The Straight Dish
As of September 1, Fig Dish will no longer be playing the role of
red-headed stepchild at A&M. A source at the label has
confirmed that the band will officially part ways with in A&M
in two weeks and Fig Dish will be free to record elsewhere.
“It’s like sitting in a cellblock somewhere for four years waiting
for the warden to come and give you the nod,” says Fig Dish
singer/guitarist Blake Smith, only half-joking about the band’s
lackluster tenure at A&M, where the band’s two albums of edgy
guitar rock sold a combined 16,000 copies. Smith says the band has
no intention of breaking up and has recorded enough material for a
double-CD this summer. A source close to the band says the group
owes the label another album under its current contract but,
according to Smith, “we’re not giving them shit. We’re out.”
Fig Dish have always received friendly radio support in their
native Chicago, but the band considers its minimal exposure
elsewhere the fault of its label. “As we come up with zero results
time and time again, it leads you to believe there’s zero effort
going on,” says the source. The final straw was an estimated
$80,000 soft-porn music video the quartet made for the single “When
Shirts Get Tight,” which featured a handful of elite porn stars.
The band reportedly picked up the tab for both clean and dirty
versions of the video, but neither of them received any airplay on
MTV.
According to Smith, the band is working to regain its publishing
rights for its only two releases on A&M, That’s What Love
Songs Often Do and When Shove Goes Back to Push. In
the meantime, Smith’s been writing a novel and working with former
Triple Fast Action guitarist/vocalist Wes Kidd on a as-yet-untitled
side project. Smith can also be heard in non-traditional fashion on
the new Local H album, Pack Up the Cats. During the
introduction to the song “Hit the Skids Or: How I Learned to Stop
Worrying and Love the Rock,” the singer is heard leaving a message
on Scott Lucas’ answering machine, where he tells the Local H
frontman he’s ordering a spinach pizza and then proceeds to read
through the Chicago area’s movie listings.
A new Fig Dish album won’t be heard until the band finds a new
label, and the search will undoubtedly begin on September 1. Before
that happens, says Smith, “we’ll probably come out of retirement
and start touring.”