Fake Problems is a four-piece American rock

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 band from Naples, Florida

Naples, Florida

Naples is a city in Collier County, Florida, United States. As of July 1, 2007, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the city's population at 21,653. Naples is a principal city of the Naples–Marco Island Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had an estimated total population of 315,839 on July 1, 2007...

. They released their first album Spurs and Spokes. They released their second album, How Far Our Bodies Go, on Sabot Productions on April 27, 2007. Their third record, It's Great to Be Alive, was released through Side One Dummy Records on February 17, 2009. Their fourth record "Real Ghosts Caught On Tape

Real Ghosts Caught on Tape

Real Ghosts Caught On Tape is the third full length album from beach punk band Fake Problems. It released on September 21, 2010 and is their second release for Side One Dummy since joining the label in November 2008...

" was released September 21, 2010, also on Sideonedummy.

History/Background

Fake Problems was created by Chris Farren in 2001 and started as a solo project. Farren was in another band at the time, but he wanted to expand his creativity and write different music. When thinking of a solo project, most people visualize one person with just an acoustic guitar; however, Farren used multiple instruments and recorded all of them on his personal computer. The band is named Fake Problems because the music was created with a no problems or commitments attitude. Eventually Lee, Stevenson and Perry joined Farren, to make a full, four piece band. All of the band members grew up in Naples and have known each other since they were about 14 years old.

The members have been able to make the band a full time obligation by allowing for a relentless touring schedule. Stevenson gave up an opportunity to go to Berklee College of Music

Berklee College of Music

Berklee College of Music, located in Boston, Massachusetts, is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known primarily as a school for jazz, rock and popular music, it also offers college-level courses in a wide range of contemporary and historic styles, including hip...

 in Boston for film scoring. Members Lee and Perry also had a side project called Stay & Fight, although it is considered dead in water, since signing to SideOneDummy.

The band released music videos for two songs from It's Great to Be Alive: "The Dream Team" and "Diamond Rings."
Diamond Rings was also featured on the third episode of Season 1 of NBC's "Trauma."

Music Style/Influences

Fake Problems is heavily influenced by several genres of music, including punk rock

Punk rock

Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

, folk music

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

, pop punk

Pop punk

Pop punk is a fusion music genre that combines elements of punk rock with pop music, to varying degrees. Allmusic describes the genre as a strand of alternative rock, which typically merges pop melodies with speedy punk tempos, chord changes and loud guitars...

, and country music

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

. In various songs mandolin, violin, lap-steel/slide guitar, and brass horns can be heard along with the guitars and drums. The band claims that they have been influenced by Cursive

Cursive (band)

Cursive is an American indie rock band from Omaha, Nebraska, on Saddle Creek Records.-History:The band was formed in 1995 by Tim Kasher, Matt Maginn, Steve Pedersen , and drummer Clint Schnase. In 1997, they released Such Blinding Stars for Starving Eyes. After a couple years of touring, the band...

, Bright Eyes, The Good Life

The Good Life (band)

The Good Life is an indie rock band on Saddle Creek records.Started as a solo project of Cursive's frontman Tim Kasher, The Good Life quickly grew to become its own established group. The original intent of The Good Life was to provide Tim Kasher with a vehicle to perform songs that did not fit...

, Waylon Jennings

Waylon Jennings

Waylon Arnold Jennings was an American country music singer, songwriter, and musician. Jennings began playing at eight. He began performing at twelve, on KVOW radio. Jennings formed a band The Texas Longhorns. Jennings worked as a D.J on KVOW, KDAV and KLLL...

, Hank Williams, and Blink 182, having releases that referenced Blink's song titles and tentative titles for their earlier records; they also performed a Blink-182 cover set.

Tours

The band is much heralded for their vivid, theatrical stage show. They frequently, and randomly, perform with string players and a horn section.
The band is known for a relentless touring schedule that keeps them away from home for more than half of the year. In 2006 they performed in 150 concerts in a tour of North America. They claim that the hardest part about being a full time band is touring because it keeps them away from friends and family and leaves them in a tight financial situation. To date, they have toured with Against Me!

Against Me!

Against Me! is an American punk rock band formed in 1997 in Naples, Florida and relocated to Gainesville, Florida in 1999. Their first full-length album, released on No Idea Records in 2002, was Against Me! Is Reinventing Axl Rose. They have released music on Misanthrope Records, Crasshole Records,...

, The Gaslight Anthem

The Gaslight Anthem

The Gaslight Anthem is an American rock band from New Brunswick, New Jersey, consisting of Brian Fallon , Alex Rosamilia , Alex Levine and Benny Horowitz...

, Riverboat Gamblers, Smoke or Fire

Smoke or Fire

Smoke or Fire is an American punk rock band from Boston, Massachusetts.The band originally formed in 1998, when western Massachusetts native Joe McMahon got together with Chris Brand , Bill Ironfield , and Nick Maggiore , hailing from New Hampshire...

, Look Mexico

Look Mexico

Look Mexico is a rock band from Tallahassee, Florida, now residing in Austin, Texas. The band is composed of Matt Agrella, Ryan Slate, Ryan Smith and Nick Chambers...

, Lemuria

Lemuria

Lemuria may refer to:*Lemuria , in Roman religion, a feast during which the unwholesome and malevolent spectres of the restless dead were propitiated...

, Anti-Flag

Anti-Flag

Anti-Flag is a punk rock band from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the United States, formed in 1988. The band is well known for its outspoken political views. Much of the band's lyrics have focused on fervent anti-war activism, criticism of United States foreign policy, corporatism, U.S. wealth...

, O Pioneers!!!, Street Dogs

Street Dogs

Street Dogs are a punk rock band originally from Boston, Massachusetts. The band's current line-up includes Mike McColgan, former lead singer of Dropkick Murphys, Johnny Rioux, Marcus Hollar, Tobe Bean III and Paul Rucker.-History:...

, Frank Turner

Frank Turner

Frank Turner is an English folk/punk singer-songwriter from Meonstoke, Winchester. Initially the vocalist of post-hardcore band Million Dead, Turner embarked upon a primarily acoustic-based solo career following the band's split in 2005. To date, Turner has released four solo albums, two rarities...

, The Briggs

The Briggs

The Briggs are a punk rock band based out of Los Angeles, California. The Band Formed in 1999 under the name "I Decline" by brothers Joey and Jason LaRocca and bassist Matthew Stolarz . In 2001, with the addition of drummer Chris Arredondo the band adopted the name The Briggs...

, Nothington, Baby Calendar

Baby Calendar

Baby Calendar is a three- piece indie pop band from Miami, Florida. In 2006, Baby Calendar was signed to Happy Happy Birthday To Me Records based in Athens, Georgia and known for releasing mostly indie pop and twee-pop bands, working with bands such as Of Montreal, Casper & the Cookies, and...

, Murder By Death

Murder by Death

Murder by Death is a 1976 comedy film with a cast featuring Eileen Brennan, Truman Capote, James Coco, Peter Falk, Alec Guinness, Elsa Lanchester, David Niven, Peter Sellers, Maggie Smith, Nancy Walker, and Estelle Winwood, written by Neil Simon and directed by Robert Moore.The plot is a spoof of...

, Laura Stevenson and the Cans, The Builders and the Butchers

The Builders and the Butchers

The Builders and The Butchers are a Folk Rock band based in Portland, Oregon, United States, fronted by singer/guitar player Ryan Sollee. The other members of the band are Willy Kunkle , Justin Bier , Ray Rude , and Harvey Tumbleson The Builders and The Butchers are a Folk Rock band based in...

, Nevershoutnever, and A Rocket to the Moon

A Rocket to the Moon

A Rocket to the Moon is an American rock band. The band was founded during 2006 in Braintree, Massachusetts by Nick Santino, lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist...

. They played one show on the 2009 Warped Tour

Warped Tour

The Warped Tour is a touring music and extreme sports festival. The tour is held in venues such as parking lots or fields upon which the stages and other structures are erected. The BMX/skateboarding shoe manufacturer Vans, among others, has sponsored the tour every year since 1995, and it is...

 in Cleveland, Ohio. A tour with Thursday (band)

Thursday (band)

Thursday were an American rock band from New Brunswick, New Jersey. Formed in 1997, the group has released six full-length albums, their most recent being No Devolución, which was released in April 2011 on Epitaph Records...

 and The Dillinger Escape Plan

The Dillinger Escape Plan

The Dillinger Escape Plan is an American mathcore band from Morris Plains, New Jersey. The group originated in 1997 after the disbanding of Arcane, a hardcore punk trio consisting of Ben Weinman, Dimitri Minakakis, and Chris Pennie. The band's current line-up consists of guitarist Ben Weinman,...

 is scheduled for December.

Their 2007 tour with Against Me! was a success due to the amount of new people who were introduced to their music. On this tour Fake Problems met Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...

 in Sayreville, New Jersey

Sayreville, New Jersey

Sayreville is a borough located on the Raritan River, near Raritan Bay in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 42,704....

.

Real Problems

In April, 2006 the band's equipment was stolen during a tour with O Pioneers!!!. The band was robbed of two Fender Stratocaster

Fender Stratocaster

The Fender Stratocaster, often referred to as "Strat", is a model of electric guitar designed by Leo Fender, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares in 1954, and manufactured continuously by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation to the present. It is a double-cutaway guitar, with an extended top...

s, a flying “V” guitar, a Dan Electro Remake by Jay Johnson bass, a microKorg

MicroKORG

The microKORG is a MIDI-capable virtual analog synthesizer/vocoder from Korg featuring high-quality DSP analog modelling. The synth/keyboard is built in such a way that it is essentially a Korg MS-2000 with programmable step arpeggiator , a less advanced vocoder , lack of motion sequencing The...

, and a lap-steel/slide guitar. They finished the tour, but had to borrow equipment from O Pioneers!!! and then buy new instruments.

The song Real Problems in SRQ is based on an incident in On October 18, 2006 Farren, Lee, and Stevenson were arrested and charged with trespassing. They were scheduled to play a show in Sarasota, Florida

Sarasota, Florida

Sarasota is a city located in Sarasota County on the southwestern coast of the U.S. state of Florida. It is south of the Tampa Bay Area and north of Fort Myers...

 and had arrived a few hours early. Before their set, they had climbed a strip mall roof. As they were climbing off the roof, police entered the parking lot. The band members were arrested and were held until they received bail at about 2:00 am the following morning. The court ordered them to take anger management classes.

On an early 2008 tour with Smoke or Fire, the band was driving through Tennessee to their next show, when a giant turkey flew through their window. Two shows were canceled and the band had to stay at a motel in Cleveland TN for the weekend while the windshield was repaired.

While in Canada on October 19, 2008 the band stopped at a hotel before border crossing to discover their trailer on fire. Faulty wiring caused some protective foam to catch fire, resulting in some damage to Stevenson's kit.

Members

• Chris Farren - Vocals and Guitar
• Derek Perry - Bass
• Sean Stevenson - Drums
• Casey Lee - Guitar

Studio Albums

• How Far Our Bodies Go (2007, Sabot Productions)
• It's Great to Be Alive (2009, SideOneDummy)
• Real Ghosts Caught On Tape
  Real Ghosts Caught on Tape
  Real Ghosts Caught On Tape is the third full length album from beach punk band Fake Problems. It released on September 21, 2010 and is their second release for Side One Dummy since joining the label in November 2008...
  
  (2010, SideOneDummy)

EPs

• Too Much Like Home (2001, For Documentation Only Records)
• From a Fashion Standpoint (2004, For Documentation Only Records)
• Oh No! (2005, Self Released)
• Spurs & Spokes (2006, Sabot Productions)
• Spurs & Spokes/Bull Matador (2006, Sabot Productions)
• Viking Wizard Eyes Wizard Full Of Lies (2008, Good Friends Records)

7" Singles

• Dream Team (2009, SideOneDummy)
• Soulless (2010, SideOneDummy)
• Songs For Teenagers (2011, SideOneDummy)

Splits

• Fake Problems/Look Mexico - Under The Influence Vol. 1 (2008, Suburban Home Records)
• Fake Problems/Any Day Now (2005, Self Released)
• Fake Problems/Ninja Gun (2009, Sabot Productions)