The Fighting League
Tropical Paradise
14 Track, LP (2011, Dream Damage)
Related: The Fighting League.
Dominic Death tells me he is “Captain of the Capital”. While Gillard and her crew operate out of Parliament House, Dominic and his crew, The Fighting League, rule the Canberra house party scene. He often performs shirtless on a wobbly outdoor table, bashing out a melodic brand of self-described “tropical punk”.
The Fighting League’s debut album – released on local Canberra label Dream Damage (TV Colours, Cat Cat, Assassins 88) and recorded by Bruce Callaway (The Saints) – is 14 tracks of spazzed-out party jams that cross over from glam, hardcore and slow-lover dance moves. With Dominic's shrieking vocals, noodling guitars and fast drumming, the album is louder than a Raiders jersey. 'Pizza Man' has been doing the blog rounds for a while now but is still probably the best at capturing their spontaneity and exuberance. Who doesn't get excited when the pizza man buzzes?
Pizza Man by The Fighting League
'Im Bored' and 'Like the Rolling Stones' sound like the kind of songs written by a high school band who’ve stuck together – even though they've all grown older and all live in different share houses. The band is sure to polarise (which is a nicer way of saying a lot of people are going to think they suck) but you get the feeling Dominic and The Fighting League don't particularly care either way. They perform “tropical punk” on the shores of the very “non-tropical” Lake Burley Griffin. In case you haven't picked up on it already their approach to songwriting is fairly tongue-in-cheek.
Still, they nail a crazed fun punk sound. This is what it means to create your own fun and excitement in a city and scene that is overshadowed by cities to the north and south.
by Tim Scott
C-town RPRAZNT!
literally sea punk
Pizza Man is my fave FL song. So good.
Lake Burley Griffin*
Sharp work, daverh. Addressed.
What kind of responsibilities come with being King of Canberra?
Fighting Leauge are surprising good given that they can't speak in full sentences and all they do at rehearsal is turn off the lights and suck each others udon noodles
Nicely played.
These guys are great by the way..
this album too good, just released for free download on there website
http://thefightingleague.bandcamp.com/
Good album
This album is great. Catchy as herpes. I don't really like their band name though.
Definitely one of my favourite releases of last year. Saw them on the weekend at that Wormwoodstock thing and they were fucking great. Cannot speak highly enough of these cunts.
Playing Bummer Vibes too. Do they play around a fair bit or just in spurts?
Seem to be playing a lot lately...played in Sydney around Christmas, that festival last week, Sydney this week...not sure outside of those dates.
Ahh fair enough. I hadn't looked into them until a few days ago. Someone kept bangin' on about them on Facebook. I avoided checking them out because the name reminded me of The Human League (no idea why). As soon as I heard a couple of songs, I'd ordered the LP and downloaded the album. Fantastic shit.
Front-man is the funniest cunt alive. If you're in Sydney they're playing for free on Thursday...you'll lose your shit.
Are you in the band?
love this record. i think sad sad sad mum and dad is my fave track for some weird reason.
I saw them play at the free gig last Thursday. They were great fun!
There was a misunderstanding between some of the band's friends (who kept shouting out ''Canberra Sucks'') and another random audience member. The random audience member thought they were paying out the band and gave them the finger. One of the dudes from the group was all fired up and wanted to fight the guy. The rest of the friends calmed him down and sorted it out with the random. But then when they weren't looking he crash tackled the guy. Eventful night.
Pretty sure they're the best band in the world right now.
tropical sick cunts
...from canberra
Such a good band. They're in Sydney again soon, as well as playing Playground Weekender!
Playing Bummer Vibes in Newcastle this weekend.