Five Iron Frenzy is one of my favorite bands. For those of you who don’t know who they are, well they are a ska band. Well, they were a ska band, and they sort-of still are. They have changed their music style some over the years, and that isn’t a bad thing.
When I was first introduced to them it was in the late 1990’s. They were a third wave ska band, that happened to be a Christian band as well. I am trying to remember how I first heard them, and I think it may be from a music video I saw for “The Flowery Song” on the late night Christian music video TV show that was on when I was in high school/college.
Here is that video:
They are from Denver, CO. Funny note, the video above was filmed in New Mexico and they all got sunburned by the end of the day of filming. The sound they produced was a great fun ska sound. I liked the horns mixed with the guitars. The fast beat always appealed to me as well. It sounded like fun music.
Their first couple albums were true ska: Upbeats and Beatdowns, Our Newest Album Ever. I enjoy all those albums, and I felt that they got better with each release. Our Newest Album Ever has the song Every New Day, which a lot of people consider one of their best songs, and I agree to a large degree. It is a song of prayer in many ways. Also on Our Newest Album Ever is the fun song Oh Canada. This is one the the classic FIF songs that is silly. You can’t have a FIF album without at least one silly song. This song mentions milk in a bag, being arrested by a Mountie, and William Shatner. (This song even made it into an episode of Boston Legal Starring William Shatner, it was pretty awesome).
The next couple albums had some sound change to it. They still had the horns, but the sound transitioned some from the ska sound to more of a rock with horns. I think of it kind of like a hard rock version of the band Chicago. These albums were: All the Hype Money Can Buy and Five Iron Frenzy 2: Electric Boogaloo. There was clearly some ska there still, but there is also just straight rock. These albums again had great songs like Farsighted, Fahrenheit, and World Without an End. And there was the geeky song of You Can’t Handle This, and all the math/science/Star Trek references in the song that made it vintage FIF. That one is certainly one of my favorite fun songs.
Farsighted:
Then there was the news that FIF was breaking up. I was sad. They had one more album to release. That album was The End is Near. This was a great all around album. They had a great song called I Guess That’s How the Story Ends that covered all the “questions” brought up in songs from earlier albums. Like What happened to Micah? Whose pants were those afterall? What about Combat Chuck? And more. There are so many good songs on thi album. One of my all time favorite songs of It Was Beautiful is on this album. It is a alternative song about the band, the fans and how God was there through it all. A reflective song called New’s Years Eve. And the final song “On Distant Shores” ended with the ending to “Every New Day” once again. It was a great sign off.
They released a live album from their final show in Denver a bit later, and I figured that was it.
There was a DVD release in 2010 called the Rise and Fall of Five Iron Frenzy, which I bought of course. It was a great fun time to relive the times of FIF. It was silly and reflective.
BUT – then they did a kickstarter in 2011. At the time it was the largest kickstarter ever for a band. They raised over $200,000 wheen they were only asking or $30,000. And it lead to the album Engine of a Million Plots released in 2013. This was a very good album. They had their fun song of Battle Dancing Unicorns (with Glitter) and political hard hitting songs like Zen & the Art of Xenophobia. And then they had personal hard hitting songs like Into Your Veins, I’ve Seen the Sun, and Blizzards & Bygones. All fantastic songs that I love listening to.
Battle Dancing Unicorn:
Into Your Veins:
Then they came out with their latest album Until This Shakes Apart. This album was released in 2021. And the truth is it is a different album overall for FIF. The horns are still there. The sound of Reese singing his heart out is still there. The lyrics are much more in your face and much more inclusive in nature. FIF has never been anti-anything really. There are a few songs from early albums that show their conservative Christian upbringing, but the album goes at the American Right in a hard way in a few of the songs. Songs like Wildcat, In Through the Out Door, Homelessly Devoted to You, and While Supplies Last are just a few that are clearly pointing fingers at that fact that the “Christian Church” doesn’t show the love of Christ all that much at times, and during the pandemic it really didn’t sometimes. These songs made me think more about my thoughts on Christ and how I live my life for Christ. I am sure that was the point of these songs. They hit social media as well with One Heart Hypnosis. I think this album showed guts to release. I bet it never would have been released back in their heydays when they were on a Christian label. While I don’t agree with everything that is said in the lyrics on that album it is still one I enjoy listening to.
Along the way there were so EP’s as well. And some of them had some great songs as well. Dandelions and Between the Pavement and the Stars are both great songs.
Now, seeing FIF in person has always been a blast. I think I have seen them 10-11 times in my life. I have seen them a number of times at “The World Famous The Nile Theater” in Mesa, AZ. I saw them a couple times at festivals. Once at a church in North Phoenix, and I even drove all the way to LA to see them after they got back together in 2013 (maybe 2014) at Club Nokia. They put on a great show where they engage the crowd and clearly have a fun time on stage. I also liked meeting them, which I have a few times. They used to always hang out before and/or after the shows, off to the side, and you could just go up and talk. I didn’t always have much to say, but they would talk and listen.
They are all now much older (as we all are) and they live in different parts of the country. They aren’t making music on a regular basis, and that is fine. Some members have walked away from their faith in God completely, some have had their beliefs in God changed to go with the times (which is a bit sad), and others have had their faith solidified. Their music has evolved over the years as we all evolve in life as we get older (at least I think we all should evolve as we age). I think their music is certainly worth taking a listen to if you are into the ska and rock/alternative sound.