The Fiends

The Fiends

The Fiends are an alt-indie rock outfit from Swansea, South Wales. The name is also used by several different acts in other styles, including a garage punk band, a pop-punk trio, and a Halloween cover project.

Garage punk line-up and releases

One version of The Fiends begins in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1993. The first line-up includes Greg Johnson on vocals, Brian Olinek on bass, Dan Small on guitar, James T Massacre on drums and Johnny 13 Fingers on organ. That line-up records the EP Zombie A-GO-GO for Primitive Records. Later that year, after a change on organ, the band writes, records and mixes its first full-length album, Zombies Have Feeling Too, for Music Maniac Records in Germany. It appears as volume twelve of the Teen Trash series and is released in 1994.

In 1995, Dan Small is replaced by Grog Watson on guitar and organ. This line-up records In Scario for Dionysus Records and the EP She's Not Broken for Dr. Mushroom Records of Greece. In 1997, James is replaced by Jayson Solyom on drums and Michael Meyers takes over organ duties. The band then releases a second LP, Gravedigger, on Dionysus Records, along with the EPs She Looks Outta Sight and Gravedigger on Cleveland's Sonic Swirl Records.

The group also tours the West Coast, playing Seattle, San Francisco, Hollywood and Los Angeles. At the time of the latest account, they are working on another record with contributions from Zippy Pinhead, Marcus Finn Lander, Chad Homes, Riewurt Burtenaga and Greg Johnson.

Other uses of the name

Another The Fiends is described as a three-piece pop-punk band. A further version consists of Steven Collins, Dom Cooper and Jason Steel, who perform cover versions of Danzig songs at a Midwich Records Halloween event in 2009.