Feeder: Ready To Move On?

When Jon Lee was found to have committed suicide Grant and Taka were obviously going to be affected. The band decided to give Jon Lee a tribute in music and it came in the shape of the album Comfort in Sound. This album was obviously heavily dominated by the departure of Jon Lee and had a sad and depressing tone to it. No longer were there the lively sounds of Just A Day or Buck Rogers but these were replaced with mellow tunes such as the title track or Love Pollution. After the release of their newest album Pushing the Senses they are finally moving on.

Now don't get me wrong I'm not taking anything from Comfort in Sound as it contained some amazing song writing from Grant. I am just asking the question of whether the new album is a departure from Grant's obvious depression. I think it is. The album is still not their most upbeat but I believe that this is the album which is seeing Feeder going into a new direction.

The new album still has a depressing tone but it is not as evident in the songs. The title track contains some lyrics which are depressing but these are somewhat overshadowed by the guitar parts of the song. The gain on the amps is cranked up and this gives the song more life. However, Dove Grey Sands makes use of arpeggios and while these are not of minor chords it still has a sad feeling to it. Pain on Pain is the most depressing track on the album though. With lyrics such as "took the last breath away" making an obvious relation to the death of Jon Lee.

Alternatively, the album does contain some more upbeat tunes such as Feeling A Moment which despite some haunting lyrics feels lively and I find myself singing it all the time. I got the chance to see Feeder perform a few tracks live and found that in their concerts they were performing some of their old tracks. Also at the Download Festival they performed Just A Day and Grant ran out into the crowd with a huge grin on his face. He may just be doing that for the sake of the cameras but he seemed to genuinely enjoy the performance.

It is though understandable that Grant feels sad and somewhat guilty. Jon phoned him twice on the night that he committed suicide and Grant did not realise who it was and ignored the phone. So whilst I don't think Grant should feel guilty I can understand that he will never get to know what Jon would have said to him and whether he could have talked him out of it. So this has played on Grants mind for the three years since Jon's tragic death and has come across in his song writing.

So are Feeder moving in a new direction? Gone are the days of upbeat indie songs and they are replaced with a new more mature array of songs. For this reason I believe that Feeder are moving on and with the new drummer Mark Richardson (ex-Skunk Anansie) they are finally ready to move on. Jon Lee will always have a presence in the songs but this is fine with the fans as he is and always will be sorely missed but I'm sure that Mark will do his best to fill the gaping hole in the band and they will now move on and can only get bigger as they go. For instance they are supporting U2 in Italy and have played huge festival crowds which is surely only the beginning.

-James Bamford

Comments

[TheChiller413]

I have no clue where you were going with this article... it was pretty pointless. 2 stars.

[twistedsister]

Whos Feeder?

[monkeyspks]

yeah ... hah i have no idea who/what Feeder is. =( honestly this was boring. maybe it could have been better if i knew what Feeder was, but still.

[<FF FAN>]

Feeder are great band, the reason why they're not well known to the world is because they focus touring in Europe. I wish though they would get back to their more upbeat stuff, good article, 4 stars

[Freepower]

Not an article with a point, but interesting info.

Although i wouldnt really call comfort in sound that depressing, i mean, Godzilla? Helium? Come back around?

Lively happy great shit. I saw em live, fantastic brilliance.

[PumpkinsPunk]

More like "BIRD" feeder oooohhh.. that was stupid. sorry

[Feeder_Fan_4eva]

Feeder are a great band man .. and their pushing the senses (newest album) is a slower and darker album which they are ending the near of and no i dont thik they are heading in a new direction, if u look on http://www.xfm.co.uk/Article.asp?b=news&id=103716 you will find that their next album will be more upbeat and heavier

[Landstrom]

I suppose if you don't know who feeder are then you probably won't like this article. Thanks for reading it though.

[ilovepixies]

I saw feeder supporting REM and I have to say although Im no fan they still banged out those classic hits like 'just today' just as passionatly as they always have. Most people won' get this article because most members are Amercians who havn't heard of feeder. It's a shame they arn't sp popular there cos they are a good band. Its sucks about their drummer tho

[ilovepixies]

Oh yeah nice article man I thought it was interesting

[Guitaroooo_Man]

clearly hasnt thought this out.

Feeder made comfort in sound in a ***ed up possition and were really confused and didnt know how to feel. grant said in an interview that this (pushing the sences) was the real tribute album.

[Feeder_Fan_4eva]

if u havent heard of feeder..i would suggest you download just a day, buck rogers, high, decend, insomnia, come back around, helium

[Guitaroooo_Man]

descend is a ***ing brilliant song... cant seem to find the tab for it tho... go figure.

[guitarist163]

You didnt really open your article up at all. You just kinda jumped into the information.

[james86]

Feeder is one of the few brit bands who sounds good along with oasis

[HarmlessLilF*ck]

Feeder are mediocre at best and absolute sh!t the rest of the time, much like this article.

[skindred]

feeder aint the type of band that a person could truely love and worship, they're just a good band to listen to in the background, i remember buying comfort in sound and listening to it and yeah its a depressin album but the emotion pourng out in that album was brilliant, i think pushing the senses (latest album) is a good step forward for feeder, after this they can move on from the whole Jon Lee thing and get back to their known best, Jon would have wnted them to do that, not to constantly mourn him.

[tHeAxEmAn]

what..?

[Biggs]

Feeder are very good. I personally didn't like this article, though. At times it sounds like you are critisizing Feeder for writing more upbeat songs...don't you want them to be happy? Comfort In Sound is an excellent album, still haven't heard all of Pushing The Senses.

Sorry, but this article is more like a thread for the indie/alternative section. 2 stars.

[Soulbleed]

who the hell is feeder?

[ilovepixies]

souldbleed: they are quite obviously a band

[dangnabbit]

feeder are boring

[punksk8er18241]

feeder are brilliant

[cantshreddave]

to all people who don't know/don't like feeder, why did you bother reading this and even worse having a go at the author for it

as a fan of feeder, i feel this article was well set out but its content seemed to make me ask more questions then have some answered

imo feeder are still quite sedate but their tunes are very relaxing and a real expression of human emotion, unlike emo which is just a total winge all too often. you could say feeder are more emo than most emo bands. they have several similarities to coldplay musically, but the lyrics are quite different. i think that with the new album they are a little more upbeat, which does show tht grant has lifted his spirits, but he is now a very quiet and solemn person according to many journalists, drummer mark richardson does a lot of the talking, as i dont think he knew ex-drummer jon lee. i think grant found tht comfort in sound was actually a very established sound for feeder and thus he decided to stick with it for pushing the senses, though his grunge roots are still evident

[928GTS]

If you want to listen to Feeder back when they were actually a good band then listen to stuff off of the Swim mini album and Polythene. That was Feeder when they were a real band,not some commercial indie copycat.

[Shiruzu]

FEEDER R THE BEST!!!!I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE NEW ALBUM!

[voodoochild175]

james86:
Feeder is one of the few brit bands who sounds good along with oasis
[POSTED: 01 August 2005 - 20:18]|

Hmmm... U realli are an ignorant shit arent you?

[Guitaroooo_Man]

voodoochild175:
james86:
Feeder is one of the few brit bands who sounds good along with oasis
[POSTED: 01 August 2005 - 20:18]|


Hmmm... U realli are an ignorant shit arent you?
[POSTED: 04 August 2005 - 07:53]|

***in word on that. absolutely dumb and ignorant. There are SOOOO many british bands out there that are ***ing awsome.

Kasabian
Kaiser Cheifs
Fightstar(I like them, bite me)

Futureheads
Cherryfalls
Biffy Clyro
Keane(I hate them, some like them, go figure)
Bloc Party
Coldplay(althought they are ***ing huge now, i still remember them when they were a UK band that had just gone mainstream)

theres loads more...

Some of them arent exactly my cup of tea, but still, they're ok to chill to i guess.

[928GTS]

The Kaiser Chiefs make me want to gouge my eyes out with a spork. They are THAT bad.

[coquet]

i got to meet grant and taka in 2003 when they toured the u.s. i even convinced grant to change the set list and play insomnia. i dont know where i was going with that. i dont think the author of this knew where he was going either. feeder rocks, though.

[frusciante_5]

feeder are one of my favourite bands, although i think the problem with a lot of people when describing mellow music they use the word "depressing" far too often, and even though pain on pain is a sad song, the lyrics are positive.

I dont think there new sound on Comfort in Sound has a lot to do with the death of Jon Lee, I know that quick fade was written as a tribute to him i think..but i think they changed there musical sound simply because they had matured and wanted totry something different (which is something a lot of modern rock bands dont do)

i didnt like pushing the senses at first, now iv gotten into it, and i think its just as good as comfort in sound, im not into polythene that much though im glad they changed there sound, i saw them live this year, grant is a genious

[chinko]

im personally a larger fan of their upbeat stuff, although CIS is always that album that strikes me as inspiring and incredible. i went from thinking it was mediocre to loving it as much as YWTS. however, they should stick to the upbeat stuff, PTS i really dont like at all.

[ruberducky]

well she got her daddies car and she cruised to the hamburger stand now.
seems she forgot all about the library like she told her old man now.
with the radio blasting gos cruisen just as fast as she can now and she'll have fun fun fun till the daddy takes the tebird away now.

BEACH BOYS ROCK!!!.. he he ..

[ruberducky]

..^^^..
thank you thank you

if you read this tell me what you think

[c0rt3x]

Woah whats up with that I voted 8 and it went from 5.2 to 3? So this article is supposed to be about 6 or so could someone explain?

[add45]

Feeder rock, i think its a shame about the drummer but i do like their new album, especially songs like Frequency.

[sadistic_monkey]

Feeder are fantastic, but pointless article.

Just make a thread about it.

[cabbaman98]

just to say that hueva this guy is he copied this hole article from somewhere else ive seen it somewhere esle.

and yeh despite the fact Feeder are amazing, this artcile as a bit pointless

[cabbaman98]

feeder aint the type of band that a person could truely love and worship

u avent met me m8

[WhiteStripesIII]

Feeder are a great band, but not as good as I expected when I saw them live.

[monkey of doom]

Feeder are cool. Didn't see the point of the article but whatever.