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FICTION FAMILY BIOGRAPHY |
What began as a simple collaboration on one song between Switchfoot frontman Jon Foreman and Nickel Creek musician Sean Watkins turned into something much bigger.
The beginnings of Fiction Family, the title the men now go under, had humble beginnings in their hometown of San Diego. In 2005, the pair met at a show, said they shoudl write a song together, and nothing else happened. A bit later, they ran into each other at a coffee shop, and agreed again they should write a song. Foreman and Watkins finally did get together and write "Betrayal", which ended up making their self-titled release. They continued to make music, although it was difficult because both Switchfoot and Nickel Creek were constantly on tour. "Whoever was home from tour would chip away at the songs with no real expectations at all," said Foreman. It was "mainly just for ourselves and for the love of the song I suppose."
The pair called themselves "The Real Sean-Jon" back in the original days. They said numerous times they created the name in an attempt to get Sean "Sean John" Combs to sue them. On March 13, 2008, the name was officially changed to Fiction Family. "Usually when two guys make a record together, it sounds cool to call them the 'something brothers. But we're not, so that's how Fiction Family came to be." says Watkins. Foreman's spoke on the name as well: "They are two words that hold a lot of meaning for me. I think that much of who we are as a culture lean towards fiction. As for the family of it, you have the entire nation that's kind of looking for family. That's one of the reasons why I like the name. Also both of us come from sibling bands and this is not a sibling band, so this is kind of a fiction family of sort."
There was talk after the band finished tracking the record in 2007 that Starbucks would release the album, but the deal fell through, and it was later announced ATO Records would release the self-titled debut on January 20, 2009.
The album entered the Billboard 200 at number 71, selling 7,000 copies in the first week of its release. It reached as high as No. 5 on iTunes' top overall albums on its first day of release.
After the release, Fiction Family did a short US tour, playing tiny venues and most of the record.
In late 2009, Aaron Redfield and Tyler Chester became official members of Fiction Family, after touring with the band during their after-album tour. A bit later, Tyler Chester announced via his Facebook page that Fiction Family was back and tracking, and looking for another release in 2010.
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