Fractional Importance is a modern rock band from

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wo ...

formed in 1998, consisting of Doug Gledhill (lead vocals and guitar),

Nate Perry Nate Perry is an American rock bass player and songwriter. He grew up in Northern California and has been based in Los Angeles since 1999 where he has performed, toured and recorded with several artists including CSS, Manic, Middle Class Rut, Jess ...

(bass and backing vocals) and Kevin Fessler (drums). Their sound has been described as ranging from

alternative metal Alternative metal (also known as alt-metal) is a genre of heavy metal music that combines heavy metal with influences from alternative rock and other genres not normally associated with metal. Alternative metal bands are often characterized by ...

and

post-hardcore Post-hardcore is a punk rock music genre that maintains the aggression and intensity of hardcore punk but emphasizes a greater degree of creative expression. It was initially inspired by post-punk and noise rock. Like post-punk, the term has bee ...

modern rock Modern rock is an umbrella term used to describe rock music that is found on college rock radio stations. Some radio stations use this term to distinguish themselves from classic rock, which is based in 1960s–1980s rock music. Radio format Mod ...

. Although the band never enjoyed mainstream success, they were one of the few independent rock bands to emerge from the saturated late 1990s Hollywood club scene who, through largely self-funded touring and relentless promotion, were able to amass a sizable fan base and influence younger L.A. based band bands coming up on the same scene.

History

The original line-up consisted of Douglas Gledhill (Vocals/Guitar), Kevin Fessler (Drums) and John Holiday (Bass) who met while attending high school in Santa Clarita, CA. Shortly after their inception they self-released the LP ''Indecision'', followed by well-received shows on the famed

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...

Sunset Strip The Sunset Strip is the stretch of Sunset Boulevard that passes through the city of West Hollywood, California. It extends from West Hollywood's eastern border with the city of Los Angeles near Marmont Lane to its western border with Beverly H ...

. This was followed by the ''Apathy'' EP, produced by Donat Kazarinoff (

Hoobastank Hoobastank (sometimes stylized as h∞bastank, and originally known as Hoobustank) is an American rock band formed in 1994 in Agoura Hills, California, by lead vocalist Doug Robb, guitarist Dan Estrin, drummer Chris Hesse, and original bassis ...

Alien Ant Farm Alien Ant Farm is an American rock band that formed in Riverside, California in 1996. They have released five studio albums and sold over 5 million units worldwide. The band's cover of Michael Jackson's " Smooth Criminal" topped the ''Billboard ...

). Bassist John Holiday left shortly thereafter and was replaced by Nate Perry, who assumed bass and co-writing duties. The band rejoined Kazarinoff at 4th Street Recording in 2001 to record their sophomore LP ''Visions'' which was released on the band's own ''Dyspathy Records'' and sold over 7,000 copies with no major distribution. The record was well received by various indie-rock critics and combined with relentless DIY touring, helped to solidify the band's growing regional popularity while also raising the band's awareness on a more national level; opening for such acts as

Papa Roach Papa Roach is an American rock band from Vacaville, California, formed in 1993. The original lineup consisted of lead vocalist Jacoby Shaddix, guitarist Jerry Horton, drummer Dave Buckner, bassist Will James, and trombonist Ben Luther. Aft ...

Smile Empty Soul Smile Empty Soul is an American rock band, originally from Santa Clarita, California, United States. It was started in 1998 by Sean Danielsen (vocals and guitar), Ryan Martin (bass), and Derek Gledhill (drums). Following the departure of Gled ...

and

Seether Seether are a South African rock band founded in 1999 in Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa. The band originally performed under the name Saron Gas until 2002, when they moved to the United States and changed it to Seether to avoid confusion wi ...

. After extensive touring throughout the western portion of the U.S. in support of ''Visions'', the band shortened their name to 'Fractional' in 2003 and signed with ''11 Records'', the vanity label of acclaimed producer John Travis(

Kid Rock Robert James Ritchie (born January 17, 1971), known professionally as Kid Rock (also known as Bobby Shazam), is an American singer, songwriter and rapper. His style alternates between rock, hip hop, country, and metal. A self-taught musician ...

Buckcherry Buckcherry is an American rock band from Anaheim, California, formed in 1995. The band released two albums, '' Buckcherry'' (1999) and ''Time Bomb'' (2001), before dissolving in 2002. Buckcherry's first album ''Buckcherry'' was DreamWorks first ...

). Travis produced demos of the band which featured drummer Chris Robyn from the influential rock band Far. They temporarily added Zack Lopez on second guitar to fatten up the live sound who played on their 2005 EP ''A Love Letter Suicide'' which included tracks recorded by Travis. By this time Fractional began receiving airplay on various college and commercial radio stations nationwide which scored the band opening slots for

Trapt Trapt is an American rock band formed in Los Gatos, California. Eight studio albums have been recorded to date: ''Amalgamation'' (1999), '' Trapt'' (2002), ''Someone in Control'' (2005), ''Only Through the Pain'' (2008), '' No Apologies'' (20 ...

and Crossfade. Despite several independent releases and playing nearly 1000 shows, Fractional failed to see commercial success and parted ways in 2005 to pursue other projects. Douglas Gledhill formed the band Un:armed with his brother

Derek Gledhill Smile Empty Soul is an American rock band, originally from Santa Clarita, California, United States. It was started in 1998 by Sean Danielsen (vocals and guitar), Ryan Martin (bass), and Derek Gledhill (drums). Following the departure of Gledhil ...

. Nate Perry went on to play in the band Manic who released two EP's on Suretone/

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Mu ...

in 2007.

Discography

Full Lengths *''Indecision'' (1998) *''Visions'' (2001) EP's *''Apathy'' (1999) *''A Love Letter Suicide'' (2005) Demos *''Roger Sommers/Royaltone Demo'' (2002) *''Simple Things Demo'' (2003) *''Island Records/Don Kazarinoff Demo'' (2004) *''John Travis/11 Records Demo'' (2004)

References

External links

Official WebsiteNate Perry
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180330145616/http://nateperry.net/ , date=2018-03-30 Rock music groups from California Musical groups from Los Angeles