| Fat Day | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Cambridge, Massachusetts |
| Genres | Noise rock, indie rock, chimp rock |
| Years active | 1992–present |
| Labels | 100% Breakfast!, Methodist Leisure Inc., Donut Friends, Devour Records, HG Fact, Wabana, Ratfish, Load, Dark Beloved Cloud |
| Associated acts | DQE, Debo Band, Exusamwa |
| Members | |
| Arik Grier Doug Demay Matt Pakulski Zak Sitter |
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Fat Day is a Boston-based noisecore band. Formed in Cambridge, MA in 1992 , they were associated with bands like Swirlies, Kudgel, and Trollin Withdrawal who formed the core of the Boston chimp rock scene. Fat Day released three LPs and several EPs on their own 100% Breakfast! label, as well as an EP co-released with Donut Friends, and EPs released on HG Fact, Wabana, and Ratfish. The Japanese-American label Devour Records released a CD of Fat Day's first two albums before 2002's IV came out on the Portland, OR Dark Beloved Cloud label and 2004's Unf! Unf! on the Providence noise label Load Records. Fat Day has toured the U.S. several times, the UK and Ireland in 1997, and Japan in 1998. They have released split EPs with the Ohio bands Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments and Harriet The Spy and the Japanese band Melt-Banana (2007). They are most famous for originating the ironic mustache.[1]
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Fat Day's original inception as a standard guitar/bass/drums/vocals punk band has always been infused with a performance art aesthetic. They have been known to play dressed only in clear cellophane wrap or have vocalist Matt Pakulski locked inside a speaker cabinet for the entire duration of a live show. Their 1997 tour of the UK and Ireland featured a fifth member playing saxophone that drew comparisons to Captain Beefheart, and for their 1998 tour of the U.S and Japan the band built a set of oscillators that were activated by choreographed dances on four small trampolines. These homemade electronic instruments were later condensed into a more manageable helmet form that the band would wear and play songs on in the midst of their more guitar-based set.
Fat Day recorded a soundtrack for guitarist Doug DeMay's film Sexy Doings. They have also collaborated with the comic strip illustrator PShaw! on a comic strip poster and a purple vinyl 45 RPM record set called Oskarrensaga, based on their elaborate 2002 rock opera of the same name that involved inflatable pool toys (such as swans and a curly sea serpent), and featured narration by PShaw. The album Fat Day IV is a collection of twenty-one pieces of music composed and mailed in by fans, and Iguanadonaland enlists a community orchestra that performs throughout the album.
Fat Day's song "Little Rachcles" is sampled on the 1999 album Planetary Natural Love Gas Webbin' 199999 by DJ Pica Pica Pica, a continuous mix of music compiled by Yamatsuka Eye. The song is incorrectly listed in the liner notes of that CD as "Burrega Theme".