If you’ve wondered what happened to Fiction Plane after 2003’s Everything Will Never Be OK, frontman Joe Sumner puts it well: “We didn’t get famous or get radio play. After that, we had a load of weird label stuff. But people who actually heard the record really stuck with us. We’re the kind of band who can check our MySpace page and recognize the people there.”
Fiction Plane is having a harder time recognizing the faces in their audiences this summer. The band’s playing stadiums while opening for The Police. Before that, they’d opened some shows for Sting, and deserved the exposure. They’re a sharp pop outfit with bizarre prog tendencies and catchy tunes.
These high-profile tours are born of necessity, and who can blame the band? Fiction Plane made that 2003 major-label debut with barely a mention that bassist and singer Joe was the Son of Sting. Now they’re an indie band with a chance for major exposure.
Joe’s nicely modest about the whole thing, too: “When the new people at Universal came in, they wanted to get rid of us. They were a little afraid to because of my dad, I think. They just kept us hanging around for a long time. We were always asking what the fuck was going on, telling them we were a band. So they said, ‘Go make a record.’ They sent us off to do an EP just to get us out of their hair.”
If you find a copy of 2005’s Bitter Forces and Lame Race Horses, hold on to the thing. It’s a collector’s item now. The EP was produced by Paul Corkett, who made the band less ambitious and more intimate. That same smart sound is carried on with Corkett on the new Left Side of the Brain.
Unfortunately, it isn’t cheap for Fiction Plane fans to hear the new songs in concert. The August 2nd show at Bowery Ballroom is one of the band’s few headlining shows this summer, booked between two nights opening at Madison Square Garden.
“I enjoy club shows a lot more,” says Sumner, “but it’s obviously a privilege to play in an arena. It’s also obviously less personal. We’re trying to connect on a level that we don’t really understand, because we’re not big rock stars. In clubs, we can jam for 25 minutes and have everyone there stay with us. For these big shows, you have to invite everyone in. It’s like meeting your girlfriend’s parents. You get over that awkward first meeting, and things are really great by the end of the show.”
It helps that Fiction Plane is thoroughly unfashionable. Their thoroughly normal demeanor isn’t going to alienate any middle-aged rock fans. Fiction Plane already has the weird honor of a certain fanbase that’s fostered by brand loyalty for another band.
“We definitely have a lot of older people interested in us,” he says, “and that’s fine. We’d just like some young fans. We have some, but we need more if we’re going to live out our rock ’n’ roll fantasies. That’s why we’ll be back for more club shows. I know it’s no fun to pay five thousand dollars to see Fiction Plane. We’re coming back, and we’ll be doing our usual playing for dirt cheap.”
Aug. 2, Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey St. (betw. Bowery & Chrystie St.), 212-533-2111; 7:30, $15. (Opening for The Police at Madison Square Garden Aug. 1 & 3, & at Giants Stadium Aug. 5).
