The Faint

All Music Guide:

Omaha, NE's the Faint have gone through countless changes in their relatively short career, but with each shift, both in terms of personnel and style, they have made a distinct new impression and turned more and more heads. Originally called Norman Bailer and featuring current members Clark and Todd Baechle (later he changed his name to Todd Fink, after marrying future Saddle Creek recording artist Orenda Fink of Azure Ray), as well as bassist Joel Peterson, the group's early years were a mix of lo-fi pop and tongue-in-cheek easy listening with a touch of punk rock ideals borrowed from their early skateboarding days. Along with a prepubescent Bright Eyes and a recently formed Cursive, the band was one of the seeds that spawned the explosive Omaha scene as well as a flagship act for the highly regarded Saddle Creek Records.

A very limited cassette release and a few tracks on split 7"s and samplers were the band's only output, but the spark was there, and after adding Matt Bowen to the mix, the Faint proper first came into being around 1998. Media, the group's first full-length, was still a far cry from their later sounds, but the record was a fitting introduction to the band that featured a bevy of conflicting sounds, from new wave-inspired pop to Lullaby for the Working Class-style acoustic dirges. It wasn't the perfect record, but it was an inspired start that gave the band a good idea of what they were, and more importantly were not, striving for. In the wake of Media, the band set out to add something special to their live show, and in the course of the year, Bowen left the band and Jacob Thiele joined up to add the all-too-important keyboard sounds into the mix.

Early 1999 saw the band re-enter the studio with a new agenda, focusing on danceable beats, catchy keyboards, and an '80s-influenced sound that both revered and reinvented the past. The result was Blank-Wave Arcade (Saddle Creek), a pulsating record about sexuality, transportation, and mass consumption that instantly attracted hordes of new fans who were blown away by the group's distinctive new sound. The new material, along with a seizure-inducing D.I.Y. live light show and incorrigible on-stage energy, created a major buzz, and soon the Faint were revered as the second coming of new wave genius. A series of remixes on both a limited-edition LP and a tour to support a CD from Insound furthered the hype, and by the time the Faint entered the studio yet again in early 2001, the buzz had grown to a resounding roar.

In August of 2001, the group released its third LP, Danse Macabre (Saddle Creek), a somewhat darker exploration of the styles hinted at on Blank-Wave Arcade. They also added a guitarist by the name of Dapose (born Mike Dappen), whose death metal past worked perfectly with the gloomy, but still oddly upbeat, sentiments of the new record. The disc was released to instant acclaim and almost immediately became one of the label's best-selling titles. The Faint followed it up with even more touring and also found the time to release the Mote/Dust 12" (GSL) in October of 2001, featuring two more remixes, a Sonic Youth cover, and a new track featuring Bright Eyes songsmith Conor Oberst. The band was all quiet on the recording front until March of 2003, when they released an album of remixes from Danse Macabre called, strangely enough, Danse Macabre Remixes. The disc featured remixes by artists like Paul Oakenfold, Photek, and Medicine. They followed this up with Wet from Birth, which was released in fall 2004. The band remixed "Meet Your Master" from Nine Inch Nails' Year Zero, while bassist Joel Peterson reworked Of Montreal's "Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games" under his Broken Spindles alias. The Faint built their own studio, named Enamel, and formed their own label, Blank.Wav, on which they released their fourth album Fasciinatiion in summer 2008.

Wikipedia:

The Faint is an American indie rock band. Formed in Omaha, Nebraska, the band consists of Todd Fink, Jacob Thiele, Dapose, Joel Petersen and Clark Baechle. The Faint was originally known as Norman Bailer and included Conor Oberst (of Bright Eyes, with whom the Faint toured in 2005). He quit shortly after the band was formed, though the Faint continued to share a spot with Bright Eyes on Saddle Creek Records.

History [edit]

Growing up, Fink, Petersen, and Baechle skateboarded in their free time until Fink developed knee problems, which shifted their hobbies towards making music. The band originally consisted of Clark Baechle, Todd Fink (formerly Todd Baechle), and Joel Petersen. They signed to Saddle Creek Records and released a few singles, but were unable to establish widespread sales. After adding Matt Bowen, the Faint released Media. At the end of 1998 Jacob Thiele joined the band, and shortly thereafter Matt Bowen was replaced by Ethan Jones. They toured the U.S. playing what would become the songs that would comprise the next album, Blank-Wave Arcade which had a more dance and techno influenced sound and was an underground hit. Before recording the album however, Jones left the band and was replaced on bass guitar by Joel Petersen, who played both bass and guitar on the album. Partway through the creation of Danse Macabre, the Faint added Dapose, a death metal guitarist formerly of LEAD. Their next album, recorded with Mike Mogis and released in 2004, was called Wet from Birth.

In May 2008, the Faint announced that they had split from Saddle Creek and that their fifth studio album would be self released under their own label, blank.wav. The album, entitled Fasciinatiion, was released on August 5, 2008 in the U.S. The first single from the album is "The Geeks Were Right" which was released on Boys Noize Records. It was also announced that the band would tour North America with British electronic group Ladytron during the spring.

Since the release of Fasciinatiion, three of the band members, Clark Baechle, Todd Fink and Jacob Thiele have been quietly, with little advertising, performing under the name Depressed Buttons, playing remixes of other artists, and DJing for various small clubs and venues.

The band performed an original song "Teach Me Teacher" on the children's show Yo Gabba Gabba! in the third season episode "School" originally aired September 19, 2010.

On October 30, 2012, Saddle Creek Records will release a deluxe edition of Danse Macabre with the original album remastered, bonus and unreleased tracks, and a DVD of archival footage, live projections from that era's tour dates, and live footage. The band announced that it would play "Danse Macabre" in its entirety along with fan favorites during a tour of 24 cities across North America.