FACES ONFILM

By C.D. Di Guardia Photos by Jeff Galusha

Mike Fiore Restarts the Band

If you've ever been in a serious band,you're familiar with all of the common musical missteps and maladies of band life. It's difficult enough to piece together a handful of songs you're not embarrassed of, much less work out a recording schedule and maintain a dedicated cast of musicians. For Faces On Film's principal songwriter, Mike Fiore, these issues worked out in his favor. As he's matured through a dissolving band, new songwriting directions and a pile of scrapped material and recording sessions, Fiore has finally found his ideal Faces On Film lineup - himself.

“I’ve played with
Dave Hinckley for a while, and he aids in the arranging. Because his playing is so restrained, he’s a good gauge of how much or how little something needs. He’s a valuable set of fresh ears.”
- Mike Fiore

The group’s inauspicious beginning was in 2004. Fiore, a recent Boston transplant, formed the band with his college friends. The initial version of Faces on Film reflected that spontaneity and group mindset. “It was just a solid band to begin with,” says Fiore. Faces On Film were taking the usual Boston band route - competing in the WBCN Rock and Rumble, playing multiple shows at the Middle East Upstairs, some New York City shows and eventually winding up on a few high-profile compilations, such as last year’s Knocks from the Underground.

The band’s attempt to find a concrete direction was difficult (“We were sloppy,” says Fiore), but they finally coalesced into a live sound that leaned towards sinister new-wave material. Early recordings (2005’s Seven Sisters EP) were wildly raw and energetic to the point of being primordial. A basic sound was captured but Fiore wasn’t satisfied. “In terms of a record, something small and cohesive, it didn’t make any sense,” he explains. Eventually, this drove Fiore to forcefully reinvent Faces On Film. Opting for a reboot in favor of a rehash or remix, Fiore went back to the drawing board in search of a more cohesive sound with more sonic detail and clarity with both his music and his band.

Going it alone this time around, the “new” Faces on Film is definitely Fiore’s project. Writing and arranging all the songs seems to be his forte. Recently is focusing towards a more folksy and somber side with fingerpicked guitar, homey lyrics and Fiore’s melodramatically fragile voice. With songs like “Natalie’s Numbers” and “I’ll Sleep To Protect You,” the new tunes are the kind you’d write on an acoustic before falling asleep. Soft, honest, gentle, mysterious, and quirky. They’re the feelings of a day’s end put into song.

Having first and final say on all artistic endeavors, Fiore is now able to deal with both the restrictions and the sometimes-dangerous liberties that come with being the leader of the show as well as the show itself. “I would rather have it that way instead of working alongside with someone,” says the semi-stoic front man. Surprisingly, it’s not purely ego-driven. Like most songwriters, Fiore is his own harshest and most honest critic. “I think it’s easier for me to just write a song and have a specific arrangement in mind,” then adds “and if it’s bad, I junk it.” This duality, coupled with Fiore’s stone-faced, unyielding honesty, is just the sort of thing that flavors every piece of music that he produces. Like Fiore himself, the music is not overly ostentatious, but full of honest expression.

In person, Fiore has a relaxed demeanor that contrasts his ability to freak out on a microphone as a performer. From the beginning, Faces on Film songs resembled the work of a hyped up Modest Mouse in the idea of small yet never trite melody coupled with a fierce heart, but Fiore recognized early on that the musical needle was always in the red. He has seen his songs - most of them around since the band’s beginning four years ago - mature and develop focus. He exhibits extreme patience with his craft, never one for rushing out a song or turning out something not up to his own snuff.

While he is able to easily discard songs that are not working for him, Fiore seems to have the utmost respect for songs as entities, and relishes the changes time brings. “To have a song and develop and to play it live and have it realized in a few different incarnations, [is] valuable,” he says, his eyebrows raised and an almost apologetic shoulder shrug he says, “I was happy to be afforded that.”

The energy around each song has changed for the better. What was once a racecar eternally overheating is now a finely tuned machine, with each rotor and piston honed for top performance. “It feels more like a real group of songs than it did before. Before, there were smatterings of this and that, but I think now it’s a little more refined.” Plus, it’s easier on his vocal cords. “I don’t really have to scream as much,” he grins.

Whatever his live band situation, Fiore has taken over nearly every room he has played with Faces on Film, consistently winning both existing fans and new converts alike. Stealing the show at the Knocks from the Underground CD release show in February 2007, with a short four song set, the entire Middle East Downstairs, full of fans of the 12-odd bands playing that evening, was held in a near-musical rapture brought down by the lanky singer blazoned in buttoned-up vest. The live show is a different entity for Fiore. He recognizes the songs as themselves, but feels a different energy.

“Functionally, there’s a separation between what it is on the record and what it is live,” he explains. “Live you need more bodies, or something.”
Fiore has had no trouble finding warm bodies as of late, and he is pleased with the results. “For the past couple of months, it’s been friends and whoever’s been around. The lineup I have now in terms of a live band, I feel strongly about,” he affirms.

Of course, in Fiore’s case, working alone is the usual, though he keeps his friends close by. Enter guitarist Dave Hinckley, who has worked with Fiore since the beginning. “I’ve played with Dave for a while, and he aids in the arranging,” explains Fiore, who also uses Hinckley as a sort of sounding board for completed ideas. “Because his playing is so restrained, he’s a good gauge of how much or how little something needs. He’s a valuable set of fresh ears,” says Fiore, who recognizes that you can burn out on a song if it’s worked on in a vacuum. It is clear that the input is appreciated. “He’ll typically guide [the song] in the right direction. I trust him.”

Not only has Hinckley been a part of the puzzle from the start, so has manager Michael Cirino. Cirino, originally a member of the band, now devotes his time to management. “He’s found a way to stay involved, which works out well,” says Fiore. Having Cirino to manage the “business” angle has left Fiore open to concentrate on the music itself, and he is nothing short of relieved at this freedom. Cirono’s history with the band makes him an ideal person to go to bat for the music. “He’s got the benefit of time,” says Fiore.

Fiore is ready to unveil the “new” Faces on Film to the world with Soulshop, the new band’s initial release. Recording with the help of “friends and whoever’s around,” Soulshop reaches areas that the previous material merely hinted at. The project has adopted a Field of Dreams stance of, “If you build it, they will come,” and, so far, it seems to be working smoothly.
“The idea was to make a record and then get together what is necessary,” he says of his choice to begin recording on his own, and it seems to be the right choice.
“Right now I couldn’t be happier.”

Fiore affords himself the luxury of longevity, and this has come through his willingness to not only stand by his own musical ethos, but also to withstand the ebb and flow of a working band. Wizened, refined and mature, Fiore stands ready to show everyone where he’s been. Right here, all along.

www.facesonfilm.com