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Chemical reactions
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It’s rarer than hen’s teeth these days that the latest blog-hyped, critical-darling bands are actually halfway decent. The majority of these flavours-of-the-month tends to be weak and listless—innovative, maybe, but rarely can they land a punch directly to the gut. Toronto’s Fucked Up has been hyped to holy hell, but not only do they give yer gut a kiss with a mitt full of nickels, they actually challenge the listener. Their debut full-length, 2006’s Hidden World, took a breakneck turn from the straight-ahead hardcore of their preceding singles, introducing epic arrangements, string sections and dense recording techniques. Their 20-minute, 12-inch opus “The Year of the Pig” drew the proverbial line in the sand and demanded notice. If their panoramic assaults lost some of their more closed-minded fans, the arguably more pop-laden new album, The Chemistry of Common Life, is sure to send them home to blog up a storm. “Oh yeah, we’ve totally sold out,” laughs guitarist Gulag, aka Josh Zucker. “I guess we’ve taken free clothes, so that’s pretty sell-out. “I still think of it as a punk record, and we actually shelved the more poppy songs we had, but we’ve always had some pop sensibilities. When the record first got leaked, there were definitely some people who didn’t like it, but I think after ‘Year of the Pig,’ I don’t how much more of a wedge we could’ve driven. I think the most scathing thing you can say about us is that our new record isn’t as good as our last. I don’t think we’re groundbreaking but we do try to keep doing something different.” Hidden World had all of the makings to burst Fucked Up out from their comfy underground confines while retaining enough of their past sound to bring their rabid fanbase along for the ride. Unfortunately, their previous American label Jade Tree failed to show any support or stamina. Now on indie heavyweight Matador, and with a soupcon of pop flashing its gams (even if singer Pink Eyes snatches it from the jaws of saccharine-induced decay with his Poison Idea snarl), this record should be massive—and the trumpets signalling their arrival are already sounding. NME featured the girth of Pink Eyes on its cover and Fucked Up are doing a massive 12-hour show in New York City with a long line of guests, to coincide with the release of Chemistry, which will likely send the cyberworld into hyperspin. Geez, Nelly fucking Furtado even recorded a track with them, by criminy! So the world should be their oyster—if the volatile mixture of band members doesn’t fuck it up. “We bicker like cats and dogs. I don’t think we bicker more than any other band, we’re just not as good at hiding it,” says Gulag. “We’ve only toured for three weeks in a row, and we’ll be doing a lot of touring for this record, so I guess we’ll see what happens. We’ve had fights onstage and I’m sure we’ll have more, but we also need each other and bond with each other. I think we can weather whatever is going to happen.” WITH DILLINGER 4, STATUES AND |
