Far is a band from Sacramento
, USA
.
History
After a number of local releases including their first demo tape
Sweat A River, Live No
Lies (1991) and two independent albums
Listening Game (1992) and
Quick (1994) they signed to
Epic/
Immortal
Records and released their first major record,
Tin Cans With Strings To
You (1996).
Their next release was an E.P. titled
Soon (1997), which was quickly followed up by
their fourth and most popular album to date,
Water & Solutions (1998).
This record attracted a strong cult following in the late 90s, due
mostly to the single "Mother Mary" and their touring with long time
friends the
Deftones, and
Incubus. The more melodic sound showcased on this
album is increasingly cited as an influence on present-day
emo rock bands by the rock press, ie:
Thursday,
Biffy
Clyro,
Jimmy Eat World.
Certainly it was a departure from their earlier, much more
hardcore sound (although it is still far from
the emo-pop that it would quickly come to inspire).
Since their 1999 split, the former members of Far have been
involved in a number of projects, often quite experimental in
nature. Frontman
Jonah Matranga
continued with his solo project
Onelinedrawing and formed the now defunct
band
New End Original (an anagram
of Onelinedrawing).
Matranga "broke
up"
Onelinedrawing in August 2004. In
2005 the singer's new band
Gratitude released their debut self-titled
record on
Atlantic Records.
Gratitude,
however, called it a day towards the end of 2005, playing their
last US
tour before splitting in December 2005. He
now plays music under his own name, with new work as well as music
from his previous outings.
Guitarist and founder
Shaun Lopez went
on to form
The Revolution
Smile. The band has released two records and toured around the
US and
Europe. He also has his own studio
where he has produced such bands as
Giant
Drag,
The X-Ecutioners, the
Deftones fifth record (
Saturday Night Wrist) released by
Maverick Records and most recently
Will Haven´s fourth record
The Hierophant.
Bassist John Gutenberger is currently playing in a band called
Two
Sheds (
UnderAcloud Records) and a band called
Jackpot.
Drummer Chris Robyn has since played several shows with
Will Haven in 2000 when their drummer Wayne Morse
left.
Return
In 2008, the band confirmed they will be reforming for a handful of
US dates, and also a small UK tour. Along with the confirmed UK
tour, a cover of the track "
Pony" by
Ginuwine has been posted on the Hot Little Pony
myspace.
On Wednesday, October 15 2008 the band launched the official
website at
thebandfar.com
On October
21 Live 105 (KITS) (San Francisco
) and KWOD (Sacramento
) added Pony into regular rotation. On
November 4 91x (San Diego) added Pony.
On December 4 KROQ (Los
Angeles
) added Pony.
On March 2 Vagrant announced that they have signed FAR, and that
the band are putting the finishing touches on their fifth studio
album, which will be out in 2010.
On Oct 17th 2009, Far posted studio video part three, which
concluded reading "At night we live" out in 2010 on Vagrant
Records. The name is also the title of a song they wrote for
Deftones bass player Chi Cheng, after his car accident last
November.
Members
Discography
Full Albums
Singles
- Pony (2008) #40 US Modern
Rock
EPs
Promos
- The System (with E-Bomb snippets) (1998)
- Mother Mary
- Love, American Style
- What I've Wanted To Say
- In The Aisle, Yelling (released on cd and cassatte)
- Pony (1 track advance promo 4:23 on Vagrant) (2009)
7"s
- Far Does Madonna (w/Sea Pigs)
- Boring Life
- Far / Incubus split w/ Water and Solutions
- Far / Incubus / Korn / Urge Split (Far song - In the Aisle
Yelling) (1997 promo immortal)
- Far / Incubus Split (Far - mother Mary Incubus - Certain Shade
of Green) (1998)
Demos
External links
References
- "Jonah Matranga - Where to start with", by
Kerrang, n.d.
- "The Far-ther of Emo?", by Ellen Dis, Drowned In
Sound, 2003
- "Far - Jonah Matranga and Shaun Lopez on the hows,
whys and whens behind 2008's most exciting reunion...", by Dan
Jones, Rock Midgets, 2008
- "Far Out!", by Mark Lore, SubMerge, 12 January
2009
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