viewing reviewings

Wow, I didn't realize how far back I'd gotten in collecting reviews and blurbs and other assorted mentions across the internet. Here is the newest batch with links to the goodness. If you wrote one of these things THANK YOU! I humbly link you back and encourage everyone who reads the Fishblog to go and check out these sites who have blessed us with their fine words.

Fishboy - "Albatross; How We Failed To Save The Lone Star State With The Power Of Rock And Roll" cd (Happy Happy Birthday To Me) Though this album just came out last month, I got a copy from the band way back in June, which means I've had a lot of time to listen to this record, and listen I did - at least several dozen times! Between that and seeing them play this same set of songs live a bunch of times this year, there was no way that this record wasn't going to end up near the top of my best of 2007 list (which I have yet to compile)! This band first came to my attention during an impressive live set a few years ago, which their first album, "Little D", just couldn't approximate (although it was still a decent effort). This record, however, actually manages to capture all of the spastic energy that makes the band so much fun to see live; you can actually see Eric and Adam leaping around with their instruments and the sweat pouring off John as he nails each complicated drum fill with precision. But what's more important is that underneath all of this manic energy is a batch of amazingly catchy songs with clever lyrics, which (in case you haven't yet heard) comprise a rock opera about being convinced by the ghost of Buddy Holly to save Texas with a simple song, going into a life of crime and ultimately getting caught (hey, operas are supposed to be tragic, right?). Basically, this is one of the best records released this year, and deserving of any and all praise heaped upon it. MTQ=11/11
-Indiepages.com
PERFECT SCORE! THANKS CHRIS!

Whenever I’ve read anything about Fishboy they’ve been categorized as indie-pop but don’t fear punk rockers, I hear a whole lot of Dead Milkmen and Atom and His Package in these guys. Either way this Texas band is super fun and catchy so don’t miss out!
-Battle of the Midwestern Housewives

Here is a nice review of our San Diego show:
"...I didn't realize that night that Fishboy was also a touring band (from Texas), but it makes sense because reading their MySpace puts them squarely in the Danielson Famile/Asthmatic Kitty style of bands which pretty much guarantees a party onstage...."
-sd dialed in

5.Fishboy “Proper Name Spelling Bee”
Fishboy is a total treat. They are so perky they should come with a pharmaceutical warning.
If you don’t like them you probably have no soul. Or sense of humor. Or….

-BrightestYoungThings

FISHBOY RETURNS: Denton nerd-rock group Fishboy achieved album-of-the-year status in 2005 with Little D, a set devoted to its quirky hometown. For this year’s follow up, Albatross: How We Failed to Save the Lone Star State with the Power of Rock and Roll, frontman Eric Michener turned the focus on his life story, with some embellishments of course. The ghost of Buddy Holly and a bank robbery added the appropriate drama to the best local rock opera ever written.

-Dallas Morning News Best of 07

Fishboy: Seattle, WA [12.07.2007]

Written by Fense

Wednesday, 12 December 2007

Live at Comet Tavern with Eux Autres, AWESOME and BOAT With each listen, Albatross just keeps getting better. The cool thing about Fishboy’s latest album is that it follows a storyline and the cool thing about their current tour is that they’re playing the album in its entirety from beginning to end. Rather than touring The Lone Star State, they’re touring the US meaning Seattle was a scheduled stop. The evening began with a call from my friend Keenan [Patience Please]. Hey, she said. I’m down at Cupcake Royale with Chris [IndiePages and Patience Please] and Fishboy. We’re going to head over to Sonic Boom Records then Ballard Brothers for dinner. Wanna join? My response: Of course! I met Eric of Fishboy at CMJ and we chatted briefly, but this time I met their phenomenal drummer John and their stand-in bassist and multi-instrumentalist Joe [The Poison Control Center]. We all met up at Sonic Boom where I picked up a used Enon album on vinyl and some protective vinyl sleeves. Ballard Brothers was alright for dinner—the fast-sea-food restaurant is two blocks from my home. Eventually we all met up again at Comet Tavern where the evening began with Eux Autres who pleasured us by dropping some songs off their recent release, Cold City, on HHBTM including the phenomenal “The City All To Himself.” But the crowd really filled in as Fishboy took the stage and announced they were about to perform their rock opera entitled Albatross: How We Failed To Save The Lone Star State With The Power Of Rock And Roll. Crowds flocked in. Cameras flashed. Music surrounded us. Before continuing, I must make mention of John. Rarely do you hear drummers so skilled. During sound check he gave us a lengthy drum solo that had the front rows smiling before the first minute had passed. John’s ability not only includes impeccable timing, but also mind-altering speed in both hands and a phenomenal Buddy Rich like bass-drum kick. Were you to hear it on record, you’d think he was using a double bass drum, but it’s just one foot. Being my first show at Comet Tavern, it was interesting to see the band perform in a stage-less dive bar setting. We stood amidst the monitors as Fishboy performed a foot away. Though the lighting was awful, the up-close-and-personal layout provided for some great shots—though all photos required a flash. Given some flash delay, several shots include motion for an interesting and very live-show effect. On others I simply used a straight flash, meaning the shots work better in black-and-white. The trio’s Seattle performance differed from their CMJ one in that they were missing some members including keyboard/trumpet player Adam. However, the lack of keys was sometimes replaced with Kazoos purchased locally at Archie McPhee’s, a gag gift shop in Ballard. The setlist, of course, was the same as their New York performance—and all their recent performances. Though the setting and stage plot was different and the keys were missing, their set was just as good.

-FENSEPOST (more pictures here too!)

Fishboy, Albatross, or How We Failed to Save the Lone Star State with the Power of Rock and Roll: Eric Michener is one of Texas' true mad musical geniuses, and his latest long-player, Albatross, is an ambitious, quirky and fantastically melodic follow-up to 2005's Little D. -Ft. Worth Star Telegram

Blackout/Flashback on the best song list of 07
-FearOfArthropods

I've already mentioned the glory that is Fishboy, but I feel the need to reiterate. Their album (a rock opera entitled Albatross: How We Failed To Save The Lone Star State With The Power Of Rock And Roll) has now been released, and it is sooo cool. If you wanna listen, click on the word "album" above and hear each song streaming for free. If you wanna buy, you can check out the kickass record label of a fellow named Mike out of Athens, Ga. Happy Happy Birthday To Me Records will sell ya a copy and tell you the band's whole history, as well as the histories of several other very noteworthy folks. Yay! I seem to have also managed to get a promise out of Fishbulb himself that the guys will make a trip over to the G.A. in a few months. So. Excited. I love rock operas. And sweatbands.
Oh, and all those illustrations and posters and comics were done by the Fishboy himself. Neat? Yes!
-FearOfArthropods

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Fishboy - How We Failed To Save The Lone Star State With The Power Of Rock And Roll

In the same vein as experimental rockers The Unicorns (aka Islands) comes this clever Texan band, "Fishboy". The songs are poppy as they come, but at the same time totally rock. Their lyrics are hilarious with many references to using cut up credit cards as guitar picks and the taco stand they run. The sounds is fresh, the lyrics are clever and the music is fun. Throw this album on in the shower or on your walk to work and you'll have a whole lot more jump in your step. Listen to the album hurr: -PrudentMusic



TOP FIFTEEN ALBUMS OF 2007
Fishboy - Albatross: How We Failed to Save the Lone Star State With The Power of Rock and Roll (Equal parts epic and miniature. Why aren't all albums concept albums? And why aren't all indiepop albums this great?)
-Joe Mathletes Great American Blog

And of course the folks over at RetroLowFi who win the award for biggest Fishboy supporters of the year have put us on TWO year end lists. (One is kind of pessimistic but we'll let it slide cause they're just so damn nice)

Best Twee Rock Opera Of 2007:
Fishboy “Albatross: How We Failed to Save the Lone Star State with the Power of Rock and Roll”

You can’t imagine how blindsided I was by this album. I mean, yes, it does come from the reputable pop label Happy Happy Birthday To Me and all… but how good can a twee pop song cycle be? Turns out that it can be one of the most resonant and endlessly playable records of the year. Every single lyric is important to the overall story arc, but each tune has the ability to stand alone as it’s own entity. One spin of “Proper Name Spelling Bee” and you’ll be hooked, mark my words.

-RetroLowFi

Best Album That Everyone Should Hear, But Sadly Only Few Probably Will:
Fishboy - Albatross: How We Failed To Save The Lone Star State With The Power Of Rock And Roll

A twee-pop rock opera? Already good. An adorable storyline? Even better. An album that’s so damn catchy it digs into your back and refuses to let go? We’ll take it. This record is fantastic, and it needs to be heard more widely than it probably will be.
Fishboy - Albatross.mp3

-RetroLowFi

WOW! THANKS DUDES!

in other news, I will get back to non self congratulatory blogging very soon once I get back from the ridiculous business trip I am currently on.

THANK YOU

We are back from tour at last!

A few days ago You Ain No Picasso posted a little thank you to some of the great bands we've played with this tour and I like to expand a little on here and thank all the people who were so great to us on the road and made this tour the best we've had. here we go...

THANK YOU:

-Casey for giving us a great arkansas show and letting us crash in your drafty house!

-Ilia for playing an awesome set

-Bunnygrunt and Sex Robots for playing with us in St. Louis

-Mario for taking us out to eat and letting us crash on his floor

-Adam of Amo Joy for fixing my busted guitar in Indianapolis and cutting a new plate out of a trash can!

-Rory for letting us stay in his mansion and letting Aaron cut up his Boz Scaggs record while trying to find a cure for my guitar.

-Michael K for showing us around his gallery and telling us about that great cajun place!

-the Hat Co for playing an epic Toledo show with us.

-Steve for letting us stay in his basement.

-The Nothingheads and Baby Magic for playing a fun show at Quenchers in Chicago!

-Shaun Moeller and Pat Stolley for letting us record a Day Trotter session, feeding us pizza, and talking prog rock.

- Pat and Ashley Tape Flemming for being over all badasses in Des Moines.

-The Jim Button band for booking us an overwhelmingly rad show at the Replay

-Kim for letting us fix her new heater and letting us sleep next to it.

-Chris Adolf for being the first person jump all over helping us out with a show (which was incredible) in Denver.

-Paul Pacific Pride for letting us stay in his living room and then take us out to lunch the next day.

-The entire Manateen Manor for making us feel so welcome as if we'd lived in Boulder for years.

-Erin Freakin Chapman for letting us sleep on her floor for two nights, take off work and show us around SLC

-Dominique in Boise for taking photos

-Keenon! for also letting us stay on her floor and trash her house for three days and STILL come to all three shows and show us around! you rule!

-Shauna for letting us do laundry! like this:X!

-Chris, Kathy and Joshua for showing us some giant squids and taking us out to a fancy dinner. (sassy sweet and sour!)

-All the nice folks in Bellingham!

-BOAT and "awesome" for helping pack out the Comet Tavern AND for playing great music.

-Liz and the three imaginary girls for setting up two awesome shows for us!!

-Tullycraft for playing a converted fire station on a remote island in the middle of winter with us!

-The Department of Safety for being so hospitable with banana bread and cider.

-Our tour/lablemates Eux Autres for putting up with our rock opera every night and hear me say the phrase "rock opera" 1800 times.

-The Gingerbread Patriots for letting us crash in their basement

-Carson for playing two incredible improve shows with us and showing us around town

-Robbie and Caitlyn for letting us stay on their floors

-Alyson for letting us stay on her floor!

-the Mantles and Si Claro for the radness

-Hoshowa and Rebecca for making us feel at home whilst live on the radio in Santa Barbera!

-Skip for being a douche! jk bro

-Gabe Saucedo for cutting me down to size in order to keep my ego in check.

-all of Red Pony Clock and the Donkeys

-Zach from Iji for telling us the best ways to steal food from Walmart

-Chris for letting us sleep on his floor

-Goodbye Cody and Amanaboutahorse for doing it DIY style in Alba. (and feeding us gluten free food!)

-everyone who came out to a show, shook our hands and threw some gas money our way.

-all the online folks who have written such nice things about us and the music we make.

Lastly, thank you to Joe Terry of the Poison Control Center who selflessly worked so hard for three guys he barely knew in a band that wasn't his own. Joe, if you ever read this blog, know that you will forever be an honorary member of Fishboy (and most likely every HHBTM band ever.)

Sorry if I missed anyone! We hope to see you all again soon!

love,

Fishboy

-

radio appearence on 5432FUN!

So, we played on the radio in Santa Barbra last night and it was pretty pretty cool. 5432Fun is probably the greatest radio show out there today. Most of the music Hoshwa plays is excellent underground indie pop that I love but have never heard. And when you think about it, finding out about great new music is the best, if not only reason to listen to anything on the radio. The show has been around for about three years and is better than ever. PLUS, they've started posting podcasts of the show so you don't have to live close or sit on the internet when its on (Thursday's at ten pacific btw) Our session when over pretty well with a couple of technical difficulties and many guest appearences, you can hear it all over HERE!

recap from Sacramento!

Hey folks!

The north west has been amazing! We were seriously overwhelmed by the great response we got in the Seattle area. Thanks to everyone who came out! there are some random photos from around the trip over at our flickr page!

moremoremore reviews

Here are some more updates. I don't know if I've said this before, but copying and pasting all these reviews is pretty much for my own sake to have everything in one spot online before sites change around and things fade away and whatnot...like a little scrap book or something... with that said, here are some more words.

Boat, “Awesome,” Fishboy, Eux Autres
(Comet) Since our pages have already poured praise upon local headliners “Awesome” and Boat, this brief recommendation is better served touting a memorable out-of-towner opening the bill. Fishboy the band is named after Fishboy the lead singer, a bespectacled dweeb-rocker from Denton, Texas, who currently writes and performs some of the most smile-worthy pop this side of They Might Be Giants. The 25-year-old draws epic-length comic-book fliers for concerts and four-tracks songs about anthropomorphic Christmas trees and Teddy Ruxpin, but lest you think this Fish is too much “boy,” he’s gotten help from members of Okkervil River and the Baptist Generals on his albums for a reason. Fishboy comes to Seattle on the strength of his latest record, Albatross, and he’s bringing a frenzy of horns, guitars, and giggle-worthy songs in his lunchbox. THE STRANGER

There are smart-aleck rock bands, and then there is Fishboy - which is a smart smart-aleck rock band.

The Denton quartet has just released what may be the world’s shortest rock opera with the longest title - the 33-minute Albatross: How We Failed to Save the Lone Star State With the Power of Rock and Roll. Leader Eric Michener has described it as a concept album about riding shotgun in a tour bus with the ghost of Buddy Holly in an attempt to discover the song that will save Texas. But the key to any concept album is whether it holds up on shuffle play, and Albatross stands as one of the finest rock albums to come out of Texas this year, loaded with loud guitars, catchy melodies, and fun verses like “I’m so broke, it makes me sick/ I use cut-up credit cards for guitar picks.”

At their quirkiest, Fishboy resembles “Don’t Let’s Start”-era They Might Be Giants. But Michener and his bandmates add a ragged garage-band energy that makes the songs work beyond their clever lyrics. “Minus Two” may have been conceived as a setup for Michener’s wacky opera plotline, but it’s also a passionate anthem about literally being born to play music. And love songs set in fast-food restaurants have never been as bouncy or endearing as the rollicking “Taqueria Girl.” KERA.ORG

Liz originally fell in love with Fishboy when she saw them earlier this year at the Athens Popfest. Since then, they’ve released one of her favorite albums of the year (Albatross: How We Failed To Save The Lone Star State With The Power Of Rock And Roll) that chronicles our hero’s fight to save Texas with music and shenanigans. During the course of this indie-popera they encounter “Proper Name Spelling Bees” and taqueria stands. How could you know be compelled to follow them around as they tour the Pacific Northwest? KEXP BLOG

f nothing else, I’ve learned two things as an English major. First, always follow the “show don’t tell” model — rather than writing abstract, existential prose about a suburban kid, rebelling against his white-collar parents, sit said private schooler down in his room listening to Clipse and UGK on his oversized headphones, with dreams of DJing and spitting 16 bars over the latest Timbaland beat. I’ve also learned that a lot of indie rockers were, at one time, English majors. The genre seems to be making an overarching, whole-hearted effort to trend toward writing personalized, affecting lyrics à la John Darnielle (of The Mountain Goats fame).

Fishboy is no different. The group’s latest release, Albatross: How We Failed to Save the Lone Star State with The Power of Rock and Roll, is riddled with stories of fishermen lost at sea, grade school spelling bees, and criminal trials. A concept album about, “how [frontman, Eric Michener], the band, and the ghost of Buddy Holly attempt to save Texas by going on a tour/crime spree in order to perform all 8,030 of the songs [he’s] written in [his] sleep since [he] was in the womb,” Albatross is ripe with stories for just such lyricism.

Outlandish concepts aside though, Albatross plays like a perfectly succinct and collected work. Few tracks run over three minutes, while all of them seem to coalesce together, creating more of a composed piece, broken into varying acts, rather than an album of wholly separated tracks. When “Blackout/Flashback” gels seamlessly into the distorted intro of “Half Time at the Proper Name Spelling Bee” — a track that sounds incredibly reminiscent of Neutral Milk Hotel’s In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, as Michener’s voice embodies the same searing, nasally quality Jeff Magnum became known for — the concept aspect of the album seems fully realized.

And yet the most disappointing aspect of this disc is that those showing-not-telling lyrics seem to fall flat in the exact moments when they’re supposed to be most powerful. When Michener sings, “I’m so broke it makes me sick/ I use cut-up credit cards for guitar picks” on “Taqueria Girl,” his jovial croons make it impossible to believe he’s truly upset about where his life is. Similar blunders appear on the aforementioned “Half Time at the Proper Name Spelling Bee” (“At the proper name spelling bee everyone loses”) and “Thought Balloon” (“When the trial/ Started Monday I decided/ To represent myself/ They called it on TV / The trial of the century”).

Though maybe it’s the album’s concept that pigeonholes these lines into abstraction and banality. Michener obviously has the chops to write alongside the likes of Darnielle and others, yet something about Albatross seems slightly off-kilter. As Mountain Goats’ tracks seem true to life, Fishboy’s distended concept occasionally forces the lyrics/album into the realm of the surreal, a place they are wholly unprepared to arrive. In any case, it’s clear that Fishboy fits squarely into the indie rock cannon. They just need to stop trying to save the Lone Star state and focus a bit more in the studio or in their rooms listening to UGK or wherever they happen to write.

TINYMIXTAPES.COM

German Review!

here is a German review run through google translate for your convience

My musical discovery by me recently has still not released. The album "Albatross: How We Failed to Save the Lone Star State With the Power of Rock and Roll" by Fishboy comes into my playback devices not to rest, and if it is fair zuginge in this World, it should be on all the musical year-end rankings the coming weeks are very high. The music is straightforward and good humored, but also of great variety and instrumental reminds me very much of They Might Be Giants, only younger and without which there is often very cryptic texts. The album is 31 minutes long and still be a mature concept album with criminal impact. The first half is well suited as a basis for a criminal-exam:

Facts

The 22-year-old F. is an American citizen and lives in Texas, where he grew up. At the age of eight years, predicts his father, a he, F., composed song would once for the state of Texas save. F. believes this presentation and composed until his 22nd Age total of 8,030 songs, in the hope that one of them could be the "salvation" song. In presenting the F. stands him in the spirit of the late rock musician as to the side.

When Aushilfstätigkeit in a restaurant to meet F. T. colleague and told her of the "Prophecy". T. summarizes that the decision, together with F. money funds. Together with F. enters the N.-Bank and demands of the employees cash out, which also issued, with F. employees pursuant to the previously taken Tatplan with a hand grenade threat.

It subsequently attacked F. T. and the same approach total 27 Texas banks. To the "Prophecy" to meet, they go in the company of other musicians and spend their robberies between musical performances. During the entire period of performance F. subject, the spirit of the late rock musician B. accompany him and encourage him to the robberies. Finally, can the police, F. to set a trap and arrest him.

Strafbarkeitvon F. and T.?

Before this story on German students released, it would be obviously a lot to adapt and a few additional "problems" include, but that I leave the Strafrechtlern. Constitutional law interesting is the second part of the album around arrest, U-Haft, trial and imprisonment: extra-long trial period ( "for months and months……"), the jury system and the denial of basic opportunity, freedom wiederzulangen ( "lock him up and throw away the key ").

The album is available in full length here to listen and to see as a comic.

This entry was posted on the 26th November 2007 at 9:28 and is filed under

I love how he seems to use Though Balloon to criticize the United States Jury System. It's the only one we got buddy! :)

Speaking of some year end lists, Rennees Shoreline and Fear of Arthropods both put us down! yay!

Right now we are in Salt Lake City chillin with our friend Erin playing Dr. Mario on the "chill setting" I lost to joe like five times. No good.

We are super pumped about all the northwest shows this weekend. Three Imaginary Girls are promoting the heck out of two awesome shows on friday and saturday.

hope to see you there!