By: Kat Harlton
New Brunswick based alternative rock band FM Berlin were recently nominated for two East Coast Music Awards for Rock Recording of the Year and Rising Star Recording of the Year, accolades that the band’s front man Corey Hachey says is important. “It brings attention to the East Coast, and we don’t get a lot of chances to be in front of a national audience like that, so it’s good.”
The band’s recent album, At Least You’re Having Fun, produced Jason Dufour (Tokyo Police Club, July Talk, Lights) and Josh Bowman (Matthew Good and The Balconies), has a British pop rock vibe and sing-along swagger. “Ransom”, the current single, is an urban take on young love and the intensity that comes with it. Hachey shares that he struggled with the track for a while, “I liked it right from the get-go. It was missing a couple of cool hooks and melodies, I just couldn’t complete it. I took a songwriting workshop and doing that helped. Within a few weeks it was done. It gave me a different perspective of what the song meant, then I brought it in and Glen (Farquhar) and I worked on it in the studio.”
Having interviewed the band just over a year ago, I ask if anything’s changed musically or otherwise, and right away they point out drummer Nic Michaud, who at the time of our last interview was only 4 shows in. Michaud says he feels like their sound is really starting to reflect them as a group, but that it’s taken time. “There’s a lot of places to fit in, in the band. Musically, personally, and I think I’ve checked off all the boxes”
At the time of our interview the band was on the last few nights of their tour, and set to play some Red Hot Chili Peppers songs as part of a cover night at Junction City Music Hall. Guitarist Matt Clowes shares that some other options were kicked around including The Police, Led Zeppelin and Weezer. When asked if any memories stood out from the past few weeks, Hachey recalls their first night, “It was in Ottawa at the Rainbow Bistro and it was packed. It was insanely good.”
FM Berlin are the recipients of the 2018 Music New Brunswick Rock Artist of The Year award and 2016 Bell Media Prize from Canada’s Music Incubator. Before showcasing at the (2015) East Coast Music Week in St. John’s Newfoundland, the band took home the Music New Brunswick Emerging Artist of the Year award in (2014) for their debut EP In The Interest of National Security released in (2013).
For more on FM Berlin, visit: www.fmberlinmusic.com