Fairmont (band)

Fairmont

Fairmont at Rent Party in South Orange, New Jersey
Background information
Origin New Jersey
Genres Indie Rock, alternative, punk
Years active 2001-present
Labels Reinforcement Records, Renfield Records, Go For Broke Records, Mint 400 Records
Associated acts Pencey Prep, Mergers & Acquisitions, Leathermouth
Website www.fairmontmusic.com
Members Andy Applegate
Mike Burns
Christian Kissala
Neil Sabatino
Past members
Sam Carradori
John 'Hambone' McGuire
Bruno Rocha
Dave Caldwell
Scott Kivowitz
Kevin Metz
Clancy Flynn
Corneilius "Corn" Moore

Fairmont is an indie rock band based in northern New Jersey.[1] The band is fronted by longtime indie/punk music veteran Neil Sabatino.[2] They have done several US tours and released eight full-length albums as well as six EPs.[3][4]

History

Early years

After leaving Pencey Prep, Sabatino signed with Reinforcement Records in 2001 under the moniker Fairmont, initially an acoustic project he compared to Dashboard Confessional.[1] The debut sixteen track album Pretending Greatness Is Awaiting was released on 3 December 2001.[5] Work on the second album Anomie was delayed in March 2003 as three of the members quit the night before recording began.[6] Soon after former Pencey Prep bassist John McGuire joined Fairmont, as well as guitarist Kevin Metz.[1] During that year Fairmont performed locally, at Manhattan's Arlene's Grocery with groups like Fighting Gravity and Val Emmich,[7] and by 2005 Fairmont had done three tours across the United States, again performing locally with Nada Surf and Ted Leo, among others. They also released their third full-length entitled Hell Is Other People, an album heavily influenced by McGuire's fondness of bands like The Replacements and Hüsker Dü.[1] The content of the album was conceptually based on Jean Paul Sartre's play No Exit.[8] It was released jointly by Reinforcement Records and Renfield Records.[9]

Fairmont's fourth full-length Wait & Hope, an up-tempo indie rock album, was released on 12 June 2007.[10][2] It would be the last to feature McGuire.[10][1] Longtime friend Teeter Sperber provided vocals for three of the songs; "Fredo," "Dahlia" and "Yearbook." In an interview with Deborah Draisin in Jersey Beat, Sabatino described it as a "very minimal[ist] album,"[1] and Jo-Ann Greene of AllMusic called it their "strongest album to date;" going on to say that "...regardless of the downer lyrics, the music within takes the band to never before reached heights."[10] Wait & Hope would also be the last album Fairmont released under its previous indie labels; in 2007 Sabatino founded Mint 400 Records, retroactively releasing earlier Fairmont albums.[11] Keyboardist Christian Kisala joined the group shortly after, while Sabatino was working on new material. Wishing for a female counterpart in the band Sabatino contacted friend Suzie Zeldin, and again Teeter Sperber.[1] Both would appear on the 2008 release Transcendence, produced by Grammy nominee Bryan Russell.[12][13] The album appears at no. 52 in Gary Wien's book Are You Listening?, a comprehensive list of the top 100 albums of a decade which was compiled from a six-month review of over 2,220 releases. It was followed by a national tour supporting Life Of Agony frontman Keith Caputo starting in August 2008.[14][1]

Recent work

In 2010, Fairmont released Destruction Creation, and the following year Mint 400 Records compiled a retrospective collection on the first decade of Fairmont releases. The Grand And Grandiose was released in 2013, followed by a live acoustic EP in 2014. Their latest album "8 1/2" (2015) has Christian Kissala moving from Malletkat to Xylarimba and Vibraphone.

Other work

Sam Carradori, Christian Kissala and Neil Sabatino also record as Ted Dancin!.[15] Neil Sabatino has recorded under the moniker Shallows and Mergers & Acquisitions.

Discography

Full-length albums

Extended plays

Compilations

Appears On

References

Citations

Online sources

External links

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