It started with a driving need to play music.
Six guys raised in the suburbs of Ottawa, Ontario shared
that overwhelming need ñ to play music, and to create
music -- music that filled in the glaring holes they saw
in the music scene. It was this need that brought them together,
first as friends and then as The Fully Down. The band gave
their need form, harnessed it, put it in motion, and soon
The Fully Down exploded into live venues with an intensely
energetic show that exploited the band’s three-guitar
attack to shock even complacent crowds into full alert status.
And as the crowds reacted - and grew - and as they began
to hear the kids sing their lyrics back to them - They realized
they could do it. They could play the music they wanted to
write with out compromise and kids would still move.
The boys in the Fully Down give full homage to their sources
of inspiration. They were influenced by 80s metal bands like
Iron Maiden, and fed on roots from Strung Out, Thrice and
The Police. But from the start they pushed themselves to
reach beyond - to become more than just a “three-guitar
gimmick”. That motivation allowed them to graduate
from a pop-punk band with harmonized guitars to a rock band
that uses a more technical and musically well-rounded approach
to the modern pock rock outfit. Fronted by the harmonized
leads inspired by metals greats, backed by a rhythm section
that believes more in grooves than chugs, laced with melodies
that remind you more of Tony Sly than the Cookie Monster,
The Fully Down channels all styles to create THEIR style
and to deny anyone the right to tie them down to just one
scene.
The band’s first release “No Fate…But
What We Make For Ourselves”, came out in June 2004
on local indie label Pop Culture Records. Recorded by Dean
Hadji at Addictive Sound Studios “No Fate…” received
positive reviews that credited the band with a fresh approach
to punk rock. But a few reviewers seemed just not able to
get it, and complained that the band showed too much influence
from too many different styles. The boys reflected on this
and didn’t give a fuck what the critics thought, good
or bad. “No Fate…” sold an impressive amount
of albums for an indie band whose only distro was through
touring city to city. For TFD it was less about selling the
record, but more about showing kids what a rock show is really
about.
And so, in search of New Ears, the guys embarked on their
first tour. It took three weeks in a Van Destined For Destruction,
countless bottles of motor oil, and sleepless nights as they
traveled from city to city, before the boys reflected on
the pros and cons of touring. Touring is a tough business,
they came to see, and one that would take a toll on their
relationships at home, their bank accounts, and their livers.
Regardless of the strain it was taking on their lives back
home they realized it was touring that would feed their passion
for music. Thanks to the help of the 2004 Vans Warped Tour
they had found New Ears - they had an international fan base
now. So their conclusion was straightforward -- This was
the only possible option for their lives.
The boys became determined to stay on the road as long as
possible. They booked date after date and kept touring until,
very early one morning outside of Toronto, The Van Destined
for Destruction met its destiny. After a brief memorial service
and a few loan negotiations, The Fully Down christened The
New Van, and kept touring.
Through the chaos of playing over a100 DIY booked shows
in a year they had, of course, been writing. More mature
and experienced now than when they recorded “No Fate…” they
took this new stuff to Addictive Studios in November 2004
and put strong demands on themselves. Kris Parks remembers
the goal the band set: “We wanted kick the shit out
of our last record! I mean this isn’t World Beats Of
Africa, but we feel that we’ve brought more to the
table than just a dry cut punk rock album.” Dicky Latour
puts it this way: “We want to set a new standard for
ourselves. We wanted to make an album that was more of a
representation of us. And we wanted to write a record that
we wanted to listen to.”
The songs they’d written felt right, but to make music
out of them meant The Fully Down needed to re-tool a bit.
The boys spent weeks weeding through different guitars, amps,
and drum kits to find thicker and deeper tones. They pulled
these together and then set themselves an added goal: With
this new record they would not only push themselves as writers
and musicians, they would challenge themselves as producers.
Each band member identified bits and pieces of their favorite
albums to put in front of the group for discussion, dissection,
and to set the stage for their own growth in the production
side of the business. They were working, once again, with
co-producer/engineer Dean Hadji, a talented taskmaster who
made sure everybody focused until the final take was flawless.
After a few months of studio work the boys found themselves
craving the energy that only touring can provide. In June
of 2005, they hit the road for a two month coast-to-coast
tour. As they hit dates on Warped Tour 2005 it became clear
that their consistent commitment to touring had paid off.
Their fan base, judging by the size of their draw, had doubled.
The Fully Down Returned in August, duly energized by the
success of tour and ready to finish the album.
The new CD, Don’t Get lost in a Movement, is a plea
for people to open their minds - whether it’s musically,
politically, or socially. Stay open to experience, to people,
to whom you are, and express it all as it comes to you, in
the way that belongs to you. This is the attitude, after
all, that brought these six guys together and keeps them
together, on tour and in the studio and in their day-to-day
lives. If there is a Fully Down philosophy, this is it: Never
frame yourself into one kind of mindset or define yourself
by association with a cause, a medium, a scene or a genre.
As Alex Newman puts it: “Its not about loving a scene
or a genre, it’s about loving music as a whole it’s
about loving art it’s about understanding everything
around you.”
With the album complete, The Fully Down shopped it around
and found a natural home with Fearless Records. Fearless
has given the band the support of a family with the professionalism
of a successful, tuned-in label. With the album in good hands
and scheduled for a winter release, the boys they are ready
to go back to what they love the most -- touring. It’s
still the driving need to play music that keeps them going.
“If we can pull this shit off we can stay young forever” -
George Hadji
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