From Fiction Get Fewer MySpace Chicks Than DFA79

One might assume that acquiring the talents of a legendary producer like Steve Albini, who recorded The Pixies' Surfer Rosa and Nirvana's In Utero, would be no easy task.

However, From Fiction simply made like a Carole King song. All they had to do was call.

"We just called up his studio and asked if he could record us in February," says lead singer Adam Barnes. "He said, 'Sure.'

"During the Toronto band's three-week stint with Albini recording their sophomore album, Bloodwork, they at first suffered an extreme case of nerves. "We recorded the last song on the album first, because we thought it was easiest," recalls Barnes.

"But we weren't getting it right away. And Albini was like, 'Do you want to do something easier?' We said, 'That song is the easiest.' We were definitely kinda nervous."

Eventually the band relaxed enough to complete the record, and even started enjoying the company of Albini, who Barnes insists is "a huge joker."

"He's produced so many different bands with so many different sounds," Barnes says. "He's recorded so many bands we love, and we want to reflect that variety in our music. We placed complete trust in him."

The Albini coup is characteristic of From Fiction's ambition and excellent timing. The quartet started out in 2002 and quickly secured gigs opening for the likes of Death From Above 1979, The Rapture and Mission Of Burma. Within a year, they'd enlisted legend-in-his-own-right Ian Blurton to produce their self-titled debut EP.

While From Fiction have a reputation for hypnotically intense live performances, their difficult-to-categorize sound (kind of prog, a little math, a little metal) has meant that From Fiction are often arbitrarily lumped in with bands whose audiences didn't necessarily welcome their style. Barnes recalls one less-than-favourable reception when the band opened for Wilco in 2003.

"I guess [us opening for Wilco] made sense in someone's head. We were way over our heads, though. We were so nervous and we played things 10 times faster than we should've. The crowd was like, half really into it, and half saying, 'Get off the stage!'"

Although From Fiction's sound is certainly not for everyone, they've acquired enough of a loyal fan base to require that indie band necessity: a MySpace account. "There used to be this thing where people would see us and search for us online, and not be able to find anything," explains Barnes.

"I remember these guys told us they found an article on Google about us after searching for basically a year. We were very elusive like that. Now, at least, our name is out there."

One has to ask, knowing the nature of MySpace, whether legions of female fans have cropped up on the site to leave messages like "OMG Adam is so cute" accompanied by coy photos of themselves.

"No, no girls," Barnes laughs."It's funny. You go to Death From Above's page, and girls are like, 'I love you guys!' But with us, we just get people making devil-horn icons. MySpace is a crazy world."

Here are From Fiction's tour dates:
March 1 Ottawa, ON @ Zaphod's w/Sylvie
March 2 Kingston, ON @ Elixir w/Sylvie
March 3 Peterborough, ON @ Red Dog w/Sylvie
March 4 Toronto, ON @ Lee's Palace (CMW Last Gang showcase)
March 23 Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe