Fischerspooner was an electroclash duo and performance troupe formed in 1998 in New York City after meeting in school. The name is a combination of the last names of the founders, Warren Fischer and Casey Spooner.

Career

Originally a duo formed by classically trained musician Warren Fischer and video-artist and experimental theater performer Casey Spooner for an impromptu rendition of their makeshift track "Indian Cab Driver" at the Astor Place Starbucks, the group grew to over 20 performers, most of whom are dancers and guest vocalists. "We started as a performance art piece about entertainment that ultimately became legitimate entertainment," said Casey Spooner, when talking about the group's origins in an April 2009 interview. AllMusic lists Gary Numan, New Order and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark among their influences.

#1 (2001)

Their debut album, #1, has been released on several record labels, including International DJ Gigolo, Ministry of Sound and Capitol Records, and includes their singles "Sweetness", "Emerge", and a cover of Wire's "the 15th". In the final months of 2004, Fischerspooner opened up their FS Studios in New York City to the public for a few hours once a week, allowing people to meet the band and production team, as well as preview new video, music and dance projects that they were working on.

Odyssey (2005)

In 2005, Odyssey, the band's second album, was released. The album featured songs that were more structured and more accurately described as electropop than electroclash. "Odyssey was really about being on Capitol, which was this icon of classic American music, trying to embrace that cliché and find a way to embody it and infiltrate it and take it apart at the same time", The band released the first single "Have Fun Tonight" on June 19, 2017. The song "Top Brazil" was released on January 19, 2018; along with an electro-pop music video which Billboard called, "provocative."

NPR interpreted the album as a retrospective collage of Reagan-era queer references framed in an undeniably contemporary style: "Even the cheapskate metaphor passions in the lyrics, read as physical, often NSFW desires — 'raging motorcycle thoroughbred,' 'not opposed to humiliation,' 'denim on denim,' 'dorsal fins at night in Berlin,' 'Butterscotch Goddam,' 'dark pink Saturday night' — that are dated just enough to seem older and odder. Pairing these with layered synthesizer lines and drum-machines that invoke Reagan-era industrial and EBM reinforces nostalgic notions of sexual danger."

In an interview with the album collaborators, it was said that, "[the album] explores Spooner’s 're-entry into the sexual playground now defined by technology, but also the muddled ways that feelings and self-image are present in that experience' while simultaneously examining the years of 'emotional and sexual turbulence' he experienced with his ex-partner."

Break-up

On October 30, 2019, the duo announced their breakup via Instagram.

Awards and nominations

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"

|-

! scope="col" | Award

! scope="col" | Year

! scope="col" | Nominee(s)

! scope="col" | Category

! scope="col" | Result

! scope="col" class="unsortable"|

|-

!scope="row" rowspan=2|International Dance Music Awards

| rowspan=2|2003

| Fischerspooner

| Best New Dance Artist - Solo

|

| rowspan=2|

|-

| "Emerge"

| Best Dance Video

|

Band members

  • Warren Fischer – composer
  • Casey Spooner – songwriter, vocals
  • Sam Kearney – guitar
  • Peanuts, aka Jeremiah Clancy – attendant to Casey, actor
  • Adam Crystal – keyboards
  • Cindy Greene – vocals
  • Lizzy Yoder – vocals
  • Ian Pai – musical director, drums
  • Vanessa Walters – choreographer, dancer
  • Stephanie Dixon – dancer

Discography

Albums

  • Bootleg (self-titled, with PS1 Cover Artwork) (1998)
  • Fischerspooner (2000) – "For Those Who Know" release
  • #1 or Best Album Ever, originally titled Best Album Ever, "International DJ Gigolos" release in 2001, Ministry of Sound release in 2002, Capitol Records reissue with DVD in 2003 - UK #92
  • Odyssey (2005) US #172, UK #110
  • Entertainment (2009)
  • Sir (2018)

Singles

{|class="wikitable"

|-

! rowspan="2" style="width:20px;"|Year

! style="width:300px;" rowspan="2"| Title

! colspan="3" |Peak chart positions

! style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2"|Album

|-

!style="width:3em;font-size:85%"|US Dance<br />

!style="width:3em;font-size:85%"|GRE<br/>

!style="width:3em;font-size:85%"|UK<br />

|-

| style="text-align:center;"| 2001

| "Emerge"

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| style="text-align:center;"|127

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| style="text-align:left;" rowspan="4"|#1 or Best Album Ever

|-

| rowspan="2" style="text-align:center;"| 2002

| "Emerge" (re-release)

| style="text-align:center;"|18

| style="text-align:center;"|25

| style="text-align:center;"|25

|-

|"The 15th"

| style="text-align:center;"|21

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| style="text-align:center;"|—

|-

| style="text-align:center;"|2003

|"L.A. Song" / "Sweetness"

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| style="text-align:center;"|—

|-

| rowspan="3" style="text-align:center;"| 2005

|"Just Let Go"

| style="text-align:center;"|7

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| style="text-align:center;"|27

| style="text-align:left;" rowspan="4"|Odyssey

|-

|"Never Win"

| style="text-align:center;"|17

| style="text-align:center;"|55

| style="text-align:center;"|—

|-

|"A Kick in the Teeth" / "All We Are"

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| style="text-align:center;"|—

|-

| style="text-align:center;"|2006

|"We Need a War"

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| style="text-align:center;"|—

|-

| rowspan="2" style="text-align:center;"| 2008

|"The Best Revenge"

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| style="text-align:left;" rowspan="5"|Entertainment

|-

|"Danse En France"

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| style="text-align:center;"|—

|-

| rowspan="2" style="text-align:center;"| 2009

|"Supply & Demand"

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| style="text-align:center;"|—

|-

|"We Are Electric"

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| style="text-align:center;"|—

|-

| style="text-align:center;"| 2011

|"Infidels of the World Unite"

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| style="text-align:center;"|—

|-

| style="text-align:center;"|2017

|"Have Fun Tonight"

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2"|Sir

|-

| style="text-align:center;"|2018

|"TopBrazil"

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| style="text-align:center;"|—

| style="text-align:center;"|—

|}

Music videos

  • "Emerge" – Original version (2001)
  • "Emerge" – Skin version (2003)
  • "The 15th" (2003)
  • "Sweetness" (2003)
  • "Just Let Go" (2005)
  • "Never Win" (2005)
  • "Never Win" – Mirwais version (2005)
  • "All We Are" (made for a Coca-Cola project by Rex & Tennant) (2006)
  • "Get Confused" (2008)
  • "We Are Electric" (2009)
  • "The Best Revenge" (2011)
  • "Have Fun Tonight" (2017)
  • "Togetherness" (2017)
  • "TopBrazil" (2017)

References

  • Fischerspooner official website