When Faber Drive decided to submit a song to Vancouver
radio station 99.3 The Fox's battle of the bands last year,
their goal wasn't to win the contest. They weren't even sure
they were good enough to enter. In fact, when frontman Faber
brought his band's CD to the station on the deadline day for
submissions, he came close to giving up and going back home. "I
actually got back in my car and pulled away," he says. "Then I
decided to go back, so I turned the car around and I got up in
the office just before it closed and handed in the disc."
It was the best move of the band's career. The station chose the
song, "Sex and Love," as one of the 20 best submissions
out of more than 500, then played the song on the radio in a
head to head contest against the other qualifiers. Soon,
Faber Drive (then called simply Faber) were in the top 10,
and, after live competitions at local clubs, they won 1st
place and were voted the best band in Vancouver.
It's easy to see why. "Sex and Love" is the kind of song that's
equally enthralling whether blasting from car speakers, an iPod,
a home stereo or a concert PA. A sinuous blend of bobbing bass
lines, passionate singing and "ba-ba-baaa" background vocals,
the cut is pretty representative of the rest of Faber Drive's
debut album "SEVEN SECOND SURGERY" (Universal Republic
Records).
The first single "Second Chance" builds from a mid-paced
tug-and-release verse into an exultant refrain that encapsulates
the regret and frustration of backing out of a relationship
prematurely: "Instead of holding you, I was holding out/ I
should have let you in, but I let you down."
And "Tongue Tied (Little Good Luck)" is a dynamic rock ballad
about trying in vain to say the right thing at the right time.
As "tongue-tied" as Faber is in the song, his yearning anxiety
is matched with romantic optimism.
"We like to put hope into people," says drummer Red Bull. "We
don't want to be one of those bands that has no message."
One of the most poignant messages on "SEVEN SECOND SURGERY"
comes in "Sleepless (Never Let Her Go)." Initially, the track
started as a self-loathing confession to a
loved one, but Faber felt the message
wasn't powerful enough, so he and the band rewrote the song
about the horrors of domestic abuse. "It's from the
child's point of view," says Faber. "It means a lot
to us because it's a real issue. My
parents used to fight a lot when I was growing up. They were
never abusive, but it was hard, so I can imagine how painful it
must be for kids from abusive families."
Before forming Faber in 2004, Faber taught guitar and drum
lessons in Mission, British Columbia and wrote and recorded on
the side. His first drum student was Red Bull, who took
instruction for three years until he and Faber decided to form a
band. "I remember when I first started telling people, my own
brother said, 'Dude, you're crazy. He sucks,'" remembers Faber
with a smirk. "And I said, 'I know but soon that’ll
change. Just watch. He's really consistent and a hard worker.'
And now, Red's by far one of the best drummers in Vancouver."
Around the same time as Faber started jamming with Red,
the singer
hooked up with Hinder producer Brian Howes and
Nickelback producer Joey Moi,
who were blown away by Faber's acoustic demos. So, Howes asked
if he could co-write with Faber and Moi offered to start
preproduction.
Soon after
Faber recorded with Howes and Moi, they handed the demos to
Chief (Manager of Hinder) and he immediately fell in love
with what he heard. Once he saw the band live he was in! "You
don’t really get this band until you see them live, their energy
is undeniable and they love playing live. This is a band that is
determined and has a clear vision of what and who they want to
be,” says Chief.
Then, Faber filled in the gaps in the band's lineup. Faber's
brother recommended guitarist David Hinsley, whose aggressive
playing style gives the band's tunes extra intensity. But at
first, Faber wasn't impressed by Hinsley's performance.
"We jammed for maybe 10 minutes, and I said, 'Okay, I don't
think you're really what I'm looking
for,'" recalls Faber. "I walked out, and my brother called me
and said, 'Dude, what are you doing, man? You gotta try him one
more time.' So, I went over to Hinsley's house a couple
nights later, and we jammed from seven
‘til
two in the morning, and it was amazing, we totally hit it off."
Bassist Jeremy
"Krikit" Liddle was last to join. Faber and Red saw Liddle
performing onstage at an Easter Sunday church service and were
impressed by his range and tone. So, Faber went up to him after
the service and gave the bassist his phone number. "He didn't
realize I was trying to get him to play bass for us," Faber
says. "He thought I was trying to get him to come back to church
more often. He was gonna stop going because he had started
drinking and didn't feel it was right to be playing bass in
church when he was partying at night. When he realized I wasn't
from the church, he was stoked."
The band jammed with Liddle three days before the band's first
gig. The bassist learned all of the songs quickly and pulled
them off without hesitation. It was an auspicious beginning.
Since then, Faber Drive
has
toured Canada with MxPx, Hedley, Hurst and opened for
Nickelback in Victoria before an audience of 10,000. "It was
pretty amazing to play in a place that big and hear the crowd
screaming your lyrics back at you," Faber said.
Faber Drive
wrote "SEVEN SECOND SURGERY" over the past three years. Some
tracks were penned in the back of a refurbished '70s school bus
they took on tour with Hedley, others were crafted with Howes at
Moi's studio. They recorded their first track with Moi, "Cement
Head," in 2004 and over the next three years, returned numerous
times to track the rest of the album. After winning the Fox
Seeds competition, they changed their name to Faber Drive
to avoid potential legal issues. One of the names they
considered
before electing Faber Drive was Seven Second Surgery, but
they decided it made a better album title than band name.
"A seven second surgery is a quick fix," Faber explains. "A lot
of bands come and go so fast, so this is a sarcastic way of
saying that if you think that's what we are, fine, but we're
gonna be around for a while."
With irresistible melodies, churning rhythms and thought
provoking lyrics, songs like "Second Chance," "Sleepless (Never
Let Her Go,)" and "You'll Make It" (about the world's struggle
for self-improvement) invite comparisons to some of Faber
Drive's favorite bands - U2, The Police, Def Leppard
and Jimmy Eat World. But while some of the musical
elements are familiar, "SEVEN SECOND SURGERY" is refreshing,
expressive and life-affirming.
"Our music is everything to us," Faber says, “and through it we
really want to make a
difference and promote hope and say that we understand that life
can be hard and unfair, but you can make it better if you so
choose.
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