"[Fathead's] distinctive hybrid of hip-hop, funk, New Orleans jazz and prog rock appeals to everyone from funkateers to deadheads."
- The Philadelphia City Paper
While the rest of the music-listening public was still obsessed with the grunge phenomenon, five high school kids from Philadelphia were experimenting with the possibility of mixing hip-hop and rock. As the
masses discovered jam, pop-punk, ska and hard-core hip-hop bands, the boys in Fathead explored the influences in their own music. Their particular creation is music that can range from hard-core to melodic to pop. People can easily identify with their music but it becomes hard for people to lock it into a specific genre. Eric Fine of Out & About Magazine says: "The band's influences are a hybrid from everything from heavy metal and jazz to rock and World Beat moving toward a goal to extend the boundaries of pop music." Fathead's fans are as diverse as the band itself: black, white, hippie, freestylers, rockers and Rastas can all be seen in a Fathead audience. Fathead fits in everywhere they play comfortably opening for jam bands like Ben Harper and moe., funk bands like George Clinton, P-funk and Maceo Parker, hip-hop acts like the Roots and King Brit, and pop groups like the Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Green Day. They have also toured with G Love and The H.O.R.D.E. Festival.
Ask the guys in Fathead what music influenced them and you get varied answers: Steely Dan, Carlos Santanna, Herbie Hancock, The Sax player from The Muppet Show, Phish, and Miles Davis. They take the unique influences of each individual musician, both musical and otherwise, and combine them into captivating songs.
In 1998, Fathead, seven strong, finally achieved success in their hometown of Philadelphia. They began to sell out venues all over the city and around the region and landed on large bills. Sales of their second self-released CD totaled 3,000 in just six months as fans heard their music on Y100, Philadelphia's largest "alternative rock" station. They were voted "Reader's Choice" by the Philly City Paper and selected "Best Band" by Philadelphia Magazine.
Traveling from Boston to Buffalo to Key West, Fathead has made their van (which they affectionately refer to as Bob) their new home. Sleeping in some of the worst places ever (cockroach heaven) to meeting some of the best people ever (the owners of cockroach heaven) to eating fried food every other day, Fathead has seen the worst and the best that an independent tour has to offer. Their hard work on the road is being
rewarded by the development of ever increasing audiences, hits to their website, sales of their merchandise and an overall buzz that is following them from city to city.
Their third studio album Boundless will hit the streets on April 10, 2001. Music from Boundless and the band themselves have been featured in a new film called "American Chai", that recently won the Slamdance Audience Award. Fathead is on the road up and down the East Coast supporting their new release.
Fathead is:
freAKAnature - Vocalist
Herbie D - Vocalist
Jon - Saxophone
Rico -Bass
Jeremy - Keyboards
Pete "Meaty" - Guitar
Jay - Drums
