So, I’ve been working on Five Iron Frenzy, and I’d like some input on the member relationships… Firstly, they played a few shows before they got their horn section, (a few meaning, like, 6 or fewer), should the horn section be entered as Original members? I’ve currently got them not as such, but after reading an interview with them, I’m leaning slightly towards yes, they’re original, especially since they didn’t record anything during that short period.
(Interview linked below from the Wayback Machine, ctrl+F “The Early Days” for the section in question, about 1/4 down the page)
Secondly, they broke up in 2003, but re-formed in 2011. I’ve reflected that gap with a second member relationship for all the members that came back. Since all but one of the original members came back (including horns), should I add “Original” to the re-formed band’s relationships? (relationships page linked below)
Reunions/etc: I always go by “you can only be original once”. So, your “leave and come back” members aren’t listed as original when they come back. They can only be original when they are original. (example, original 1985-1990. not original 2000-2010)
In the case of reunions and break ups - I know that Wikipedia (which is a cesspool) editors like listing every “hiatus” as a start and ending. But sometimes they don’t understand what it is like being on the road living in a bus with 4 other guys for two years. Letting your fans know that you are taking some time off doesn’t mean they broke up. So, sometimes, depending on the actual “break up” and the amount of time between when they got back together, we may not even need to list the end date because it wasn’t actually an ending, it was simply a vacation (even when it involves working with other people).
Who’s first and who’s not: Many groups start with one person and a vision. That doesn’t mean they are the only original member. There’s no one simple answer.
In the case of Five Iron Frenzy, you say they played a handful of shows before getting additional members. That could mean the band was together for over a year before adding horns.
Bands, shows, and records - it’s not like on tv where you go to a bar drowning your sorrows over some girl and the guy next to you says “put your break up into song” and they become a band before last call and have gigs the next day.
Shows, if you’re lucky, are probably 6-8 weeks apart. Your first gig is booked probably 6-8 weeks before the show date. And you are together for some time before you even go looking for shows. Those additional members don’t sound original to me.
You make a fair point… I personally could see it both ways, (e.g. I’d likely tell someone “oh, the original vocalist came back”). Although, that’s why I started this thread, to see if there’s a consensus or not.
I could see at least one exception in this particular case, as one of the original guitarists came back as a bassist.
Oh, they full on quit. there was a farewell tour and everything. And then, 8 years later, they announced they were back together, (all but the original bassist, that is), and they’ve been together ever since.
The time between their first show and their first recordings likely wasn’t super long. Their first show was April 1995, and I just remembered their earliest (released) recordings are from “late 1995” and later in 1995 (dates from the liner notes of “Cheeses…”, a compilation of rarities and demos). Listening to the recordings from Cheeses, they definitely had all three horns by that time. I do admit, they were likely without the horns section for several months, so perhaps you’re right on this point…
I do want to note that the currently tagged “original” members, (Scott, Keith, Micah, Reese, and Andrew, or Five Iron without the horns) were all members of a different band before the show in April, Five Iron Frenzy was a side project of that band at that time.