Couple Tracks

It would have been an understatement to say that Fucked Up were the underdogs going into last year’s Polaris Music Prize. And yet, there they were at the close of the awards ceremony, holding up a comically oversized check with “FUCKED UP” writ large on the front, to the amazement of all in attendance. Rare is the day that a hardcore band receives widespread critical attention, especially when that band has a decidedly less-than-family-friendly name. Fucked Up’s second studio album, The Chemistry of Common Life, however, was simply too good for even the mainstream to ignore. In the year since its release, the band has been the subject of near universal acclaim, was featured as a repeat performer on Canada’s MTV Live after supposedly being banned from the network (the band reciprocated by inciting fans to destroy a bathroom) and hosted an epic, 12-hour-long set at a Lower East Side gallery, featuring members of Les Savy Fav, Dinosaur Jr. and Vampire Weekend. Perhaps most unlikely of all, frontman Damian “Pink Eyes” Abraham has recently become a regular guest on the Fox News program “Red Eye”. Clearly, it’s high time for a victory lap.

In early 2007 Fucked Up were playing at Mercury Lounge, a relatively small but reasonably respectable club on New York’s Lower East Side. It was their first New York appearance since the Canadian band had been forced to cancel a slot at the CMJ Marathon a few months earlier due to visa problems. Frontman Pink Eyes (or Damian Abraham, if you prefer), related this story in conjunction with their border crossing to the current gig. Upon being told the name of the band, the immigration officer had replied, “You’ll never get anywhere with a name like that."