Bright Light Fever (BLF) was a Sacramento blues-injected garage rock quartet[1] with an approximately six-year run that ended in 2009.[2] Centered on guitarist Matt Ferro and his brother Evan Ferro, the band cycled through a major-label-affiliated deal, repeated touring misfortune, and self-released recordings before disbanding and spawning the Ferro brothers' follow-up project Roman Funerals.[2][3]
At a glance
- Sacramento rock band; described as "a band in Sacramento called Bright Light Fever."[4]
- Six-year run; played its final show at Harlow's in Sacramento on Sept. 10, 2009.[2]
- Full lineup: Evan Anthony Ferro (vocals, guitar, keyboard), Matt Ferro (guitar), Dan Suave (bass), and Robert Torres (drums).[1]
- Debut released Sept. 2006 on Stolen Transmission, a subsidiary of Island Records; dropped from the label by July 2007.[2][1]
- Released the self-recorded Meat Market EP, named one of Submerge's best albums of 2009.[5]
- Released a second full-length, Red Hands in Holy Water, in 2010 on Innovator Records.[6]
Origin and local status
Bright Light Fever was explicitly a Sacramento band. According to Apple Music, the band was formed near Sacramento, CA, in 2003.[1] A member of the Seattle band By Sunlight described them in 2008 as "a band in Sacramento called Bright Light Fever that we used to work with all the time," whom they had been "friends with for a really long time."[4] In recapping the band's 2009 breakup, Submerge listed Bright Light Fever among the Sacramento bands that broke up that year, and noted their Meat Market EP was "brewed in Sacramento."[2][5] Later coverage refers to the Ferro brothers as being "of the former Sacramento band Bright Light Fever."[3][7] These consistent origin cues — not merely playing local shows — establish the band as local.
Members
The band's full documented lineup was Evan Anthony Ferro (vocals, guitar, keyboard), Matt Ferro (guitar), Dan Suave (bass), and Robert Torres (drums).[1] The band originally started as a trio — Evan Anthony Ferro, Dan Suave, and drummer Charles Dale — before Dale departed in late 2005 and was replaced by Robert Torres; at that point Matt Ferro was also added on guitar.[1] BLF saw further membership turnover: Submerge notes the band's "newest member" quit during a summer tour shortly before the breakup.[2] After the band ended, Matt and Evan Ferro continued together as Roman Funerals (also styled "Roman Funeral").[2][3]
Recordings and label history
Bright Light Fever's debut record, Bright Light Fever Presents the Evening Owl, was completed in April 2006, produced by Joby Ford of the Bronx and engineered by Robert Cheek of RX Bandits.[1] The album was released in September 2006 on Stolen Transmission, LLC, a subsidiary of Island Records,[1] comprising 11 songs with a runtime of approximately 39 minutes, catalogued under the Alternative genre.[8] (The Submerge account places the release in October 2006;[2] Apple Music and the album's own page indicate September 2006.[1][8]) Within a month of release, the band lost its distribution, and by July 2007 it had been dropped from Stolen Transmission entirely.[2] BLF then self-recorded and self-released its second record, eventually posting it online as a free download, attributing the move to "months wasted on empty promises and overall snakery by outside parties."[2] The band's self-released Meat Market EP — five tracks of energetic rock — was ranked No. 14 on Submerge's best-albums-of-2009 list, which signed off "RIP BLF."[5]
In 2010, after the band's disbanding, Bright Light Fever released a second full-length album, Red Hands in Holy Water, on Innovator Records.[6] The album runs approximately 33 minutes and 20 seconds across 11 tracks: Intro, Welcome to Your Doom, Norman Bates, Fire of the Vanities, The Locust, Be Still, Te Voy a Mater, Monarch, Red Hands in Holy Water, Food for the Rats, Outro.[6]
Bright Light Fever was also an early adopter of card-based digital music distribution: the Seattle band By Sunlight credited BLF with proposing a scheme where fans buy an ID-sized card for $5 containing a code and website to download the music in multiple formats, rather than pressing CDs. BLF invited By Sunlight to try the approach alongside them.[4]
Touring misfortune
The band's lifespan was marked by repeated road trouble, which members reportedly treated as a badge of honor.[2] Per Submerge's account: BLF wrecked two vans in Wyoming on two separate tours; finally toured without losing money in November (the year before the 2009 breakup); and on its follow-up summer tour faced law enforcement issues in Arizona, hit a deer in Omaha, played eight of 12 shows for no pay, and lost its newest member to a mid-tour departure.[2] Guitarist Matt Ferro framed the bad luck as motivating: "all the bad luck inspired us to work harder at what we were doing."[2]
Breakup and legacy
Bright Light Fever played its final show at Harlow's on Sept. 10, 2009 — a date the band noted matched the expiration date on a can of Sunkist orange soda they had kept as a good-luck charm since pre-production on their first record; they poured it out in Harlow's back parking lot.[2] In the band's obituary, bassist Dan Suave wrote of a fan base "consistently waning" even as the work was "consistently waxing."[2] One fond memory recalled by Ferro was bandmates meeting Iggy Pop on a street in Texas.[2]
After the breakup, Matt and Evan Ferro immediately continued writing music as Roman Funerals, aiming to record an album and tour in 2010.[2] By early 2011, Roman Funerals — fronted by the Ferro brothers — headlined a show at the Townhouse in Sacramento, joined onstage by local performers including Kris Anaya of Doom Bird, and performed songs from their EP Six of Us.[3] In a separate thread, Evan Ferro traveled to Seattle to live with and help record an album (Penumbra) for By Sunlight, the Seattle band (formerly Sacramento's Bridges) with longstanding BLF ties.[7]