Anyone else hear of The Fags?

I've always thought of myself of a bit of an expert when it comes to great power pop...but just today I learned about a band I've never heard of called 'The Fags'. Their album came out in 2006 called "Light 'Em Up". Went to Amazon and checked out the 30 sec clips....wow!! Blew me away !! Picture Cheap Trick meets the Raspberries meets The Replacements meets a taste of Ramones....yeah it's that good. Who knew?! Anyone else hear of them or know anything about them? Are they still around? Do they do shows? where the heck are they from? Thanks in advance.....

 

Great band from Detroit. I'm not sure what they're up to lately. I saw them a few times about ten years ago or so...good band!

 

They had two EPS -- "Tour" and "The Fags" to go along with the one album. Apart from that release -- nothing.

The Metro Times had an article about them when the album came out basically saying when they signed with Sire, everything went wrong after that:

http://www2.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=9824

Light 'Em Up is a great, lost classic, power pop album, though!

 

The Fags, The Negro problem. What is it with these power pop groups? What is good for a chuckle at home isn't necessarily a good idea for a band name. Not everyone is going to get it.

 

Nice ! I checked out some Youtube clips and they looked very good live. I think they are now gone, broken up etc....not 100% sure. I'll tell ya those music clips of their album 'Light Em Up' on Amazon are great....

 

Thanks....wow that was a great article ! What a terrible shame what Sire Records did to them....they deserved better....

 

I hear ya....I was put off by the name when they were recommended to me....but after listening to clips of the music....I have to get past the band name....the music is just too great and infectious to ignore....

 

I don't care for them. I do like The Queers and Pansy Division though

 

Yeah, really great band. They may also have a track or two on various Idol Records comps. Their name was always going to be a problem, but it wasn't so unPC back then as it would be now. They had a live set on morethanmusic.org that still might be archived around somewhere. I grabbed it from the site, but that was about 11 years ago.

 

Gonna check that tip out...thanks...I ordered the album off Amazon, used for short money....looking forward to getting into it.....reminds me of Cheap Trick, Raspberries etc...

 

are they not named after fags, the name of cigarettes? i say that word all the time.[related to ciggies of course.]

 

The studio tracks I heard on YouTube did not impress me.

I think maybe it was the production/mix that is wonky, because I enjoyed the live performance clips (such as this 4 part series) much more. They certainly seem like they would have been a fun band to stumble across playing at a local bar - the kind that would make everyone stop talking and playing pool, and turn their heads to see who's making all the catchy sounds.

The music and vocals reminds me of Junk Monkeys (another Detroit band!).

Craig.

 

Yes they are named as the UK slang term for cigarette...hence the title of their album "Light 'Em Up' with the woman holding a 'fag'....

 

I love The Fags. Great band, great music, but I agree, terrible name. Every time I've played the album for someone, they really dig the music. But when they ask who the band are, and I tell them "The Fags", I get the same sourpuss, quizzical look on their faces, like they didn't quite understand what I said correctly.

Light 'Em Up was one of my Top 5 favorite album releases of 2006. It's worth tracking down the two EPs the Fags released, too. They were formed from the ashes of singer/guitarist John Speck's previous band, Hoarse, who has one album out on RCA in the late 90's. That one's a bit more alt rock than power pop, but still decent.

Yeah, after things didn't work out for them, sadly, they did break up.

Speck was also part of two other band projects, including the Skeemin' NoGoods in 2004, and Hifi Handgrenades in 2008. Both lean more towards punk in style. Not sure what he's up to now, though.

Here's another good read on him...

http://voices.yahoo.com/interview-john-speck-band-hifi-handgrenades-641577.html

 

Here's my favorite cut by the Skeemin' NoGoods. Definitely has the mark of another great Detroit band, The Stooges...

 

And here's a taste of Hifi Handgrenades...

 

Excellent, informative post ! Thanks !

 

i may have recorded a live set by them at one point. let me double check the archive.

 

The Hoarse album is worth checking out. It is closer to The Fags in sound than Hi Fi Handgrenades, but I loved that band as well.
Hoarse released a live EP on RCA in additon to the full length Happens Twice album.
Hi Fi Handgrenades released 2 EP's (1 in Japan only), and the full length album Carry On.
Last I read, John Speck (real name Liccardello) is living in Austin, doing guitar tech work and playing with local bands.

 

It's great that we can all find out about different bands on various web forums. I first heard of The Fags (and Jellyfish!!) on the Enuff Z'nuff message board. Don't be fooled by Enuff Z'nuff's early glam image. That was a record company plan that backfired and pretty much marked the band for life. What they really are is a great heavier Beatlesque power pop band with over 12 albums to their credit. They are down to a 3 piece at the moment, but the albums speak for themselves. Start with "Strength" if you are new, or the more acoustic "Seven".

And , I picked up The Sighs "What Goes On" on your recommendation, and was blown away. Another record label misfire I suppose. I ordered the second album "Different" just based on the first one.

One more thing - SPIN Magazine ranked The Fags "Light 'Em Up" at #32 in the top 40 albums of 2006. At least someone heard it!

 

Thanks...will check it out

 

Great information thanks ! As for Enuff Znuff...I love 'em !! I have a lot of their releases, but not Seven yet...I will look into getting it. I also have the Donnie Vie release called Extra Strength which is essentially his version of Strength but stripped down with acoustic renderings etc. Excellent stuff ! Glad to hear you like the Sigh's What Goes On. It is a great album that got lost in the shuffle of 1992 ! As for "Different"...I have it and like it, not as much as WGO, because it is a bit 'harder edged' and less power pop...so let me know what you think. Enjoy ! Nice to see The Fags getting some recognition as one of the top albums of 2006 ! Thanks for the tip !

 

Glad to hear that you like Enuff Z'nuff. I do have Extra Strength as well as some of Donnie Vie's other solo releases. His latest studio album "Wrapped Around My Middle Finger" is especially good. As for the EZN release Seven, it is actually a repackage of an earlier album called Brothers released in Japan only credited to Chip & Donnie. They later re-released it as an EZN album titled Seven with 2 bonus tracks, one of which is a cover of John Lennon's Jealous Guy. If you don't already have Brothers, I'd seek out Seven because it has the bonus tracks.

 

The Fags are cool.

Another band that I think is along the same lines as them is a band from Chicago called Fig Dish:

 

I will ! Thanks again ! Keep listening !