(By Guest Author Chris ‘Maddog’ Malone)
Long Island is a rather conventional and unconventional place. Its conventional in the way that it is the epitome of suburbia. People go out and work all day, the kids go to school, and landscapers tend to peoples yards during the day. It is the status quo, and as expected, there are all sorts of music scenes each with their own trends. However its unconventional in the way that since there are so many people involved in such a small area (with a cheap system of mass transportation via busses and the long island rail road to boot!) that the lines between genres can get blurry. Traditional genre on genre rivalries are forgotten in an instant and bands who normally would never play on the same bill together play back to back to back. Hardcore bands and ska bands on the same bill. Emo bands and hip hop groups performing right after each other on the same stage. And even sometimes bands will blend two or more different genres of music together to create something new and interesting. In this spirit of cohesion, coexistence and musical culmination you have The Fad. The Fad is Jay Biener, Tom Malinowski, Matt McGregor and James Doyle, a four piece punk band from Levittown, NY who play music ranging from ska, to punk, to even hiphop with lyrics about things that actually matter. Speaking out on topics such as racism and intolerance, and freedom of speach, The Fad does more than just entertain a crowd, they cause them to think as well, a trait not common in most music from long island. With 8 songs, Number 5 is more than your average ep in length, but its also so much more musically, featuring such guest musicans such as Dave Solomon of High School Football Heroes featured on trombone on 2 songs, on the cd as well as the guest vocals of JT(Johnathan Turret)on the song “PMRC”, the former singer for sprout, who by many is considered long island’s top front man. If that isn’t enough guest talent, Vic Ruggerio, of The Slackers from New York City, played keyboards on several songs. And when all is said and done, we know that fads tend to come roaring in and go away just as quickly, but if Long Island is lucky, these guys will stick around for awhile.
Rating: 4 Metal Signs out of 5 \”/ \”/ \”/ \”/
For more info on The Fad, visit: www.TheFad.cjb.net