Fight Like Apes
(also referred to as FLApes
or FLA
[1]) are an Irish alternative rock band formed in Dublin in 2006. Their members are Mary-Kate "MayKay" Geraghty (vocals and synth), Jamie "Pockets" Fox (keyboard and vocals), Tom Ryan (bass) and Adrian Mullan (drums). They are known for their elongated record titles, usually inspired by B movies. They have released two EPs, How Am I Supposed to Kill You If You Have All the Guns?
and David Carradine is a Bounty Hunter Whos Robotic Arm Hates Your Crotch
(both in 2007), and one album, Fight Like Apes and the Mystery of the Golden Medallion
(2008). In 2009, they released an EP for the American market titled You Filled His Head with Fluffy Clouds and Jolly Ranchers, What Did You Think Was Going to Happen?
.
Fight Like Apes have toured the UK with The Von Bondies, The Ting Tings, The Prodigy and Kasabian and have played several Irish and European festivals throughout their career. They have appeared on several television shows in Ireland, including Tubridy Tonight
, WeTV
, The View
, Other Voices
and The Cafe
. They have also had some success in Asia, where they have been signed up by Sony Music Entertainment Japan for an album release on that continent in April 2009. The band have been nominated for five Meteor Music Awards, Fight Like Apes and the Mystery of the Golden Medallion
was nominated for the Choice Music Prize and Fight Like Apes were named the fourth best Irish musical act of their generation by The Irish Times
in 2009.
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FIGHT LIKE APES TICKETS
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Career
Formation
Fight Like Apes formed late 2006 when Mary-Kate Geraghty (known as "MayKay"),
a former choir singer, and her friends, Jamie Fox (known as "Pockets"),
Adrian Mullan and Tom Ryan, all of whom had experience in other bands, came together.
MayKay and Pockets first met as teenagers on holiday in
Spain where they realised they both went to nearby schools and shared the same "extremely optimistically cynical outlook on life".
When MayKay told Pockets she loved singing he had her sign a contract on a piece of tissue in a bar which bound them together legally.
[3] Pockets's parents were unhappy with their son's "disgusting" taste in music.
He dropped out of his final year of study at
Dublin City University and a potential career in journalism to pursue his musical career.
MayKay had been studying
medicinal chemistry, and later a
philosophy course at
Trinity College Dublin.
They habitually met from early morning and spent their days eating together before deciding to form a band.
Their chosen name was inspired by
Caesar's battle cry of “Now fight like apes” in the self-described "notoriously bad"
Battle for the Planet of the Apes
.
Early EPs (2007)
Their debut EP,
How Am I Supposed to Kill You If You Have All the Guns?
, released by Irish indie label
FIFA Records in early 2007, sold out and generated a significant amount of interest in the media and in the Irish
blogging community in the process.
In May 2007, Fight Like Apes won
Phantom FM's Topman Unsigned Band Search; their prize was to be a support act of
The Holloways at show in Dublin.
[4] Fight Like Apes played both
Electric Picnic (their first major Irish festival)
and
Hard Working Class Heroes in 2007
and also performed at the
CMJ Music Marathon in
New York.
They were also chosen to play the Futureshock stage at
EXIT in
Serbia after sending a demo of their songs to the organisers.
[5] On 13 October 2007, Fight Like Apes performed "
Jake Summers" on television chat show,
Tubridy Tonight
.
[6] [7] The title of their second EP,
David Carradine is a Bounty Hunter Whos Robotic Arm Hates Your Crotch
, released on 2 November 2007,
was inspired by the film
Future Force
starring
David Carradine, which the band found on the internet.
[9] The EP's lead track, "
Do You Karate?", was a minor hit on the Irish independent music scene.
The band set off on their first UK tour after the EP's release and their "Jake Summers" single was released there through the label, Cool For Cats (sister of
Fierce Panda).
In February 2008, the band toured Ireland and the UK as a support act of
The Von Bondies.
Von Bondies member
Jason Stollsteimer has described Fight Like Apes as “candy wrapped in barbed wire”.
Fight Like Apes were invited to participate in the sixth series of
RTÉ's annual
Other Voices
music show,
[11] [12] [13] [14] [15] performing on 19 March 2008.
[16] [17] They also appeared on
RTÉ Two's
WeTV
television show.
[18] Fight Like Apes performed at the
South by Southwest festival in
Austin,
Texas in 2008.
[19] Upon their return from South by Southwest in March/April 2008, they went on a national tour of Ireland.
[20] Later that year, Fight Like Apes appeared at several music festivals in Ireland and the UK, including an appearance on the Futures Stage at
T in the Park,
[21] and two appearances at the 2008
Glastonbury Festival,
[22] [23] [24] as well as
Oxegen 2008 and
Indie-pendence in Ireland.
[25] The single "Lend Me Your Face/Lightsabre Cock-sucking Blues" was released in the UK on 21–28 July 2008.
Fight Like Apes and the Mystery of the Golden Medallion
(2008)
right tent at
Oxegen 2008 (l–r; MayKay, Tom)
The band spent a month in
Seattle,
Washington, in early 2008, recording tracks for their debut album, produced by
John Goodmanson.
The album, titled
Fight Like Apes and the Mystery of the Golden Medallion
, was released on 26 September 2008 on
Model Citizen Records,
[28] [29] [30] selling continually well in Ireland and the UK.
It was preceded by the release of the single "
Something Global" on 11 July 2008.
They played a sold-out launch show at Whelan's in Dublin,
which was broadcast live on Phantom FM on the day of release.
The Irish Times
described the album as an "astonishing debut that encompasses
melancholy and (both lyrically and musically)".
The
Irish Independent
, on the other hand, "strongly urge[d] all not to waste their money" on "the woeful debut" of a band with "lots of
blogger and media friends, all aurally challenged".
also gave the album a lukewarm response.
[31] MayKay has said she is unbothered by any criticism as long as the album is simply being reviewed.
reached the top five of the
Irish Albums Chart, meaning the band became the first alternative act from Ireland to achieve this for several years, and "Jake Summers" and "Lend Me Your Face" became regularly played at indie clubs throughout Ireland.
[32]
They went on to support
The Ting Tings on a sell-out UK tour,
receiving kung fu lessons from their security guard Preston and a champagne bottle on the final night.
They appeared on
The Cafe
on 16 October 2008.
[33] The Prodigy personally invited the band to support them on their already sold-out arena tour of the UK; all of the members are fans of Fight Like Apes and
Liam Howlett entered their dressing room to give his regards.
signed the band for the
Asian release of
Fight Like Apes and the Mystery of the Golden Medallion
.
They headlined the
Levi's One to Watch Tour in November 2008.
[36] In December 2008, a video of students of the
Tisch School of the Arts in New York, featuring several females miming to "Digifuckers", was released.
[37]
Eurosonic, UK, US and Japan (2009)
Fight Like Apes
represented Ireland in the
Eurosonic Festival in
Groningen, the
Netherlands, in January 2009,
[38] [39] [40] This appearance led to the band qualifying for admission into the
European Talent Exchange Programme, allowing the band to be booked for music festivals across Europe, including Glastonbury and T in the Park.
[41] Fight Like Apes and the Mystery of the Golden Medallion
was released in the UK on 26 January 2009.
[42] [43] The band played a studio session for
Steve Lamacq of
BBC Radio 1 around this time, with Maykay also encountering
Jonathan Ross, a fan of the band who has played their music on his show.
They released a video for a new single, "
Tie Me Up with Jackets", later that month
[44] and performed the song on
The View
on 10 March 2009.
[45] Also In March 2009, came the release of the EP
You Filled His Head with Fluffy Clouds and Jolly Ranchers, What Did You Think Was Going to Happen?
for the US market as well as a return to South by Southwest.
. The band's
drum kit is visible in the background.
Fight Like Apes and the Mystery of the Golden Medallion
was released in Japan in April 2009,
with Fight Like Apes filming a music video for the international release of their "Something Global" single in Whelan's, Dublin.
On 3 April 2009,
The Irish Times
named Fight Like Apes the fourth best contemporary Irish musical act, above
Lisa Hannigan and below
Cathy Davey,
Jape and
David Holmes.
[47] The newspaper claimed that "Ireland has, quite simply, never seen a band like Fight Like Apes", reasoning that this was due to them "acting as a palette-cleansing antidote to the dour “woolly jumper brigade” that dragged Irish music into the depths of despair not a decade ago".
They played at the 2009 Trinity Ball in May, an event likened to "a mini-Oxegen without the mud".
[49] The band's 2009 summer tour consisted of both domestic and European festival dates,
[50] [51] [52] and an appearance in
Wales.
[53] Their performance at
Oxegen 2009 was their second at the festival,
with band members banging chairs during their performance and
The Irish Times
tipping them to appear on the Main Stage in 2010.
[55]
Style and influences
BBC Radio 1's
Steve Lamacq has described Fight Like Apes as a "great band" inhabiting "a lonely place out on the
periphery of the indie rock world".
[56] At one show in June 2008, he witnessed them "thrash about on their guitars and keyboards and wotnot }} like it's some kind of pop
exorcism" and saw them "rolling around the empty dancefloor playflighting }}".
presenter
Alison Curtis has described them as "really talented... kind of rocky and metallic and their front girl is extremely watchable, almost going into
Debbie Harry territory".
[57]
The band's influences include
B movies, computer games,
kung-fu and
wrestling.
"Do You Karate?", "a thumping bass driven flourish of a song",
displays the band's "trademark twin-synth attack"
[58] and the
Pixies-style "
Canhead" has been described as "a concise ode to fish and chips".
[59] [60] Musically they are fond of
My Bloody Valentine,
Mclusky and
Tom Waits,
Grand Pocket Orchestra,
Adebisi Shank,
Jape and
Giveamanakick.
They dislike guitars and have been known to perform with kitchen implements such as pots and pans when on stage;
MayKay and Pockets even play keyboards with their heads.
They purposefully construct lengthy record titles to "piss off" journalists and radio presenters and their self-defined "karate rock" genre was directed at the
NME
after the British magazine tried to place them in the same category as two other female-fronted bands.
Vocalist MayKay has been described as one of Ireland's "most mesmerising front women" in recent history, with her long black hair and
banshee wail provoking male fans to confess simultaneous feelings of terror and attraction online.
She is known to vociferate lyrics such as "you're like
Kentucky Fried Chicken but without the taste" and "you’re a fucking disappointment to the human race", taken from the song "Jake Summers", a song inspired by a
pornographic actor and a character from
California Dreams
.
Pockets writes most of the band's songs, plays the keyboard and provides vocals for some of the band's songs.
Adrian and Tom tend to remain in the background, choosing not to be photographed.
[61] The band have never written anything fictional and their lyrics have been described by Nadine O'Regan in
The Sunday Business Post
as "occasionally literally
gynaecological in their detail and regularly relatively shocking in their honesty".
MayKay and Pockets claim that most of their lyrics are shaped by one person who has broken each of their hearts.
All of the band apart from the drummer are known for their consumption of alcohol, with MayKay even drinking wine during interviews and Pockets drinking
Buckfast prior to performances.
Discography
EPs
- How Am I Supposed to Kill You If You Have All the Guns?
(2007)
- David Carradine is a Bounty Hunter Whos Robotic Arm Hates Your Crotch
(2007)
- You Filled His Head with Fluffy Clouds and Jolly Ranchers, What Did You Think Was Going to Happen?
(2009)
Studio albums
- Fight Like Apes and the Mystery of the Golden Medallion
(2008)
Awards
Choice Music Prize
The band's's debut album,
Fight Like Apes and the Mystery of the Golden Medallion
, was nominated for the
Choice Music Prize in January 2009.
The award was won by
Jape for the album
Ritual
on 4 March 2009.
[63] [64] [65] [66] [67] [68] [69]
| Year
| Nominated work
| Award
| Result
|
| 2009
| Fight Like Apes and the Mystery of the Golden Medallion
| Irish Album of the Year 2008
| Nominated
|
Meteor Music Awards
Fight Like Apes were nominated for two
Meteor Awards in 2008, one for Best Irish Live Performance for their November 2007 show at
Whelan's in Dublin and the other for Best Irish Band.
In 2009, they were nominated for three Meteor Music Awards, for Best Irish Band, Best Irish Live Performance and Best Irish Album.
| Year
| Nominated work
| Award
| Result
|
| 2008
| Fight Like Apes
| Best Irish Band
| Nominated
|
| 2008
| Whelan's
| Best Irish Live Performance
| Nominated
|
| 2009
| Fight Like Apes and the Mystery of the Golden Medallion
| Best Irish Album
| Nominated
|
| 2009
| Fight Like Apes
| Best Irish Band
| Nominated
|
| 2009
| Whelan's
| Best Irish Live Performance
| Nominated
|
References
- Fight Like Apes' superfan gets FLApes tattoo
- fighting talk
- monkey business
- Tara Loughrey-Grant defects to Phantom FM
- Fight Like Apes play Serbia festival
- Clinic star joins Tubridy tomorrow night
- Saturday, 13 October 2007 (Tubridy Tonight)
- 1st prize for imaginative EP title goes to…
- No monkey business with Fight Like Apes
- The Von Bondies to play The Avenue
- Other Voices line-up is revealed
- Davies, SFA join Other Voices bill
- Other Voices starts recording tomorrow
- First set of Other Voices sessions recorded
- Recording wraps for Other Voices 6
- Fight Like Apes
- Other Voices 6
- TV time for Irish bands
- SXSW 2008 Showcasing Artists
- Fight Like Apes plan Irish tour
- Fight Like Apes (T in the Park 2008)
- Watch Lend Me Your Face by Fight Like Apes
- Fight Like Apes confirmed for Glastonbury
- Fight Like Apes get two Glasto slots
- Indie festival draws big names
- Fight Like Apes Release Date
- A review of 'Fight Like Apes & The Mystery of the Golden Medallion'
- Fight Like Apes announce album details, Dublin gig and free download
- Fight Like Apes announced gig and album details
- For The Love Of...
- Fight Like Apes - Fight Like Apes and the Mystery of the Golden Medallion
- Electric Avenue 2nd Birthday Celebrations
- Seoige sisters to chat to Aidan on The Café
- Fight Like Apes
- Fight Like Apes On Prodigy Tour
- Fight Like Apes for Mr T treasure
- Videos of the Week: Fight Like Apes, Monkey, Fleet Foxes, RTE
- Dutch courage
- On The Record at Eurosonic
- RTÉ 2fm picks Irish Eurosonic acts
- Europe goes Apes
- Performed with the personality with which it is imbued
- The biggest bands of 2009
- Fight Like Apes New Vid
- The Performance: Fight Like Apes
- Fight Like Apes You Filled His Head With Fluffy Clouds...
- The 50 best Irish music acts right now
- The next 50 bands
- Trinity Ball line-up fails to hit right note with students
- On The Record
- Irish bands tuning up for Glastonbury
- From Ireland to Brighton
- Fight Like Apes - Something Global video
- Doherty, Elbow and Cave for Oxegen
- Oxegen: The Reviews
- PLANET OF THE APES
- Show time
- Top alternative acts @ The Avenue
- Manic ‘Easter’ Monday
- Fight Like Apes David Carradine Is A Bounty Hunter...
- Tune of the Week - “Jake Summers”
- Loaded: 16/01/2009
- UPDATED: Jape wins 2009 Choice Music Price
- Jape album wins Choice Music Prize
- Dublin musician Jape wins Choice Music Prize
- Dublin musician Jape wins Choice Music Prize
- Jolly Jape admits he's surprised to scoop Choice gong
- Dublin band Jape wins overall prize at Choice Music awards
- Jape the surprise choice as Ritual takes the plaudits
- Meteor Awards 2008 details announced
- Kings and Killers lead the Meteors way
- Meteor Awards 2009 - Presenter & Nominees Revealed
- Meteor Music Awards folks wake up and shut down website
- Meteor Music Awards nominees revealed