Familiarize Yourself

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The past decade has really changed the once-rugged road to celebrity. Thanks to reality television, American Idol, and the Internet, anyone can blow up overnight. YouTube has played a particularly significant role in creating overnight celebrities, lowering the bar for what qualifies as quality entertainment. Just search David After Dentist or Panda Sneeze and you’ll begin to wonder why your latest home video isn’t getting 3,000 hits a week. Once in a while, though, you get the talented hard-working musicians make good type of story, and that’s just what happened with Chicago locals The Fold.

After posting a music video parody of Miley Cyrus’s “Party In the USA”, The Fold started getting a little more attention than usual. The parody, called “Every Band In the USA,” picks on today’s over-saturated pop-punk scene and its leading ladies and gents, including clothing company Glamour Kills and young rockers All Time Low. Consequently, The Fold caught the attention of both GK and ATL, causing the former to print a t-shirt based on the song and the latter to become part of the joke by appearing in the follow-up video, “Cyrus v. The Fold: Sued for Millions”.

The second installment is a dramatization of what happened when Camp Cyrus caught wind of the parody and threatened to sue the band. In the video, The Fold’s Dan Castady attempts to raise the money by begging Tom Higginson (Plain White T’s), Alex Gaskarth (All Time Low), and Pete Wentz (Fall Out Boy) for the money. None come through but the band is saved when Glamour Kills steps in with a limited edition t-shirt. In real life, however, the shirt isn’t raising money to pay off any lawsuit. Instead, $1 from every sale goes towards Red Cross relief efforts in Haiti.

Even before the video, The Fold were no strangers to attention. In 2008, the guys joined The Spill Canvas and Plain White T’s on a sold-out UK tour. And as for their live show, I was hooked when I first saw them opening for Danger is My Middle Name in October. The songs were catchy, the energy high, and the crowd excited. I even picked up their latest album, Dear Future, Come Get Me, after the show. The opening track, “File Under: Ground,” is a powerful pop-punk/rock anthem that I listen to while working out or just driving. I feel every note of that epic chorus in my bones and when it’s over I want more. I can’t rate the album high on originality but what other bands are doing at a mediocre level, these boys are doing better. Way better.

You can check out “Every Band in the USA” below and get a free download of the song when you purchase Dear Future, Come Get Me for $4.99 on their website.

The Fold will be playing at Bottom Lounge on Feb. 12.