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The Faint Biography
The Faint's todd baechle writes:
ten years ago, in a town very, very similar to every town in the united states, we started a band. it was 1994 and joel, clark and i, and our friend conor (oberst, of bright eyes fame) were sitting around on the cement outside of a slowdown virginia show. still glowing from the experience, we decided to start our own group. a couple of days later conor told us that we had a show in two weeks at kilgore's (the folky songwriter coffee shop where he usually played). of course at this time, we had still never played any music together. but by show time we had accumulated the 9 songs we thought we needed in order to perform. with those songs we continued to play coffee shops and basements, punk clubs and bars while we tried to figure out what we wanted our band to sound like. we loved slowdown virginia and a couple of other local omaha bands, but we wanted to find a sound that was our own. a lot of what we listened to in those days was quite aggressive, so, in a heavy handed attempt at being different, we chose "lite rock" (not the cool kind). we wanted to put ourselves in a genre that we thought was ehrrr. . .whack. i guess we were hoping that something interesting might happen. a couple of years went by, and conor quit/got kicked out of the band. lots of other people also joined and left over the following few years.
MEDIA
our first studio album, MEDIA, was a collection of songs from 1996-1998 (the post "lite rock" era). it was a mix of a bunch of different styles of indie rock. that was when we started playing out of town and being matched up with similar bands each night. well, not really that similar, but close enough to where we recognized that the audience saw us the same way we were seeing these bands. you know - four or five dudes with guitars standing still for 45 minutes. we would watch the show and think "i don't like the guitar style that guy's playing" and then think, "you know, i don't like MY guitar style much either." that's when we decided that keyboards had to be the answer.
BLANK-WAVE ARCADE
eventually joel and i quit playing guitars. he moved to bass, i switched to keys (and still sang), and jacob joined the band as our full time keyboard player. from our point of view, synthesizers seemed to have a limitless and almost magical quality to them. magical in the sense that you could create a keyboard sound out of almost nothing, and have it perfectly fit your musical disposition. a keyboard or two had been a part of the band since the first days of NORMAN BAILER (which was what we were originally called in the lo-fi, folky noise days), but it wasn't until 1998 or so that we really started to explore synthesizers. i stopped writing songs on guitar and shifted to making them up in my head, or sometimes to the beat of my feet walking, or to the sound of windshield wiper blades. the songs started sounding different and a bit more upbeat, which went well with our vision of a more active live show (at the time, that meant fog and strobed garden lighting). the keyboards we had access to were pretty crappy and from the early 1980's. in hindsight, i think that our concept of what keyboards were and what you could do with them was probably very similar to the ideas bands had when those instruments were new. with no electronic music experience, we just played what came naturally to us, which was keyboard music from when we were youngsters in the music video age of the 1980's. the new songs felt good and right with our newfound, dancy, keyboard sound, but we were careful to make sure that our more current 90's influences were evident in every song. it was important to us that we made some new combination of styles rather than making 80's music in the 90's. after playing what seemed like hundreds of basements, kitchens, living rooms, and small clubs in support of BLANK-WAVE ARCADE, all the work (fun) had paid off. at this point we had met the only real goal we had, which was to be able to play music the way we wanted it to sound, and to know that a group of people would be there, in whichever city, to see us.
DANSE MACABRE
it was time to make a new record. all of us had quit our jobs and school in order to accommodate our touring schedule. for the first time, we were all doing something with our lives that we could believe in, rather than working toward someone else's goal. we realized that the best days of the band might be over, but we figured that even if THE FAINT went away, we'd rather be creating things and surviving off of peanut butter crackers than spending all day wasting away at a boring job. and, i suppose, this ultimately became the main lyrical theme for DANSE MACABRE. by this time, the live show had grown into a dance party. electronic music (even house) became more interesting to us. we heard it differently after having attempted it ourselves. we started to fantasize about real dance clubs playing our songs. when we began writing we had this type of environment in mind rather than the basement show feel on BLANK-WAVE ARCADE. when it was time to write the songs for DANSE MACABRE, we had this type of environment in mind, rather than the basement show feel on BLANK-WAVE ARCADE. this time around there was no preconceived new wave theme. mentally we were over that, but our BLANK-WAVE sound was already totally ingrained into who we were. we had played those songs so many times that the new songs were bound to have similarities. instead of fighting this, we just let our sound progress naturally. Dapose joined us part way through the writing process. his death metal band LEAD had recently broken up and we wanted his help with visual design and guitar. after finishing the album as a five piece, we toured. and toured. and toured. DANSE MACABRE did surprisingly well, which helped us buy the video projection equipment we'd been wanting to add to the live show. before we knew it, we had fallen behind on the song writing process. new faint songs seemed impossible to write. i think we were all feeling a little stuck. a renewed interest in 80's inspired music had hit the mainstream. we were starting to feel trapped in some sort of bad fad or something. but once we got our practice schedule back in effect, everything began to come together.
WET FROM BIRTH (the new album)
we rented a warehouse full of stacked up and broken washers and dryers in order to have a place to write the songs, practice, and make videos for our live show. we met there every weekday for about a year, kind of like a normal office job. we named it "the orifice" and threw a few parties to break up what could have become a rather monotonous schedule. what about the album? is it good? what does it sound like? well, i just heard the mixed and mastered version for the first time today and, ummm. . . yes, it's good - at least in comparison to our other records. i think it's more adventurous, more dancy, less dancy, and it rocks a bit harder. i think overall WET FROM BIRTH is more song-oriented. i'm not exactly sure what that's supposed to mean, but i've opened up a bit with my lyrics. this is also the first time we have done one of clark's songs ("phone call"). mike mogis (of bright eyes) produced the album with us and made tons of excellent contributions. he also had a baby named stella with his girlfriend while we were recording. WET FROM BIRTH isn't a direct reference to stella, but it was awesome to have a real live person created during our recording session. the title actually comes from the song BIRTH that i wrote about myself being born. WET FROM BIRTH is also a play on the phrase "wet behind the ears" which is usually said of people who are naive or immature. we thought that this seemed to fit an album of genre jumping and tongue-in-cheek lyrics. by the way, i was proud to have found a spot on the album for a raccoon penis bone-on-muffler solo. can you find it? anyways, the album cover art is due tomorrow, so i gotta go.
THE FAINT
clark baechle
todd baechle
dapose
joel petersen
jacob thiele
ten years ago, in a town very, very similar to every town in the united states, we started a band. it was 1994 and joel, clark and i, and our friend conor (oberst, of bright eyes fame) were sitting around on the cement outside of a slowdown virginia show. still glowing from the experience, we decided to start our own group. a couple of days later conor told us that we had a show in two weeks at kilgore's (the folky songwriter coffee shop where he usually played). of course at this time, we had still never played any music together. but by show time we had accumulated the 9 songs we thought we needed in order to perform. with those songs we continued to play coffee shops and basements, punk clubs and bars while we tried to figure out what we wanted our band to sound like. we loved slowdown virginia and a couple of other local omaha bands, but we wanted to find a sound that was our own. a lot of what we listened to in those days was quite aggressive, so, in a heavy handed attempt at being different, we chose "lite rock" (not the cool kind). we wanted to put ourselves in a genre that we thought was ehrrr. . .whack. i guess we were hoping that something interesting might happen. a couple of years went by, and conor quit/got kicked out of the band. lots of other people also joined and left over the following few years.
MEDIA
our first studio album, MEDIA, was a collection of songs from 1996-1998 (the post "lite rock" era). it was a mix of a bunch of different styles of indie rock. that was when we started playing out of town and being matched up with similar bands each night. well, not really that similar, but close enough to where we recognized that the audience saw us the same way we were seeing these bands. you know - four or five dudes with guitars standing still for 45 minutes. we would watch the show and think "i don't like the guitar style that guy's playing" and then think, "you know, i don't like MY guitar style much either." that's when we decided that keyboards had to be the answer.
BLANK-WAVE ARCADE
eventually joel and i quit playing guitars. he moved to bass, i switched to keys (and still sang), and jacob joined the band as our full time keyboard player. from our point of view, synthesizers seemed to have a limitless and almost magical quality to them. magical in the sense that you could create a keyboard sound out of almost nothing, and have it perfectly fit your musical disposition. a keyboard or two had been a part of the band since the first days of NORMAN BAILER (which was what we were originally called in the lo-fi, folky noise days), but it wasn't until 1998 or so that we really started to explore synthesizers. i stopped writing songs on guitar and shifted to making them up in my head, or sometimes to the beat of my feet walking, or to the sound of windshield wiper blades. the songs started sounding different and a bit more upbeat, which went well with our vision of a more active live show (at the time, that meant fog and strobed garden lighting). the keyboards we had access to were pretty crappy and from the early 1980's. in hindsight, i think that our concept of what keyboards were and what you could do with them was probably very similar to the ideas bands had when those instruments were new. with no electronic music experience, we just played what came naturally to us, which was keyboard music from when we were youngsters in the music video age of the 1980's. the new songs felt good and right with our newfound, dancy, keyboard sound, but we were careful to make sure that our more current 90's influences were evident in every song. it was important to us that we made some new combination of styles rather than making 80's music in the 90's. after playing what seemed like hundreds of basements, kitchens, living rooms, and small clubs in support of BLANK-WAVE ARCADE, all the work (fun) had paid off. at this point we had met the only real goal we had, which was to be able to play music the way we wanted it to sound, and to know that a group of people would be there, in whichever city, to see us.
DANSE MACABRE
it was time to make a new record. all of us had quit our jobs and school in order to accommodate our touring schedule. for the first time, we were all doing something with our lives that we could believe in, rather than working toward someone else's goal. we realized that the best days of the band might be over, but we figured that even if THE FAINT went away, we'd rather be creating things and surviving off of peanut butter crackers than spending all day wasting away at a boring job. and, i suppose, this ultimately became the main lyrical theme for DANSE MACABRE. by this time, the live show had grown into a dance party. electronic music (even house) became more interesting to us. we heard it differently after having attempted it ourselves. we started to fantasize about real dance clubs playing our songs. when we began writing we had this type of environment in mind rather than the basement show feel on BLANK-WAVE ARCADE. when it was time to write the songs for DANSE MACABRE, we had this type of environment in mind, rather than the basement show feel on BLANK-WAVE ARCADE. this time around there was no preconceived new wave theme. mentally we were over that, but our BLANK-WAVE sound was already totally ingrained into who we were. we had played those songs so many times that the new songs were bound to have similarities. instead of fighting this, we just let our sound progress naturally. Dapose joined us part way through the writing process. his death metal band LEAD had recently broken up and we wanted his help with visual design and guitar. after finishing the album as a five piece, we toured. and toured. and toured. DANSE MACABRE did surprisingly well, which helped us buy the video projection equipment we'd been wanting to add to the live show. before we knew it, we had fallen behind on the song writing process. new faint songs seemed impossible to write. i think we were all feeling a little stuck. a renewed interest in 80's inspired music had hit the mainstream. we were starting to feel trapped in some sort of bad fad or something. but once we got our practice schedule back in effect, everything began to come together.
WET FROM BIRTH (the new album)
we rented a warehouse full of stacked up and broken washers and dryers in order to have a place to write the songs, practice, and make videos for our live show. we met there every weekday for about a year, kind of like a normal office job. we named it "the orifice" and threw a few parties to break up what could have become a rather monotonous schedule. what about the album? is it good? what does it sound like? well, i just heard the mixed and mastered version for the first time today and, ummm. . . yes, it's good - at least in comparison to our other records. i think it's more adventurous, more dancy, less dancy, and it rocks a bit harder. i think overall WET FROM BIRTH is more song-oriented. i'm not exactly sure what that's supposed to mean, but i've opened up a bit with my lyrics. this is also the first time we have done one of clark's songs ("phone call"). mike mogis (of bright eyes) produced the album with us and made tons of excellent contributions. he also had a baby named stella with his girlfriend while we were recording. WET FROM BIRTH isn't a direct reference to stella, but it was awesome to have a real live person created during our recording session. the title actually comes from the song BIRTH that i wrote about myself being born. WET FROM BIRTH is also a play on the phrase "wet behind the ears" which is usually said of people who are naive or immature. we thought that this seemed to fit an album of genre jumping and tongue-in-cheek lyrics. by the way, i was proud to have found a spot on the album for a raccoon penis bone-on-muffler solo. can you find it? anyways, the album cover art is due tomorrow, so i gotta go.
THE FAINT
clark baechle
todd baechle
dapose
joel petersen
jacob thiele
The Faint All Music Guide Biography
Omaha, NE's the Faint have gone through countless changes in their relatively short career, but with each shift, both in terms of personnel and style, they have made a distinct new impression and turned more and more heads. Originally called Norman Bailer and featuring current members Clark and Todd Baechle (later he changed his name to Todd Fink, after marrying future Saddle Creek recording artist Orenda Fink of Azure Ray), as well as bassist Joel Peterson, the group's early years were a mix of lo-fi pop and tongue-in-cheek easy listening with a touch of punk rock ideals borrowed from their early skateboarding days. Along with a prepubescent Bright Eyes and a recently formed Cursive, the band was one of the seeds that spawned the explosive Omaha scene as well as a flagship act for the highly regarded Saddle Creek Records.
A very limited cassette release and a few tracks on split 7"s and samplers were the band's only output, but the spark was there, and after adding Matt Bowen to the mix, the Faint proper first came into being around 1998. Media, the group's first full-length, was still a far cry from their later sounds, but the record was a fitting introduction to the band that featured a bevy of conflicting sounds, from new wave-inspired pop to Lullaby for the Working Class-style acoustic dirges. It wasn't the perfect record, but it was an inspired start that gave the band a good idea of what they were, and more importantly were not, striving for. In the wake of Media, the band set out to add something special to their live show, and in the course of the year, Bowen left the band and Jacob Thiele joined up to add the all-too-important keyboard sounds into the mix.
Early 1999 saw the band re-enter the studio with a new agenda, focusing on danceable beats, catchy keyboards, and an '80s-influenced sound that both revered and reinvented the past. The result was Blank-Wave Arcade (Saddle Creek), a pulsating record about sexuality, transportation, and mass consumption that instantly attracted hordes of new fans who were blown away by the group's distinctive new sound. The new material, along with a seizure-inducing D.I.Y. live light show and incorrigible on-stage energy, created a major buzz, and soon the Faint were revered as the second coming of new wave genius. A series of remixes on both a limited-edition LP and a tour to support a CD from Insound furthered the hype, and by the time the Faint entered the studio yet again in early 2001, the buzz had grown to a resounding roar.
In August of 2001, the group released its third LP, Danse Macabre (Saddle Creek), a somewhat darker exploration of the styles hinted at on Blank-Wave Arcade. They also added a guitarist by the name of Dapose (born Mike Dappen), whose death metal past worked perfectly with the gloomy, but still oddly upbeat, sentiments of the new record. The disc was released to instant acclaim and almost immediately became one of the label's best-selling titles. The Faint followed it up with even more touring and also found the time to release the Mote/Dust 12" (GSL) in October of 2001, featuring two more remixes, a Sonic Youth cover, and a new track featuring Bright Eyes songsmith Conor Oberst. The band was all quiet on the recording front until March of 2003, when they released an album of remixes from Danse Macabre called, strangely enough, Danse Macabre Remixes. The disc featured remixes by artists like Paul Oakenfold, Photek, and Medicine. They followed this up with Wet from Birth, which was released in fall 2004. The band remixed "Meet Your Master" from Nine Inch Nails' Year Zero, while bassist Joel Peterson reworked Of Montreal's "Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games" under his Broken Spindles alias. The Faint built their own studio, named Enamel, and formed their own label, Blank.Wav, on which they released their fourth album Fasciinatiion in summer 2008. ~ Peter J. D'Angelo, All Music Guide
A very limited cassette release and a few tracks on split 7"s and samplers were the band's only output, but the spark was there, and after adding Matt Bowen to the mix, the Faint proper first came into being around 1998. Media, the group's first full-length, was still a far cry from their later sounds, but the record was a fitting introduction to the band that featured a bevy of conflicting sounds, from new wave-inspired pop to Lullaby for the Working Class-style acoustic dirges. It wasn't the perfect record, but it was an inspired start that gave the band a good idea of what they were, and more importantly were not, striving for. In the wake of Media, the band set out to add something special to their live show, and in the course of the year, Bowen left the band and Jacob Thiele joined up to add the all-too-important keyboard sounds into the mix.
Early 1999 saw the band re-enter the studio with a new agenda, focusing on danceable beats, catchy keyboards, and an '80s-influenced sound that both revered and reinvented the past. The result was Blank-Wave Arcade (Saddle Creek), a pulsating record about sexuality, transportation, and mass consumption that instantly attracted hordes of new fans who were blown away by the group's distinctive new sound. The new material, along with a seizure-inducing D.I.Y. live light show and incorrigible on-stage energy, created a major buzz, and soon the Faint were revered as the second coming of new wave genius. A series of remixes on both a limited-edition LP and a tour to support a CD from Insound furthered the hype, and by the time the Faint entered the studio yet again in early 2001, the buzz had grown to a resounding roar.
In August of 2001, the group released its third LP, Danse Macabre (Saddle Creek), a somewhat darker exploration of the styles hinted at on Blank-Wave Arcade. They also added a guitarist by the name of Dapose (born Mike Dappen), whose death metal past worked perfectly with the gloomy, but still oddly upbeat, sentiments of the new record. The disc was released to instant acclaim and almost immediately became one of the label's best-selling titles. The Faint followed it up with even more touring and also found the time to release the Mote/Dust 12" (GSL) in October of 2001, featuring two more remixes, a Sonic Youth cover, and a new track featuring Bright Eyes songsmith Conor Oberst. The band was all quiet on the recording front until March of 2003, when they released an album of remixes from Danse Macabre called, strangely enough, Danse Macabre Remixes. The disc featured remixes by artists like Paul Oakenfold, Photek, and Medicine. They followed this up with Wet from Birth, which was released in fall 2004. The band remixed "Meet Your Master" from Nine Inch Nails' Year Zero, while bassist Joel Peterson reworked Of Montreal's "Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games" under his Broken Spindles alias. The Faint built their own studio, named Enamel, and formed their own label, Blank.Wav, on which they released their fourth album Fasciinatiion in summer 2008. ~ Peter J. D'Angelo, All Music Guide
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