The Orange Country hardcore punks FURY have released the full stream of their new LP “Failed Entertainment”, a follow up to their 2016 debut record Paramount! Recorded with Club Night/Marbled Eye Andrew Oswald at Oakland’s Secret Bathroom studios and mixing engineer Jack Endino (Skin Yard, Nirvana’s Bleach), the record touches on many shades of punk and 90s infused post hardcore / noise rock vibe, and it’s a must listen! Hear the full thing below.
Forming in 2014, Fury established themselves quickly, releasing both a demo on Washington, D.C.’s Mosher Delight Records and the “Kingdom Come” EP on Boston’s Triple B Records in the same calendar year. They built on the melodic legacy of Orange County by way of heavy, rhythmic, start-stop guitars and Stith’s wordy and referential lyrics. Then, in 2016, came their debut LP on Triple B Records, “Paramount,” which was met with respect from the hardcore community and praise from outsider critics.
Now, two New Year’s Eves later, Fury releases “Failed Entertainment,” their sophomore LP and debut with Boston-based Run For Cover Records. As with their previous records, “Failed Entertainment” was recorded by Colin Knight and their own guitarist Madison Woodward at Paradise Records, in Anaheim. This time, though, the band also sought new surroundings and outside expertise, collaborating with engineer Andrew Oswald at Secret Bathroom Studios, as well as mixing engineer Jack Endino (Nirvana, Soundgarden, Seaweed). The new batch of songs shows growth in all directions: the slow parts more brooding, the melodies catchier, the lyrics out even further on the limb. From the hammer-ons at the beginning of “Angels Over Berlin” to the tambourine on “Crazy Horses Run Free”.
“Failed Entertainment” documents the work, both personal and creative, undertaken since the release of “Paramount,” a period of time marked by as many difficulties as successes. Stith said, “I’ve asked myself ‘Why have I done this?’ and ‘Why do I continue to do this?’ more times in the last two years than the rest of my life combined.” Those eternal, existential questions form the thematic foundation of the new songs, which look past the superficial concerns about status and popularity that preoccupy so many musicians, focusing instead on life’s inevitable, inescapable problems and the ways in which they can be compounded by the banal realities of art-making — the isolation of being on tour, the pressure of being expected to somehow transform that universal angst into nice, catchy songs that provide simple lessons.
What finally emerges is nothing less than Fury’s take on the human experience, an attempt to describe every person’s life and how it interacts with others through unmatched highs, desperate lows, and mundane middles. Though the idea that the human experience is something that can be understood and labeled is either right on the nose or too grandiose. But to Stith, the goal was to fit every last drop of humanity in between the grooves of the record, and that’s where the success and failure of this entertainment lies. “I’ll never be able to communicate every single thought and feeling,” says Stith “, a Failed Entertainment.”
In parlaying their diverse influences into a more structured, melodic sound on Failed Entertainment, Fury have effectively positioned themselves closer to post-hardcore, and by extension, the listening masses. Encompassing elements of bands like Supertouch, Seaweed, Quicksand, and others, the LP is tied together by a punk urgency, and in a slightly paradoxical twist, songwriting that honors the past as much as it challenges it. “That’s what hardcore is all about,” says Stith. “Hardcore is supposed to be a creative thing with a purpose, what it sounds like doesn’t change the soul behind it.“
The group’s eclecticism extends to their touring partners; the Orange County crew are just as likely to hop in a van with indie darlings Sheer Mag as they are with the legendary Gorilla Biscuits, or an uber-buzzy band du jour. “We would love to do a run with the Lemonheads or Dinosaur Jr.,” says lead guitarist Madison Woodward. “Bands who really influenced us that we can learn from, or even other bands that are doing related things. We love riding the line between hardcore punk and other similarly interesting gigs.”
Despite the success of Paramount that the amount of interest and buzz surrounding Failed Entertainment, it’s easy to forget that a second LP almost didn’t happen. In fact, if you asked Woodward a few short years ago about even doing a debut, he might have laughed. “The band was actually supposed to end with the last record,” he says. “It was definitely my idea. I actually don’t think there are very many good hardcore LPs and many of my favorite hardcore bands, except for a handful, only released EPs and seven-inches. It’s hard to do a full-length that’s interesting for any genre.” – Bandcamp Daily
