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Fine China
Biography
Fine China
Many of the greatest artists in rock have been musical reactionaries. Fueled with passion for a more innocent or exciting era, these are people who were fed up with what is contemporaneously thought to be popular. They despise the smug radio pablum surrounding them, being played relentlessly on the radio and in LCD videos on TV. The punk revolution in itself was a response to the mire of mellowed out, instant hipness, caustically inspiring a new wave of musicians more interested in songs of pure pop joy and sincere viewpoints espoused than boring riffs and vain posturing.
"We don't really care about styles so much," Fine China lead vocalist/guitarist Rob Withem says. "Just songs that suck. There’s nothing worse than that."
So Fine China has made it their mission to bring back the art of the transcendent rock song, best exemplified so far by their second album for Tooth & Nail Records, "You Make Me Hate Music." From the opening melancholy anthem "Hug Every Friend" to the resplendent closer, "Forget The Experts," the sophomore release features ten shining tracks of blissed-out Anglophiliac new guitar rock.
Fine China hail from Phoenix, Arizona, where they’ve received much love and respect for their previous recordings and performances. Fine China has opened for Pedro the Lion and The Faint, and toured with Joy Electric, Map, and Starflyer 59. Speaking of that last, critically-acclaimed band, SF59 leader Jason Martin is responsible for co-producing this follow-up and the same six-string organic-celestial vibe from his 2001 masterpiece "Leave Here A Stranger" can be heard all over "You Make Me Hate Music" as well.
"Our last record kind of polarized people because of the electro vibe," Rob says. "But this one is a guitar record, and everyone likes guitars." Even though the band line-up has stayed pretty much the same since the beginning including Joshua Block on keyboards, Thom Walsh on drums, and Greg Markov on bass "You Make Me Hate Music" breaks out of the keyboard-based "futurist retro" sound of their T&N debut, delivering what should be universally accepted modern rock. "We're hoping it will open a lot of doors for us, and that a lot more people will hear the songs than have before."
Just like Starflyer 59, Fine China actually did receive a great deal of press coverage for last year's "When The World Sings," though, including positive reviews in Magnet, Alternative Press, and many other mags and zines. Hopefully, this should pave the way for "YMMHM" to get the acclaim it deserves.
The band's humble working class daily existences don't betray Fine China’s intelligent, emotionally transparent pop. Rob, the group's primary songwriter, was raised on Top 40 till he discovered "artsy alternative bands" Dinosaur Jr. and Smashing Pumpkins, but then came upon bands Joy Electric and Starflyer 59. "They really clicked with me because they were writing these really sad pretty songs I hadn't heard before," Rob explains.
The topics Rob addresses in Fine China songs sweep a broad range of human experience and engagement, from "feeling bad about being critical of people" ("Boo To The Freaks") to "being broke" ("The Unsuccessful"), as well as "fears of losing friends" ("Hug Every Friend") and "other people bringing you down" ("The World Wants Me Dead"). All of these are serious, potentially discomforting topics, but from the humor shown in the titles to the witty turns of phrase in the sharply written lyrics, combined with the ecstatic craft of the tunes, make the songs a joyful listening experience, no matter how sad the topic.
"You Make Me Hate Music" is going to make a lot of people love music, specifically the music of Fine China. |
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