So, with thanks to Wikipedia, we present the Fabian Society:
‘a British socialist movement, whose purpose is to advance the principles of democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist, rather than revolutionary, means. It is best known for its initial ground-breaking work beginning late in the 19th century and continuing up to World War I. The society laid many of the foundations of the Labour Party and subsequently affected the policies of states emerging from the decolonisation of the British Empire, especially India‘.
Wow. Serious stuff and and otherwise-inoccuous email from a band has led us to this fascinating history lesson. The name of the ‘New’ Fabian Society instantly registered some recognition with us, but if it had come up in a pub quiz we’d have been struggling to define quite what it was.
So thanks then to this Glasgow two-piece for leading us to this info, but more importantly, thanks also for their awesome debut EP, Exhibition of Love.
We’ve streamed the whole thing below – it’s three tracks and just over seventeen minutes of predictably dark, gloomy and powerful guitars and drums, reminiscent of Bauhaus, Echo and the Bunnymen and their more modern acolytes Interpol (before they lost their way after two exciting albums, of course).
Lost in Berlin after four minutes of distorted effects slips into a thunderous rock song with singer Michael, aahhh, ‘Fabian’ doing his best Pete Murphy howl; Devious Minds is of a similar vein but goes for the jugular much quicker before fizzing out on the same whirring sounds that opened the EP in the first place.
There aren’t many bands in Scotland playing this kind of music to any kind of competency or quality so hearing this was a blast of fresh, yet polluted and post-industrial air. We absolutely love, and fully expect to be hearing much more from, these guys. We spoke to drummer Nick about the EP and what’s next.
So who the hell are you?
We are a two-piece band hailing from Glasgow who formed in late 2011.
Describe your sound in ten words or less!
Shadow ridden post-industrial punk with a psychedelic slant.
A minimalist EP cover - there are no 'press' shots of the band ready yet!
The band name seems very carefully chosen; care to tell us about what’s behind it?
Yes, it was carefully chosen and one which we almost never went ahead with. We’re not attempting to be political troubadours or anything like that. It was more an attempt to capture or emulate the spirit of what was once a powerful and romantic sentiment that slowly became corrupted, distorted, anarchic and tainted. I think that we wanted to convey that sense of fallibility, aggression, failure and industrialism to the current musical landscape.
How did you guys get together to make music?
We have known each other the best part of fifteen years and both grew up together but we only really joined musical forces when we ran into each other at a Horrors gig. We formed through an appreciation of the same music, excess, self loathing, misery, marginalism and disorientation with the current social environment. We wanted to make a lot of noise to the point where live it was almost unpalatable to those witnessing it.
What’s influenced the EP?
The EP was influenced by early Brian Jonestown Massacre, No Age, Mogwai, The Eighties Matchbox B-line Disaster, My Bloody Valentine, early Joy Division and The Idiot by Iggy Pop.
How did you come by such a huge sound with just two of you?
We use a lot of reverb through the mics on the drum kit and a classic fender reverb amp for the guitar. We also love our effects which is generated through trusty dream machine and boss DD-7 – we have also recently became infatuated with the limitless capabilities of the e-bow. All of this helps to create a pretty loud violent industrial sound.
Is there a full length release in the pipeline?
We’ve literally just started showcasing our debut EP and we’ve been quite fortunate to have been offered some good gigs already. At this point we’re just looking to develop and expand our sound further and a generate as much noise as we can. Yeah, we would love to put an album out sometime in the near future but we have a bit to go before we’re ready.
Any live shows on the horizon? Quite a few at the moment, looking forward to supporting London band Foreign Office at King Tuts Fri 18th May. There’s a full listing of shows on our Bandcamp page, or follow us on Twitter.
Excluding yours, what’s your favourite society?
There are far too many to mention but I guess for us it would be the Oliver Reed Appreciation Society. He was a fine actor and would have been good company in Rab Ha’s* with a beer!!
*We’re assuming this is some kind of west coast wine bar.
We hope to bring you some exciting news about this band shortly – stay tuned!
