Number One Fan was a

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 ...

band based in Appleton,

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

signed to the Pat's Record Company label.

Biography

The band was formed in 2000 in Appleton, Wisconsin, while all of the members were still in high school. The original lineup of the band consisted of vocalist and guitarist Nicholas Ziemann, guitarist Matthew Reetz, drummer Jonathan Fries, and a bassist, who left a year later. He was replaced by Nicholas's brother, Michael Ziemann, who had no prior experience with a bass guitar. The band independently recorded and released their debut album, ''Compromises'', in 2003. They got signed to Pat Magnarella's

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, ...

-distributed ''Pat's Record Company'' in 2004, the label issuing a remastered version of the album. The album saw the band compared to

Dashboard Confessional Dashboard Confessional is an American rock band from Boca Raton, Florida, formed in 1999 and led by singer Chris Carrabba. The name of the band is derived from the song "The Sharp Hint of New Tears" off their debut album, '' The Swiss Army Roma ...

Counting Crows Counting Crows is an American rock band from the San Francisco Bay Area, California. Formed in 1991, the band consists of rhythm guitarist David Bryson, drummer Jim Bogios, vocalist Adam Duritz, keyboardist Charlie Gillingham, David Immergl� ...

, and

The Cure The Cure are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Crawley in 1976 by Robert Smith (musician), Robert Smith (vocals, guitar) and Lol Tolhurst (drums). The band's current line-up comprises Smith, Perry Bamonte (guitar and keyboards), Reev ...

. Kaj Roth of Melodic.net, wrote of ''Compromises'': "there's depth in their music but without being too complex or dark......this quartet makes music that is quite simple but also intelligent at the same time", and the site made NOF band of the week. In December 2005, the band renamed themselves The Wildbirds and refocused their musical style to a more garage rock sound. The Wildbirds went on a temporary hiatus from 2008 to 2009, but have since reformed with an entirely new line-up (except singer/songwriter Nicholas Ziemann) in 2010. On June 2, 2007, Nicholas officially announced the breakup of the band via their Myspace. In October, the band announced that they would release their unreleased second album, which was recorded prior to forming The Wildbirds in 2005. A tour in support of it was announced in November. The album was released on December 7, 2007 on Monopar Records. During its existence, they have played with many notable bands, including

Green Day Green Day is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Rodeo, California, in 1987 by lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong and bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, with drummer Tré Cool joining in 1990. In 1994, their majo ...

, The All-American Rejects,

Something Corporate Something Corporate (also known as SoCo) is an American Rock music, rock band from Laguna Niguel, Orange County, California, Orange County, California, formed in 1998. Their currently active line-up includes vocalist and pianist Andrew McMahon, ...

Switchfoot Switchfoot is an American rock music, rock band from San Diego, California. The band's members are Jon Foreman (lead vocals, guitar), Tim Foreman (bass guitar, backing vocals), Chad Butler (drum kit, drums, percussion), and Jerome Fontamillas (g ...

, and

The Juliana Theory The Juliana Theory is an American emo and Rock music, rock duo from Greensburg, Pennsylvania, Greensburg and Latrobe, Pennsylvania, Latrobe, Pennsylvania. They signed to Tooth & Nail Records, and later to Epic Records for the release of the albu ...

. They were also part of the

Vans Warped Tour The Warped Tour is a touring rock music festival that toured the United States and Canada each summer from 1995 until 2019, and returned in 2025 for its 30th anniversary. By 2015, Warped was the largest traveling music festival in the United S ...

in 2004. Their influences include

The Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and their f ...

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

, U2 and

, whose song, "Holiday In Spain" was covered by the band for ''Dead and Dreaming'', a tribute compilation album.Victory Records - Victory Records: Dead And Dreaming - A Tribute To Counting Crows
/ref>

Discography

Albums

* ''Compromises'' (2003) reissued (2004, Pat's/Universal) * ''Unreleased'' (2007)

Members

*Nicholas Ziemann -

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

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 ...

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

*Michael Ziemann -

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

*Matthew Reetz -

*Jonathan Fries -

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 ...

Percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

External links

Official website

MySpace

PureVolume

absolutepunk.net discussion

PRC profile

NowOnTour interview with Number One Fan during the Vans Warped Tour 2004

Full review of Number One Fan's "Unreleased" album via evadethenoise.com

References

{{Authority control Indie rock musical groups from Wisconsin Musical groups established in 2000 Musical groups disestablished in 2005