Fishboy Streams Side 'A' of His Upcoming Record

This is cool. Fishboy began streaming songs from his upcoming Classic Creeps record on his bandcamp page, and I find this album interesting for several reasons. First it involves a neat concept where every track on the album is about a character whose name begins with the letter 'A'. Eric describes the concept best on his site:

The group's forthcoming album, Classic Creeps is the first in an ongoing series of Fishboy records featuring characters whose lives interconnect to form a bigger story. Eric Michener (singer, songwriter) took inspiration for the album from the profile songs of the early British Invasion (The Kinks, The Who, The Zombies, etc.) after years of making personal mixes of his favorite "songs about fake people." Pushing forward from the concept introduced in 2007's Albatross: How We Tried and Failed to Save the State of Texas with the Power of Rock and Roll, the songs in Classic Creeps each profile a specific character while also introducing a connection to the subject/character of the next song. Michener also placed the characters' songs in alphabetical order, despite the fact that each character's name begins with the letter A. Although the album features Fishboy's characteristic upbeat sound, the songs to reveal the flaws and insecurities of each character while unraveling hidden connections and pieces of the larger plot.

The songs which began streaming today were said to comprise the 'A' side of the record, and the release date is set for April, the next month that begins with the letter 'A'. Coincidences?

But on a more personal level I am interested to see how a certain song ended up in recorded form. Back in March of last year when Eric previewed some of the Classic Creeps tracks for an intimate crowd at The Schoolhouse in Denton, an interesting thing occurred. During one of the songs a brave chick in the attic began improvising a call-and-response thing during one of the new songs. Before the song ended the entire attic full of kids were singing the newly minted lines. It was one of those really cool/special moments that sometimes happens at shows and become instantly unforgettable, and it would be fascinating and oddly gratifying if the amended chorus actually ended up on record.

Stream some of the new tracks below as we wait with bated breath until April.



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