Craig Fairbaugh

Craig Fairbaugh (born March 11, 1978) is an American musician, singer and songwriter who is best known for playing with the rock band +44 (pronounced "plus forty-four"). The band was made up of Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker (both of Blink-182) and Shane Gallagher (of The Nervous Return). Fairbaugh has joined Juliette and the Licks full-time as guitarist and back-up vocalist. He is also the guitarist and vocalist of the goth rock/punk band Mercy Killers.

Early life

Fairbaugh grew up in the Bay Area and began playing guitar at the age of 15. He later formed and fronted his own three-piece band called Vintage 46, although the band never really played more than local house parties and small hometown gigs. Along the way, Fairbaugh handed off a demo CD to Rancid’s Tim Armstrong who vowed to release one of the band’s albums on a new label he was starting up. Unfortunately that never materialized. He later moved to Los Angeles to try pursue his musical interests.

Career

Fairbaugh currently sings and plays guitar for the Hellcat Records punk rock band Mercy Killers. He was made an official member of +44 after their former guitarist Carol Heller had left the band while the group was recording their debut album, When Your Heart Stops Beating, which was released on November 14, 2006. Fairbaugh has also played for Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards, Transplants and The Forgotten in the past, and contributed his voice for the spoken introduction to Alkaline Trio's "Warbrain", which was featured on Rock Against Bush Volume 1. Fairbaugh went on the Warped Tour with the Transplants, and played with them live twice on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. In late 2006 and early 2007, he went on tour with +44 throughout the United States, and then throughout Europe. The band then enjoyed a short break before touring in Australia and Japan. After Japan, the band announced that they cancelled their second European tour to begin work on their next album.

In 2009, due to the reformation of Blink-182, +44 began an indefinite hiatus due to Hoppus and Barker returning to their old band. As of 2010, the future of +44 was assumed to be nonexistent until Bassist and vocalist Mark Hoppus announced that after the Blink-182 album, +44 will release their album and will be worked on in a lower capacity.

In 2011, Fairbaugh was touring with The Transplants once again for the new record, until The Transplants performed on Conan with a new back-up guitarist.

Equipment

Fairbaugh plays Gibson Les Paul guitars and for +44, uses a Fender Twin amp with a Fulltone distortion pedal. When playing for Mercy Killers, he uses Marshall amps.

Influences

Some of Fairbaugh's influences include Johnny Cash and Joe Strummer of The Clash

External links

• The Forgotten website
• +44's official website