t trying to poop anyone’s party or anything, that a band of this calibre are getting any attention at all is great, it’s just that there’s way more to this outfit than a fat man in sweaty underwear and some schoolboy profanity.

Before any music weeklies thought the band were big or clever, Fucked Up formed and played their first shows in Ontario, Canada in early 2001. The initial line-up consisted of guitarist Mike Haliechuk, bassist Sandy Miranda, Chris Colohan (vocalist for the now-defunct Cursed) on drums, and frontman Josh Zucker. Just prior to recording their first demo, Jonah Falco replaced Colohan, Zucker moved to guitar, and vocal duties were handed to big man Damian Abraham. Beyond that though the facts are surprisingly difficult to come by. Hell, folk aren't even sure that those are the band's real names- wading through aliases like 10,000 Marbles, Mustard Gas and Concentration Camp to get anywhere near the truth. This is a band made to mess with Wikipedia.

Today a cursory internet search suggests that the band have released over 50 records, one just a single song spread over two sides of vinyl, been the subject of a two-minute 16mm film of which there are only ten copies, filed lawsuits against Rolling Stone Magazine and Camel Cigarettes, caused $2000 of damages to the set of MTV Canada, enjoy onstage fights and are perhaps Nazis- things that could all be true but could be the result of Fucked Up finding out which ridiculous detail some unlucky music hack would buy the fastest. The one thing that is for certain though, is the raw, rhythmic, primal noise the band produce.

Influenced by Minor Threat, NOFX, and Nirvana alike, the band mix drunken yelling, layered guitars that grind and soar, danceable grooves, instruments from far outside their genre, sick, sharp bursts of hardcore and five-minute steamroller songs, ferocity, menace and melody in equal measures to come up with an original and hypnotic power-punch of punk rock.

And it’s a rolling intensity that has impressed a lot of people. Sure, some stuffy distributors and US record stores have refused to carry their wares but since their first demos the band have received glowing reviews across the board, Kerrang calling them "the most punk band in the world", Jade Tree Records dug it enough to release 2006’s ‘Hidden World’ album, Matador are in charge of newie, this month’s ‘The Chemistry Of Common Life’, and collaborators from scenes and sounds as separate as Owen Pallett of Final Fantasy, Ben Cook of No Warning, George Pettit of Alexisonfire, and even Nelly Furtado (although that last one could well be another rumour) have been persuaded to join in the fun too.

No excuses then. Whatever you believe, whatever you think, whatever pools of blood, sweat and beer you’d rather not see, make sure you catch this band doing what they do best soon. Because missing this would just be fucked up.

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