Fat Day was a

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

-based noisecore band. Formed in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

in 1992, they released a handful of LPs and several EPs on their own 100% Breakfast! label as well as many others.

History

The four members of Fat Day met in the early 1990s when they were DJs on the Record Hospital, a nightly program of

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

and

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

aired on

WHRB WHRB is a commercial FM radio station in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It broadcasts at 95.3 MHz and is operated by students at Harvard College. The station is owned by Harvard Radio Broadcasting Co., Inc., a non-profit corporation independent ...

. Doug Demay and Zak Sitter both played guitar in the short-lived band Mopar before dedicating their time to Fat Day. The band rented a small house in

Somerville, Massachusetts Somerville ( ) is a city located directly to the northwest of Boston, and north of Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge, in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the city had a total population of 81, ...

(dubbed "Fat Day House") where they lived, practiced, recorded, ran a record label, and hosted shows for local and touring bands. Fat Day toured the U.S. several times, as well as the UK and Ireland in 1997, and Japan in 1998. During the band's existence, they self-released three LPs and several EPs as well as an EP co-released with Donut Friends. Other labels that put out Fat Day records include Japan's HG Fact, Wabana,

Ratfish Chimaeras are cartilaginous fish in the order Chimaeriformes (), known informally as ghost sharks, rat fish (not to be confused with rattails), spookfish, or rabbit fish; the last two names are also applied to Opisthoproctidae and Siganidae, r ...

, and the

Japanese-American are Americans of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Americans were among the three largest Asian American ethnic communities during the 20th century; but, according to the 2000 census, they have declined in ranking to constitute the sixth largest Asi ...

label Devour Records, which compiled a CD of Fat Day's first two albums. In 2002 'Fat Day 'IV' came out on

Douglas Wolk Douglas Wolk (born 1970) is a Portland, Oregon-based author and critic. He has written about comics and popular music for publications including ''The New York Times'', ''Rolling Stone'', ''The Washington Post'', ''The Nation'', ''The New Republi ...

's Dark Beloved Cloud label, and 2004's ''Unf! Unf!'' was issued by Providence noise label

Load Records Load Records was an American experimental music-oriented independent record label based out of Providence, Rhode Island. "Load Records might possibly be in possession of the world's most challenging record roster," writes Mark Hensch of Thrash Pi ...

. Fat Day also released split EPs with the Ohio bands Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments and Harriet The Spy and the Japanese band

Melt-Banana Melt-Banana is a Japanese noise rock band that is known for playing extremely fast noise rock and hardcore punk mixed with experimental, electronica and pop-based song structures. Since forming in 1992 the band has released ten albums and toure ...

Creative projects

Fat Day's original inception as a standard guitar/bass/drums/vocals

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

band has always been infused with a

performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

aesthetic. They have been known to play dressed only in clear

cellophane Cellophane is a thin, transparent sheet made of regenerated cellulose. Its low permeability to air, oils, greases, bacteria, and liquid water makes it useful for food packaging. Cellophane is highly permeable to water vapour, but may be coate ...

wrap or have vocalist Matt Pakulski locked inside a speaker cabinet for the entire duration of a live show. Their 1997 tour of the UK and Ireland featured a fifth "member" wearing only a pair of jockey shorts, with a toy

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

and covered in a substance of the band's choice at every gig. This, apparently, was due to him wanting to accompany the band on the tour, and, not being able to play, the other members of the band agreed on the condition they covered him head-to-toe in a different substance for each show. The saxophone was unmiked and unplayable. Their sound on that tour was a mixture of noise, avant-punk and hardcore, frequently giving the impression of a more impenetrable The Fall attempting some of Captain Beefheart's most difficult pieces, arranged by a "The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady"-era Charles Mingus. On their 1998 tour of the U.S and Japan the band built a set of

oscillator Oscillation is the repetitive or periodic variation, typically in time, of some measure about a central value (often a point of equilibrium) or between two or more different states. Familiar examples of oscillation include a swinging pendulum ...

s that were activated by choreographed dances on four small

trampoline A trampoline is a device consisting of a piece of taut, strong fabric stretched between a steel frame often using many coiled spring (device), springs. People bounce on trampolines for recreational and competitive purposes. The fabric that use ...

s. These homemade

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductors * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic c ...

instruments were later condensed into a more manageable

helmet A helmet is a form of protective gear worn to protect the head. More specifically, a helmet complements the skull in protecting the human brain. Ceremonial or symbolic helmets (e.g., a policeman's helmet in the United Kingdom) without protecti ...

form that the band would wear and play songs on in the midst of their more guitar-based set. Fat Day recorded a

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

for guitarist Doug DeMay's

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

'' Sexy Doings''. They have also collaborated with the comic strip illustrator PShaw! on a

comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...

poster and a purple vinyl 45 RPM record set called ''Oskarrensaga'', based on their elaborate 2002 rock opera of the same name that involved inflatable pool toys (such as swans and a curly sea serpent), and featured narration by PShaw. The album ''Fat Day IV'' is a collection of twenty-one pieces of music composed and mailed in by fans, and ''Iguanadonaland'' enlists a community

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

that performs throughout the album.

Break up

By 2005 half of Fat Day had moved away from Boston and they eventually disbanded. Guitarist Doug Demay continues to run a home recording studio and record label. Arik Grier took up

sousaphone The sousaphone ( ) is a brass musical instrument in the tuba family. Created around 1893 by J.W. Pepper & Son, J. W. Pepper at the direction of American bandleader John Philip Sousa (after whom the instrument was then named), it was design ...

in the Stick and Rag Village Orchestra and

Debo Band Debo Band (also known simply as Debo) are a Boston-based music of Ethiopia, Ethiopian music band led by saxophonist Danny Mekonnen and fronted by vocalist Bruck Tesfaye. Ranging from 10–12 members playing horns, guitars, violins, percussion, a ...

. Matt Pakulshi runs the Chicago-based label FPE Records.

Members

*Arik Grier,

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

and

electronics Electronics is a scientific and engineering discipline that studies and applies the principles of physics to design, create, and operate devices that manipulate electrons and other Electric charge, electrically charged particles. It is a subfield ...

, now plays tuba in the Ethio-groove outfit

. *Doug Demay,

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

and electronics, sang for a

Devo Devo is an American new wave band from Akron, Ohio, formed in 1973. Their classic line-up consisted of two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs ( Mark and Bob) and the Casales (Gerald and Bob), along with Alan Myers. The band had a No. 14 ...

cover band A cover band (or covers band) is a band that plays songs recorded by someone else, sometimes mimicking the original as accurately as possible, and sometimes re-interpreting or changing the original. These remade songs are known as cover songs. N ...

, now plays i
Exusamwa
*Matt Pakulski, vocals and electronics, majored in new music composition in college and originally played

bagpipes Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, N ...

in Fat Day. *Zak Sitter,

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

and electronics, was a founding member of DQE.

Discography

Albums

* ''My Name Is I Hate You'' (1995) * ''Burrega!'' (1997) * ''Cats of the Wild'' (2000) * ''IV'' (2002) * ''Unf! Unf!'' (2004) * ''Iguanadonaland'' (2009)

EPs and singles

* ''1st 7"'' (1993) * ''Live Poultry Fresh Killed'' (1994) * ''Bound for Glory'' (1995) * ''Smell Me Silly!'' (1996) * ''Split 7" with Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments'' (1997) * ''Split 7" with Harriet the Spy'' (1998) * ''Gun Court'' (1999) * ''Poop E.P.'' (2002) * ''Oskarrensaga'' (2006) * ''Split CD with Melt-Banana'' (2007)

Compilation albums

* ''Burrega!/My Name Is I Hate You'' (1998 CD release of first two albums) * ''Snarl of Pulchritude: Singles 1993-2003'' (2004)

Compilation appearances

* One song on a

flexidisc The flexi disc (also known as a phonosheet, Sonosheet or Soundsheet, a trademark) is a Gramophone record, phonograph record made of a thin, flexible Polyvinyl chloride, vinyl sheet with a molded-in spiral Phonograph pickup, stylus groove, and is ...

that came as an insert in ''Wingnut'' magazine (Sealed Hotel Publications, 1993) * One song on ''The Guide To Your Demise'' 7" compilation (1994) * One song on the ''Stealing the Pocket'' compilation LP (Positively Punk, 1994) * "All Your Winning Colours" and "Dub" appear on the Methodist Leisure Inc. freebie spazzcore compilatio
''Short Attention Span''
(2009
Methodist Leisure Inc.

Other appearances

Fat Day's song "Little Rachcles" is sampled on the 1999 album Planetary Natural Love Gas Webbin' 199999 by DJ Pica Pica Pica, a continuous mix of music compiled by

Yamatsuka Eye (born , 13 February 1964) is a Japanese vocalist and visual artist, best known as a member of Boredoms, Hanatarash and Naked City. He has changed his stage name three times, from Yamatsuka Eye, to Yamantaka Eye, to Yamataka Eye, and sometimes ...

. The song is incorrectly listed in the liner notes of that CD as "Burrega Theme".

References

External links

Official site

{{Authority control Noisecore musical groups American noise rock music groups Load Records artists Musical groups established in 1992