Jan. 10, 2013 - Issue #899: The games we play
And in this corner ...
Title Fight opens up and comes out swinging on Floral Green
» Ready to rumble
Five years together and countless miles on the odometer have taught the punk rockers in Title Fight a thing or two about the ins and outs of touring, and the four-piece is packing up the van once again to continue promoting its album Floral Green—an onward-and-upward continuation of unabashed energy and account of human complexity.
"It's kind of easy at this point. You get in a van and you get your sleep schedule all messed up and you just drive all day and you show up and play and you just need enough energy to get through the day and be awake while you drive," says bassist and vocalist Ned Russin, a mere half hour into his Friday. "We've learned, as far as touring goes, I guess, people's roles. I drive a lot, and I like that responsibility. We've kind of learned what everybody is good at as far as what we have to do in the band, whether it's waking up on time—which none of us are really good at—driving or carrying stuff, or being in charge of contacting people. More importantly, we've grown closer and learned more about each other."
A new element for the band to navigate during its recording process for Floral Green was working under a deadline. Instead of having endless amounts of time to rewrite, refine and reinvent ideas before heading into the recording studio, Floral Green was done in reverse. The band had five months to get the songs in top shape, plus a one-month tour thrown into the mix, just to make things interesting.
"I don't know if I would say it was more stressful or what, but I think when we were writing it was more productive, honestly, because before we would just write and if we got a part we got a part, and if not, we would keep trying," Russin adds. "This time, we knew we had to get something or we wouldn't have a record out on time, so we were just very adamant about practising every day and trying to write stuff as quick as we could, but not settling for just writing anything."
Writing quickly is no easy feat for Title Fight, since as Russin puts it, the band can be pretty nit-picky, working on a song until all four members are satisfied with the end result. They were on the same page going into producing Floral Green, wanting to step outside their comfort zone and make that evident to listeners, rather than giving them a carbon copy of what they'd been used to hearing. The end result—which draws inspiration from the likes of Jawbreaker, Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr—is a raw, honest, in-your-face testament of a band that's continuing its evolution, though Russin admits that being so uncensored in his lyrics still isn't an easy feat.
"It's still pretty awkward. I've been trying to work on being open with my feelings just with my friends over the last year or so, I'd say, and even before, I was trying that with the people around me. I was putting myself out there to anybody who could listen to us," he adds. "It's good in a way to get something off your chest ... it's weird, but at the same time, it's important to me to really strive to honesty and not to sugarcoat."
Mon, Jan 14 (7 pm)
Title Fight
With Living with Lions
Avenue Theatre, $17.50
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