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History
Mod Fiction is an independent alternative rock band formed by singer, guitarist, and song composer Kevin Gadani and drummer Greg Gadani in Albany, New York in 2011.

 

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In 2011, before we recruited a bassist, Greg and I began rehearsing a dozen or so original tunes I'd written, including a few that were left over from my previous band, The Relics. Mark McCarty joined us on bass soon after but we were sidelined several months due to health issues. When we regrouped, we rehearsed the original material relentlessly, with the intent to immediately begin gigging and recording. Along with the songs that ended up being on our first full-length LP “Come Back Down”, our live set also consisted of handful of covers, including Neil Young’s “Like a Hurricane” and the Sex Pistols “Submission.” We played mostly in our hometown city of Albany but eventually expanded to other upstate cities.
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The LP “Come Back Down” was recorded within a few months (two days of drum & bass tracking, weeks of guitar and vocal overdubs) at DMS Studio, in Clarksville, NY. The album was engineered by Arthur Scott Verner, who also contributed ideas in the mixing process. Most songs were re-mixed a few years later to “fix” the vocal volume levels. The album contains 1960's garage-rock riffs and melodies combined with the punch of early 90's alternative rock. “So What?”, the album's opening track, begins with a burst of 'grungy' guitars and drums that lead into a Beatle-esque woven vocal melody and a tambourine, sing-along chorus. "Startoned” employs chimed rhythm guitars and fuzzed-out lead guitar solos combined with jazzy, off-kilter drumming, evoking a sound I hadn't heard before. "Cindy Froze", a wonderful pop song (yet lyrically spooky), is led with a fun12-string hook and more Beatle-esque melodies and harmonies. “Misadventure” stands o me out as well, layers of fuzz guitars and a trance-inducing bass line and drum rhythm. The lyrics throughout the album may have a surreal cynicism. Oh well.
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In the summer of 2012, we agreed to an informal recording and distribution deal with Hollywax Records, ran by Dustin White, who had attended a gig at Valentine’s music club in Albany. Hollywax Records financed the recording and promotion of Mod Fiction’s 2013 EP “Hoax” and my solo LP “Spectator’s Blues”. The recording of “Hoax” began just weeks after bassist Mark McCarty’s departure from the band (though he traveled into town for a few more gigs and the initial recording session of the EP). We booked time with Arthur Scott Verner at DMS Studio.  Though the EP contained only four tracks, it was well received by a few music critics in the United States and Europe. We had an invitation to play in Europe for a short tour to promote the EP. Unlike the first album, in which the our single “So What” received minimal airplay, the single off “Hoax”, “Losing Interest”, ended up on the WEXT 97.7 Top 20 songs of the year. “Losing Interest” is pop song that could fit into a lot of categories, with its psychedelic swirling fuzz guitar hook, another attempt at Beatle-esque vocal melody, and the extended, improv jam outro. The three remaining songs on “Hoax” were not as pop-radio friendly. The opening track “Quit Stalling” has a sludgy, catchy groove that might remind some of something off an early Sub-Pop compilation. “Silence in Stereo” mixes a range of diverse musical ideas.   It' s waltzing verses are haunted, drenched in acid-allegory, a pre-chorus and chorus that seem to conjure up the black magic musings of Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, and an outro that pushes the song to its farthest limit. (As with songs from the first album, “Silence in Stereo” was re-mixed in 2015 and given another guitar overdub to include a sound that was always achieved when we played live but not on the initial release). Both “Quit Stalling” and “Silence In Stereo” had only been introduced to the band on the eve of the first day of recording the EP. “Is this Morning”, the final track on the EP, was actually recorded years earlier on my Tascam 4-track machine. It’s an ethereal piece that leans on sustained organ chords, melancholy piano, and audio clips selected from a John Lennon interview, a Son House interview, an excerpt from TV’s Columbo(Peter Falk & Jack Cassidy), and The Joker(Cesar Romero) from the 1966 Batman series.
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Later in the year, I recorded an acoustic, full-length solo LP titled “Spectator’s Blues”. The songs were mostly done in one session at DMS, with no overdubs, just vocals and acoustic guitar. The album is influenced by English musician Nick Drake’s work, with its alternate tunings and somber finger picking. Despite not playing any gigs to support the album’s release, it's single “Stroll Away” reached Number 3 on the WEXT 97.7 Top 20 songs of the year.
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Around the time “Hoax” was recorded, we recruited Peter Monaco to play bass, though he did not play on that EP. With replacement of Pete on bass, our live performances began to include more improvisation and reinvention to our sets. (Pete’s influences were different that Mark’s). Along with new original material, we also started playing long, somewhat improvised versions of Led Zeppelin’s “How Many More Times” and Cream’s “Dance the Night Away”. During this time, Our live performances were usually accompanied by Liquid Light Projectors that fit well with the more psychedelic sounds we were emanating.
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Leading up to recording our third collection of songs at DMS Studio in the summer of 2015, We gigged and rehearsed consistently, playing more previously unreleased songs and reinventing older tunes. At about this time we also separated ourselves from Hollywax Records and planned to release the next album without the label. “Psyrcles”, as it was titled, was to be a five song EP. Instead, the songs recorded were released individually, at first. Amateur music videos were produced to promote the band online as well. The first song to be released, “Something Flew Over My Head”, is sort of emulating to the quiet side of The Velvet Underground. “Last Exit Paranoia Blues” is a heavy psychedelic blues. “So You Want to Be Free" psychedelic pop song with funky drums and bass and layers upon layers of fuzz pedal guitars and Wah-Wah pedal effects. “Soporific Sea” has mellow, lazy-day versus punctuated by swirling slide guitar. The title track, “Psyrcles”, is an effort in Eastern leaning minimalism. Hand drums and slide guitars drone on for around ten minutes. The EP includes a sixth song; an avant garde,Tascam 4-track recorded song similar to the final song on "Hoax". After the recording and release of these songs in August 2015, Peter Monaco left the band and was replaced by Nick O’Brien. O’Brien was involved in multiple bands, most notably Real Blue Sky, so was brought into the band initially as “gigging bassist” because of his other commitments. The band ended 2015 and began 2016 with a few gigs with O’Brien on bass.
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 We worked on a few new songs influenced by the Brian Wilson/Phil Spector production sounds. We rehearsed and recorded sparsely throughout 2016 at Nick’s home studio. Only one song was released from these sessions; the 8 minute “Un Adieu Au Printemps”. The song is split into three connecting sections; “Partie Un: Hollow Love Blues / Duexieme Partie: Waiting For The Tide / Partie Trois: Just Like Ti Jean’s Blues”. Part 1 opens the song with a funeral march piano, swirling organ and Beach Boy-esque backing vocals. Part two is a thumping rocker that also makes nods to the Beach Boys sound and makes use of a kazoo melody. Part 3 has an “underwater” groove that accompanies a dark melody and somewhat despondent lyrics. The song ends with what sounds like an eerie toy piano and space organ sounds. The song was released in the summer of 2017 and, oddly enough (because the song clocks in at over 8 minutes), received frequent local radio airplay.
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Though the band was not gigging since early 2016, I had played some solo gigs in Albany, mixing covers (Velvet Underground, Syd Barrett, Neil Young, Beatles, Bob Dylan, etc.) with a few Mod Fiction originals.

 

In November 2019 we released "Severance", a new album. Recorded in our respective home studios, it is a sound collage of psychedelic garage rock, spacey guitar and drum patterns,  a little political jabbing (Free Roger Stone), and a musical ode to Neil Young and Crazy Horse (Severance). All the instruments on this album and it's follow up are played by Greg and I. The majority of the songs were spawned from long jam sessions we had throughout 2017 and 2018, most notably "White Walls"; a catchy Spacemen 3 type drone riff with intertwining lead guitars and a thunderous chorus, "Disappearing Ink"; a reverbed, layered guitar rocker with an infectious hook, and "Illumination #9"; a radio friendly tune with etheral vocals, a catchy bass grove, glossy rhythm guitars, and a fuzzed dueling guitar solo. Also included is "Moon Glance" ; a wordy, jaunting piece with a lullaby chorus and backwards guitars thrown in for good measure. The final track of the album, "Satori" is a pschedelic waltz full of tremelo and plaintive lyrics. Videos were made for "Satori" and "Illumination #9", filmed and edited by Greg.

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In December 2020 we released a new EP "Devil Take It", a 5 song collection that paints a similer, but maybe more psychedelic sound than the 2019 album "Severance" and was recorded in similer fashion in our home studios. I began recording the basic tracks sparsely in the spring of 2020 and finished them off by the fall, and then mixed and mastered them before the new year.  The opening track "Tuned Out" is somewhat of a waltz, with intertwining lead guitars and crashing drums, in a similar spirit as  "Satori". "Blue Oblivion" is an Iggy Pop inspired rocker that owes alot to the drumming to give the song a unique rhythm. "Happy Ghosts #1" grew out of a riff we had been informallly jamming on for some time. It has an early Pink Floyd sound, with its echoing slide guitars, wah-wah heavy chorus and carnival keyboard outro, in which Greg introduces the space flute against the wah-wah lead guitar. "Guessing Games" is a song that we worked on as a long jamming drone in rehearsals but on tape was concised nicely. It is flourished with12-string guitars, African drums, a theremin intro and an eastern vocal melody. "Happy Ghosts #2" begins with an etheral keyboard/piano chord progression I had in my pocket for maybe ten years but took until this album for it to get a lyric and melody worthy of the tune. It's repetitive layered outro, complete with harmonica playing partly infuenced by the early 1960's tune "Sealed With A Kiss", slowley fades to close out the album.

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In late 2021 we begain rehearsing for live performance with a new lineup, adding Mark Wolfe on guitar and Clayton Rosen on bass. Playing mostly newer tunes, live shows begin with a slot in Saratoga, NY June 20, 2022 and will continue throughout the year.

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 On July 30,2023 we recorded 5 songs live at the legendary Don Fury Studio. This will be released as Mod Fiction - Live at Fury's Vol. 1. 

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Kevin Gadani (last update 8/1/23)