Fucked Up 'Hidden World' album

Fucked Up isn’t the prototypical hardcore band. The songs on "Hidden World" average five + minutes and have violins, acoustic guitars, samples, piano and other instrumentation.

As a band, Fucked Up exist as miscreants, operating outside the parameters of traditional society. No one in the band (comprised of Pink Eyes - vocals, Gulag aka Concentration Camp - guitar, Mr. Jo - drums, Mustard Gas - bass, 10,000 Marbles - guitar) owns a cell phone or can legally operate a vehicle. Relationships between band mates are often strained (Pink Eyes has even avoided a European tour because, "The prospect of sitting in a van with those dudes made me sick to my stomach").

3/5 of the band is plagued by bouts of mental illness ( "Pink Eyes has been diagnosed with schizophrenia. Concentration Camp and I have been depressed for good parts of our adult lives," says guitarist 10,000 Marbles.) The band has been accused of championing fascism ( "Mixing fascist imagery with a leftist anarchist punk band is like a bomb going off," according to the band.) The list continues; bewildering interviews in Vice Magazine, anarchist arrests in Canada, episodes of self-mutilation via razor blade and a slew of hard to find singles are but a few of the enigmatic characteristics that have embodied Fucked Up for the past five years.
Fucked Up came from nothing out of the Toronto , Canada punk scene, on their own accordance. Influences, both lyrical and musical, were mostly culled from within (though the band does cite Pink Floyd as a point of reference to their "more drawn out shit"), and the band slowly rose from obscurity without the obligatory tour and play with bigger band mentality of the modern punk scene. The band shuns full- length releases in favor of two-song singles, utilizes biological concepts to enact social change within their music, and has even been accused of mind control by some of their detractors. Illegible liner notes, being attacked onstage during live performances, self- releasing records with 17 minute long title tracks; all part of the deal for the convoluted world of Fucked Up .

What's worse? "The band exists within a culture of confusion," says manager/producer David Eliade , who additionally claims to have "Never attended a Fucked Up live show." True intentions and motivation are concealed under Internet hearsay, the band's inability to communicate with the public and obscure, hard to find releases. Fucked Up exist as a band, that much is known. But how, what and most importantly why continues to be a mystery. And if that's not fucked up enough, it gets even worse. People love Fucked Up , and their loyal fans include The Arcade Fire ( AF violinist Owen Pallet plays on several tracks off of Hidden World ), Jarvis Cocker of Pulp, Bloc Party and Vice Magazine (whom recently released a UK single for Fucked Up ). In addition, throngs of eager listeners have tattooed their bodies with the Fucked Up logo, and many see no problem with paying outrageous amounts of money on eBay for out-of- print Fucked Up singles.

Somewhere amid the disparaging alienation, blatant offensiveness, and inter-band disillusionment, Fucked Up transformed into a highly sought after, enigmatic and essentially unconventional institution. In March of 2006, the band agreed to release their first full length album, Hidden World, on Jade Tree . Hidden World is cloaked in shades of unconventional aesthetics, symbolic overtones and an "Are you with us or against us?" burst of urgency. The album marks a turning point for the band, transcending the boundaries of punk with melody, aggression, expansive structures and enigmatic diatribes on what lies underneath the immediate, visualized world. Lyrically, Fucked Up continue to combine confrontational ideologies with deliberately skewed subject matter, producing a brutal yet alternative analysis on thought provocative punk.

Considering what we already know about Fucked Up , it's a feat that the tracks contained on Hidden World even made it out of the studio. Misunderstood revolutions are created and destroyed each day of our lives. With Fucked Up playing the role of bridge builder, demolitionist and subsequent analyst, there's no telling where this revolution may take us.....

Some more facts about Fucked Up:

Members:

10,000 Marbles - Lead Guitar. Previously of Ruination , Mike Haliechuk lives outside Toronto where he raises chickens.

Father Damian aka Pink Eyes - Vocals. Abraham works as a producer in the film industry under his birth name, which he has so far managed to keep secret so that his participation in Fucked Up will not negatively affect his career.

Slumpy aka Laundry aka Mustard Gas - Bass Guitar. Occupation unknown.

Gulag (formerly Concentration Camp) - Rhythm Guitar. Zucker is a transient who was chosen as the original frontman for Fucked Up due to his confrontational manner. Zucker was replaced as frontman after missing several crucial shows while in jail for punching a Toronto police officer who had stolen a ham sandwich from him. In order to remain active in the band after the arrival of new singer Damian, Zucker learned guitar.

Guinea Beat aka Mr. Jo - Drums. Falco splits his time between Fucked Up and Career Suicide , as well as being a full time student. He has had to keep the existence of Fucked Up a secret from his family, with whom he lives, after his father declared the band's name "...made him want to vomit."

David Eliade - Visuals, spiritual and political guidance. Eliade is the "fifth Beatle" so to speak, and manages Fucked Up from behind the scenes. He has designed their logo, records, and influenced most of their lyrics. Eliade has coordinated most of their interviews, except for those conducted live on the road. He has begun taking a more visible role, acting as management for the band of late and working with them in the studio on the production of their forthcoming LP. He is the one who taught Haliechuk to garden and Camp to hop trains. He is the only person involved with the band who knows how to tune a guitar. Unfortunately he has never attended one of Fucked Up's live shows.

The band doesn't get along, they get into fights (literally), and the singer has not gone on tours before. He's the modern day Darby Crash , and usually cuts his face just about every show with razorblades. He's got social anxiety disorder and Schizophrenia. The brainchild of the band Mike one of the guitar players (lead guitar) writes just about everything, has Asperbergers syndrome and is clinically depressed. The punk Daniel Johnston if you will. He wants everyone to listen to this album in it's entirety but said he will never listen this album.

Together for five years, Fucked Up has gotten big in the underground on their own, rarely opening for big bands. Their records sell for lots of $ on eBay . Kids are fanatical and obsessed with them. They are an enigma, which could be why so many people are talking about them (and not just punk kids).

To date, Fucked Up has released 11 7"s. No Paseran (sold 1000, oop), Police (sold 3500), Baiting the Public (sold 1000, oop), Dance Of Death (sold 3000) all came out on Deranged . Litany (sold 1500, oop) came out on Test Pattern. Generation (sold 2100, oop) came out on Slasher . Split with Haymaker (sold 1500, oop) came out on deep six, two European tour 7"s (sold 1000 each). Not to mention three 12"s. LET LIKES BE CURED BY LIKES Live 12" (limited to 500 copies, oop) came out on Schizophrenic Records. LOOKING FOR GOLD 12" (limited to 500 copies, oop) was self-released. Generation 12" (sold 1500) came out on Slasher Records , one cd compilation of 7" songs (sold 5000) on Deranged Records
, and most recently, the Triumph of Life 7" just released on Jade Tree .

The band has toured Europe once and hit the UK in May, also 2 east coast tours and 2 west coast tours (mostly as the headlining band but did some dates w/ The Gossip ).

Influences: The Wipers, Ramones, Pink Floyd, Negative Approach, The Who “but at the base we are most influenced by ourselves.”

They don't have a website or Myspace page. Myspace page is a fake one done by a fan.

"Ironically, their fast and sloppy early-80s-styled hardcore is a million times more musical and ferocious than 99% of professional myspace-era mosh bands, and their fans' postshow cuts and bruises remind us that this shit might have the potential to still be dangerous." - VICE

With a near perfect balance of really weird punk stuff and totally punk weird stuff, Hidden World, to borrow a phrase from hip-hop, is going to send some motherfuckers back to the lab." - DECIBEL

"I truly believe these guys are the second coming of hardcore... they are Incredible." - MRR

" Toronto 's Fucked Up get it so right. Their hardcore telepathically bridges the early 80's, reaches even further back for intelligence, and is blazing across this great land of ours, one shitty stereo and uncool kid at a time." - THRASHER

Listen to "Baiting the Public" off the forthcoming album, "Hidden World"

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Tracklisting

Fucked Up - Hidden World