Fucked Up

Fucked Up are a Canadian hardcore punk band from Toronto, Ontario, formed in 2001. The band consists of guitarists Mike Haliechuk and Josh Zucker, bassist Sandy Miranda, lead vocalist Damian Abraham, and drummer Jonah Falco. From 2007 to 2021, the band also included guitarist and vocalist Ben Cook.

To date, the band has released nine studio albums, alongside numerous EPs, singles, and companion releases. The band won the 2009 Polaris Music Prize for their second studio album, The Chemistry of Common Life.

The band are known for releasing concept albums, which often feature recurring themes and characters. In 2023, the band began releasing a series of albums in which each member recorded their parts within the span of one day. Alongside their regular studio albums and EPs, the band has an ongoing series of releases based on the Chinese Zodiac, which often take the form of full albums and EPs. To date, there have been nine installments of the Zodiac series, released between 2006 and 2021, with ten-part finale set to be released across 2025 and 2026.

History

Early career: 2001–2007

The band formed and played their first shows in early 2001. The initial practicing lineup consisted of lead guitarist Mike Haliechuk (using the alias 10,000 Marbles), vocalist Josh Zucker (alias Concentration Camp), bassist Sandy Miranda (alias Mustard Gas) and drummer Chris Colohan of Left For Dead/The Swarm fame and Cursed. Just prior to recording their demo tape, vocal duties were taken over by Pink Eyes (Damian Abraham, also known as Mr. Damian) while Zucker moved to guitar. Drums were played by Mr. Jo (Jonah Falco, also credited as G. Beat or J. Falco).

Following the release of the demo, the band embarked on a long series of 7-inch records. The band released the "No Pasaran" 7-inch in May 2002. The Police 7-inch was released in March 2003, quickly followed the Baiting the Public 7-inch in May 2003. Two more 7-inches followed in 2004, the single "Dance of Death", and the 4-song EP Litany. The vinyl releases to this point were collected on 2004s Epics in Minutes CD. The band was the subject of a two-minute 16 mm film showing its links to the Toronto hardcore scene, a local infoshop and punk radio show.

The band's use of imagery and symbolism (notable the use of Sigils) took a decided turn after the release of Epics in Minutes, as it was followed by two limited 12-inches, the Looking for Gold 12-inch, and the live Let Likes be Cured by Likes 12-inch. The Looking for Gold 12-inch contained no liner notes or credits, no song titles, and a hidden track. It was self-released by the band in 2004 in two limited runs of 300 and 400 copies. The title track was 16 minutes long, used 18 guitar tracks, had a three-minute drum solo and contained 5 minutes of whistling.

In the summer of 2004, the band released the Generation 7-inch and 12-inch EPs. After touring for most of 2005 the band took on David Eliade as a quasi-full-time manager/promoter. In early 2006 Eliade began shopping demos of songs from the planned Hidden World album to labels, ending with the band signing to Jade Tree Records for an early fall 2006 release of the album. Jade Tree is distributed by Touch & Go which in turn has a distribution agreement with ADA (Warner Music Group). Jade Tree licensed the vinyl version to Deranged Records, which released it as a double album in November 2006.

Several other records, such as Year of the Dog 12-inch were released, before the band went on the European tour, visiting England, Germany, and Spain, among other places. January 16, 2007, marked the band's live television debut on MTV Live, where they were introduced as "Effed Up". During their performance of their song "Baiting the Public", the majority of the audience were moshing and causing damage to the set (also visible was a cut on Damian's forehead), resulting in a sum of $2,000 in damages. This performance sparked controversy and resulted in MTV Canada banning moshing from future MTV Live performances. In November 2007, the band played a show in New York that was filmed for the movie Burn, directed by Richard Roepnack. The performance was positively reviewed in The New York Times, although the Times chose not to print the band's name, referring to them instead as a string of asterisks.