Feeling Like A Bag of Bones:

What does it feel like living in small-town America? Like the walls are too close and everyone knows your name and your business. Like you're screaming into a void no one hears. That feeling? That's exactly what Title Fight captures in their debut album, “Shed."

Being a teenager anywhere is hard, but being a teenager and living in a small town can feel like a prison. The same places, the same people, the same food. Even heartbreak. It

becomes difficult to find any joy in the places you grew up. Especially for the curious and the creative kids out there. 

The opening lines of "Crescent-Shaped Depression" say "The mountains surrounding, mark the boundaries you're not meant to leave." and I think this is such a heavy hitting example of what it feels like to be a small-town kid that just wants more, but feels stuck in the place they're from. 

I know for me; it's still a grind and I'm always looking for a way out of here. The guys in Title Fight just really nailed it and they came out of the gates with an album that feels raw, relatable, and deeply personal. I don't think you can ask for a better debut album. It's only gotten better with time and is still very highly appreciated among fans. 

This album starts off in your face with two powerful tracks, "Coxton Yard" and the title track "Shed."

Ned wastes no time, two seconds in and he's already screaming with raw intensity. Immediately my blood starts to pump, and I can't help but bang my head, but then here comes our boy Jamie to mellow things out in the second half. The blend of Ned and Jamie is something you don't see often, their balance makes Title Fight so unique, and it works perfectly. 

Songs like "Shed" and "Flood of '72" get me jacked and make me want to mosh, but when you move into songs like "Safe in Your Skin" or "GMT (Greenwich Mean Time)" I feel reflective and a deeper feeling than just angry. I think this is such an important aspect of what makes Title Fight. They display their emotions so clearly and to the point, it's undeniable. The music of Title Fight is pure passion, drive, and heart. These guys are no phonies; they love the music and mean every word. 

A small town isn't so lonely when you have music like "Shed" and you know somebody understands your struggle. When you finally find the words you've been searching for, you'll feel seen, maybe for the first time.

For me, "Shed" was everything I felt, but didn't know how to express. It was the reason for the days I spent inside because I had nowhere else to go. It was a message to the girlfriends that broke my fragile teenage heart. It was everything I wish I could've said but didn't know how to say it. It spoke for me. It was my frustrations, my boredom, my feelings of being trapped, my heartbreak. It was everything all at once, like a buffet at my favorite restaurant. It was the first time I found music by myself and knew it would stick with me for a lifetime. It doesn't happen too often anymore, but "Shed" will always be with me. I will never forget the moments it has brought me. I started my first band because of this record, I learned how to yell, I bought a White Les Paul Custom with gold hardware, I have given hundreds of hours of my time to this record. There's nothing that could ever change my mind about it, "Shed" is my number one. 

I encourage anyone who's never heard this album to go and listen right now. Go for a run, go for a drive, get outside and blast it. It's an experience, and such a solid debut. Fourteen years later, and it's still a classic. It taught me lessons, it carried me through heartbreak and it gave me a voice. Title Fight is forever, and there's a place for everybody. - EH 

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A Conversation With Ned Russin Of Title Fight and glitterer:

Ned Russin with Glitterer. Sound and Fury Festival. Exposition Park, Los Angeles. July 30, 2023. Photo by Oskar Rodriguez.

EH: How did you decide on the name “Shed?”

NR: "I don't have an exact memory of how we decided on the title. The song was surely written and we knew that was its title, but I don't remember the circumstances of deciding that it would be fitting for the entire album. I would say I think it's kind of an obtuse word which I like. You have to know the context to understand if you're using it as a noun or a verb. And even then, it's just a short and  simple word. For us, it was just one of those things that got decided on and felt pretty natural. It just worked, and that's kind of how you want it to feel."

EH: What significance does the number 27 have?

NR: "27 is my dad's lucky number. He was born on the 27th, got married on the 27th, and has said the number just kind of pops up all over the place for him. I don't think my dad or I are superstitious, but there's something comforting about that happenstance, even if it's just selectively noticing something. The song was embracing that superstition in an uncertain time, when my dad had triple bypass surgery."

EH: What is your songwriting process like?

NR: "For the most part, I try to just play music without thinking too much about it. Either playing with other people with no real goal or just playing at home and not really paying much attention. Once I stumble upon something that sounds good, I just try to follow that to its logical end. I like to write as quickly as possible and not think too much about it. I feel like there's just kind of a natural flow to chords and melodies and the best way to find them is by just allowing your subconscious to find them in a way. Lyrics and vocal melodies probably take the longest but that's also a similar approach."

EH: When writing “Safe in Your Skin” & “Where Am I?” did they come together as one song, or did you write them separately and blend them?

NR: "I can't remember exactly. We were always trying to find ways to transition from one song to the next live, looking for complimentary keys and writing little segues; that was a big thing for us to have a set list that seemed to flow as seamlessly as possible. It's possible we wrote "Safe In Your Skin" to move directly into "Where Am I?" as a kind of intro, or it's also possible that we just put them together since they were in the same key. I'm pretty sure "Where Am I?" came first, or it was at least completed first."

EH: Were any songs cut from “Shed” and if so, did you ever use them?

NR: "Yeah there were two B-sides I believe, but both were released. We re-recorded "Dreamcatchers," our song from the AHC comp, and we recorded this song called "Missed" and they both came out on a flexi around the time of the album's release."

EH: How important was it to incorporate home in this album? There are a lot of references to WB/Kingston throughout the record, was this intentional or just a product of the environment?

NR: "It's hard to say being so far removed from that time. Some of it was natural. We wrote a lot about Kingston because that's where we lived and that's what we knew. We had only recently started touring and started to have more perspective on the scope of the world, it gave us a new understanding. But also, we also loved being from Kingston and wanted to write things that specifically made sense to our friends and to us. We just wanted to make a record that accurately represented how we felt about our home and how that influenced us."

EH: Listening back now, how do you feel about “Shed?” What are some feelings you had when writing the album? Did you think it would get so big?

NR: "When I happen to listen to the album, I feel pretty content with how it came out. I have a hard time remembering how I felt writing the album because much of what I remember is the stories that we've told since, not the actual events. I will say that it felt exciting. We were making our first album with one of our favorite musicians in a great studio playing songs we believed in. WIth regards to the album being "big," I am unable to conceive of it that way. Part of that is just because all I did was take part in writing a record like so many other people have done, and the other part is that I don't engage in any sort of discourse that makes it seem like the band is so amazingly important. That's not healthy for anyone, and, again, we're just a band." 

EH: How much of an influence did Will Yip and Walter Schreifels have on the record? What are some things they did to help push the record to become what it is today?

NR: "Walter came down to Kingston before recording to see the shape of the record in the fall of 2010 I think. He stayed at my parents' house, sleeping in my brother's room, and came with us to practice in Jamie's parents' basement. During those few days, we finished up "Flood Of 72" and "Where Am I?" and just kind of showed him everything else. Walter's big thing was that he didn't want us to go into the studio having to write lyrics, a practice I still believe in, and so we just all wrote lyrics to those songs and worked on vocals together. It was pretty nice. There were a few other small changes, but for the most part Walter then kind of became the coach of the record, offering advice and input on how to best track the record. We recorded live, and then Shane and Jamie overdubbed guitars using .11 gauge strings on Walter's recommendation, and then we did vocals doing four passes at a time. Will was just the engineer at this point, even though he had some input at some points, our relationship as collaborators really took shape during Floral Green. 9. What are you listening to these days?I just listened to a podcast with Guy from Fugazi and that's gotten me on a Jonathan Richman kick. He also talked about this band Latin Playboys that I'd never heard and I've been listening to their first record. In addition to that, I've been listening to new records from Sensor Ghost, Alex G, First Day Back, and Graham Hunt, and then stuff from Pharoah Sanders, The Fireman, Swiz, and The God Machine." 

EH: A message for the fans?

"Thank you."

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Thank you so much for this opportunity Ned.

Such an incredible way to kick off the first week of the blog!

Keep an eye out for the next post

Another classic album coming up and an interview from one of the brains behind it all.

See ya then! - Ethan