anthologysd.com

Stranger than fiction
A few chance encounters turn into a home-grown band
By George Varga
Pop Music Critic
2:00 a.m. February 6, 2009

Nearly 1,000 bands have performed at Street Scene since its inception in 1984, but Fiction Family may be the only one whose very existence can be traced back (or, at the very least, backstage) to the annual music festival.

In 2003, two of San Diego’s most nationally successful bands – the multimillion-selling Switchfoot, led by Jon Foreman, and the multi-Grammy-winning Nickel Creek, featuring Sean Watkins – were booked to play at what turned out to be the final Street Scene held in downtown’s then-rapidly expanding Gaslamp Quarter.

In between performing with their respective bands and checking out the headlining gigs by Wilco and R.E.M., Watkins and Foreman met backstage.

“Living in the same town, we’d heard about each other,” guitarist-singer Watkins recalled, speaking from a recent Fiction Family tour stop in Atlanta. “So, my sister, (Nickel Creek violinist-singer) Sara, and I were like: ‘Let’s go introduce ourselves.’ And we did, and Jon and I exchanged e-mail addresses.”

“That’s correct,” said singer-guitarist Foreman, who – given the benefit of hindsight – now thinks the acknowledgments in the liner notes to Fiction Family’s impressive new debut album should be amended.

“We didn’t thank Street Scene. We should have, though,” he said. “That was such a great day of music. And it brought us together.”

Their brief encounter soon led to a chance meeting at the Encinitas Pannikin. It is about equidistant from the North County homes of Watkins and Foreman, who are both avid surfers.

Additional get-togethers at the Pannikin followed and the two began talking more seriously about collaborating on a musical project. Before long, they had co-written “Betrayal,” a lilting ballad from Fiction Family’s self-titled debut album. The duo, augmented by bassist-keyboardist Tyler Chester and drummer Aaron Redfield, performs here tonight at downtown’s plush, all-ages Anthology.

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Fiction Family, the project from Jon Foreman of Switchfoot and Sean Watkins of Nickel Creek, are giving away a pair of tickets for their San Diego performance at Anthology on February 6. Click the widget to register for going.com and to enter the contest.

Via sddialedin.com

Duo features vocals of Jon Foreman, Switchfoot frontman and bluegrass stylings of Sean Watkins, Nickel Creek guitarist

SAN DIEGO, CALIF., Dec. 12 – Fiction Family, a collaboration between Switchfoot frontman Jon Foreman and Nickel Creek guitarist Sean Watkins, will share their indie rock and acoustic sound with listeners during an intimate, one-of-a-kind live music experience at Anthology on Fri., Feb. 6.

Technically, Foreman and Watkins met 12 years ago, in the parking lot of the Off Shore Surf Shop in Carlsbad—both had emerged from the water, and a mutual friend introduced the two. But it wasn’t until much later, backstage at San Diego’s Street Scene music festival, where Switchfoot and Nickel Creek were performing one after the other, that the two hit it off and decided to record a song together.

What began as a pet project turned into something more once the two began playing together: an album whose organic, spontaneous genesis can be felt in its authentic, free-form songs. The resulting self-titled album will be released this month.

Fiction Family released their first single “When She’s Near” for free download on their website.

Website: www.fictionfamily.com.

Show details:

Fiction Family will perform on Feb. 6 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $20 and are available at the Anthology Box Office, by calling 619.595.0300 and at www.AnthologySD.com.

Anthology is located at 1337 India Street (between A and Ash Streets).

Recent note since release:

“The album has been well-received amongst many review publications Relevant Magazine calls the project “wildly inventive and spontaneous… the work stands in victorious defiance against a crumbling conventional music industry.” JFH praises the diversity of the record, saying “each song is meticulously crafted, and strikingly different from the eleven other songs on the record.”Stereo Soundwaves likened Foreman’s and Watkins’ efforts to what “put The Beatles and The Eagles on the map.” The album reached as high as No. 5 on iTunes’ top overall albums on its first day of release.” - Wikipedia -

Fiction Family is Sean Watkins of Nickel Creek and Jon Foreman of Switchfoot. From their MySpace page:

“The wait is nearly over. Fiction Family’s debut record is eponymous and upon us….. relatively, being that we’ve been threatening to release it for the last couple years.

Fiction Family is myself (Sean Watkins) and Jon Foreman (Switchfoot) and we’ve been working on a record together for the last three years. Unofficially we met maybe 12 years ago, in the parking lot of Off Shore Surf Shop in Carlsbad, CA. We both had just gotten out of the water and were introduced by a mutual friend who wanted us to meet cause we were musicians….we shook hands and gave each other a smile that said…”sure you’re in a band, aren’t we all?” But officially, we met backstage at a music festival in downtown San Diego called Street Scene. Nickel Creek and Switchfoot were playing one after another.”

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Fiction Family will play at Anthology on February 6, 2009