Album Notes

It's hard to not feel painfully uncool writing your own "bio". It either comes out boring, pretentious, cheesy, or a combination of all three. However, since I enjoy knowing more about the bands I listen to, I feel like I owe it to my fans to write this [ Pretentious statement #1 ! ]

With that rather lengthy caveat aside, here are the facts. Just the facts, jack.

Flight Crash Companion is a "bedroom band" consisting of one member, Evan Cooney (that's me). I write and record all the music, press my own records, run the websites, and do the promotion. The operation is run from whatever New York apartment I happen to be living in. The sound reflects a broad taste in music. Sometimes its down-tempo melancholy lo-fi folk, sometimes it's loud and aggressive indie-rock. I occasionally throw together a line-up of all-stars and play a show. My idea of "making it" is supporting myself with my music. That's my only real goal in life. Me me me.

The Longer (more boring, more pretentious) Version

I started this project as a supplement to bands I used to play in. I'm not terribly keen about playing in traditional bands anymore (the ego clash, the battle for control, the disproportion of commitment, the schedules) so FCC provided a nice little outlet for my own musical ideas. The first direction I went with was a down-tempo, mostly melancholy pseudo-trip hop sound. The result was my first EP, 2005's But Will It Sell ? I certainly like this kind of music, but on reflection, those songs were really just a byproduct of two things: 1) being easy to make in my bedroom 2) being easy to sing. Up until that point my role in most bands had been drummer / songwriter / producer, but never singing and rarely playing guitar, and this format provided a painless transition to the spotlight. So did But Will It Sell? actually sell? Uhm, no. But it taught me a lot about making a real album and getting it out to the world.

In the following months, I discovered a computer program by Native Instruments entitled Battery. It's a tool that allows musicians to creates realistic drum sounds without the use of a drummer. It changed my life. No longer did I have to go to the considerable trouble of recording real drum parts. This immediately infused a "live" feel into my music which impacted the writing immensely. I also consciously began exploring more hookier choruses and less abstract song structures. The result was 2006's "An Untitled Summer". The album was recorded over the summer while I was living at my Dad's house in PHL, getting by on New York unemployment checks. And partying with some great friends�a lot. (Thanks Fish, Frank, Davo, Nick and Collin for a truly awesome summer)

After getting my shit together I moved back to NYC and began work on "An Untitled Winter". This record is the one I'm most proud of by far. It's a lot heavier than the earlier stuff, and the songwriting plus production quality is definitely on another level. So far it has sold modestly, and has also landed two prime-time placements in NBC's The Black Donnellys as well as NBC's Friday Night Lights. Following it's release, I also put together "the live band" and played a sold-out show at Arlene's Grocery to support the record.

Shortly thereafter, I released "None of My Friends Like The Rolling Stones" . The record wasn't ready, but the harddrive that contained all the masters took a dirt nap. I had backups, but it meant I still would have had to re-record a lot of material. I just couldn't bring myself to do it. So what started off as an elaborate full-length become an unfinished EP. I put it out anyway (only on Amiestreet.com, my favorite online retailer ) because it just felt right to put it to bed and move on.

Currently I am working on my best work to date, tentatively titled "The Perfect Sterile Life" . It should be out in late 2007 / early 2008.