Brought together by fate (we’ll get to the connections, we promise) Fencer is a trio to keep your eyes on as we wind up the last months of 2022! We’ll set the scene: It’s 2017, Field, Cameron and Scott realize the three of them were all they needed to complete their sound and Fencer was born! With a band full of water signs *cue the emotional overload* and a motto of “everything must sound blue,” we must say Fencer is really playing into the aesthetic!
So gather your tears and thoughts on self reflection so you can ponder on the lyricism Fencer are putting out! The trio’s newest single, ‘Sanitarium’ takes you through the feeling that everything you see is through rose colored glasses, even if it’s not the best outlook to have on the situation. Read the inspirations and meanings behind the track straight from Field himself in this exclusive interview!
Hi Field! Thank you so much for chatting with us. Jumping straight in, we were hoping you could go into a little more detail on how Fencer came to be! So in 2017, you and Cameron got together to blend your unique sounds. How did you two find each other, and how did you all discover Scott was what you needed to complete the band?
Hey! Thanks for having me. I jumped through a couple bands after high school and none of them ultimately worked out. I didn’t really know any other musicians though, so I ended up on this band finder website to connect people. This pop punk band reached out to me and auditioned me as their bassist. There was a guitarist who sang and Cameron was the drummer. He and I started hanging out on our own and writing a lot of music. I’d go to his house in the evenings and we’d write and record a song from scratch until like 5am. Eventually we left the band we were in and decided to start our own, I wanted to sing and ultimately ended up learning guitar too. Went through tons of different people trying to form something that worked, but ultimately we didn’t have much luck. Cameron’s brother Scott played bass so while we were in between members, he’d come and jam with us so we could keep playing. Eventually we realized that the three of us were working best and Fencer was formed, sometime around February 2017.
And who came up with the name Fencer? Can you tell us the backstory on that?
Scott was actually a three time Fencing national champion in the United States back in 2015. The name was an homage to his hard work and remarkable skill. Always honing his craft. That’s why they call him Sir Scottalot, Captain of Cottalot.
You all have the motto, “everything must sound blue,” as your Synesthesia influences not just your visuals but your sound. What makes something a lighter blue as opposed to a deeper blue and vice versa?
It’s hard to say what makes a song blue, let alone certain shades. Words and letters have just always had a color associated with them in my brain. More often than not, they end up more of a royal or electric blue, but there are definitely some sky blue’s in there on occasion. We only use songs that feel or look blue, if a song isn’t giving me that vibe we’ll put it aside for something else and I think that really assists with the creative direction/image of the band.
Not only are your visuals blue, but you all also happen to be water signs! Water signs are known to be deep and emotional. How do you think it plays a part in creating your sound?
Yeah! We learned that after we had already decided on the blue color scheme. I guess it was just meant to be. I’m probably the biggest cancer in the world, haha. I’m hyper emotional and have a personality disorder. A lot of our lyrics are based around mental health and emotions, so I think us all having that association is really cool. The three of us have very different ways of expressing our emotions and that results in a lot of diversity within that subject matter.
A lot of great music was written during the pandemic, like your newest single, ‘Sanitarium.’ One of our favorite lines in the song is “You’re helping me grow And you’re making me me.” Can you share some of the things you learned about yourself during the pandemic and how it’s shaped who you are today?
Yeah, I learned that it isn’t good for me to be locked in my room for a year and a half. But in all seriousness, I think I learned a lot about how to maintain a healthy relationship with your partner. I did NOT do that during the pandemic and all of those mistakes contributed to me now feeling a lot more capable at that sort of thing. That line is referencing the idea of you allowing your partner to fill all of your voids and issues, but when you lose that it feels like the entire world crashed down.
You’ve said the track is a positive perspective on a negative decision. Do you think this romanticizes the bad decision in any way, or do you think it’s important to keep a positive mindset regardless of your choice?
It definitely romanticizes it. It’s important to keep a positive mindset regardless, but the song is more so focused on the idea of knowingly making a bad decision because of how good it will make you feel. It’s very upbeat and happy sounding because that’s how it affected me despite the context of the choices made.
People went into Sanitariums to go out into the open air and help strengthen their bodies to withstand their ailments. How does it feel to send this song into the open finally, and how do you think the process of creating it helped strengthen you?
It’s good dude. We’ve been sitting on all this music for so long, it’s really nice to finally be able to share it and build up our discography. I love this song, I think it’s one of the catchiest tracks we’ve written. For a long time I didn’t find songwriting therapeutic and didn’t understand why so many people did. This latest batch of music has really changed my mindset on that. I think especially because I was coming from such a dark place during and post pandemic. When you feel like you nail the emotions and concepts you’re trying to convey in a song, it feels really good.
The video for ‘Sanitarium’ focuses on TV-headed men who seem pretty isolated. The visuals are filled with art and some pretty interesting scenes ( like the blue rubber ducks around the tub). Can you tell us the inspiration behind the video and what inspired some of the scenes?
The video was supposed to have subtle themes and visuals to express some contrasts to the song. It captures the loneliness and isolation that led me to make the choices I made. The TV men are lost and in a very scary and unknown place trying to find somewhere they feel they belong. Ultimately they do. It’s an art video.
You released your debut EP, Growing Up Selfish, in 2019, the year before the pandemic, and with a few other tracks in between, ‘Sanitarium’ is your first release this year. How do you feel the band has grown from that first EP to now?
We’ve learned a lot. We learned how to self-produce which has really given us control over how we want to sound. We’ve also been doing this band now for almost six years, so we’ve just gotten super tight and learned how to overcome a lot of difficulties. We also got a lot better at songwriting, so our new stuff kicks the EP’s ass.
What can fans look forward to going into 2023? Any new projects in the works you can tell us about?
I can’t say too much, just that there’s a lot coming over the next few months (maybe even next month, who knows) and it will be well worth the wait. So stay tuned.
‘Sanitarium’ is a perfect representation of what so many of us felt over the last few years! Stream it here! Did anyone else catch themselves saying mood to any of the lyrics or video scenes? What was your favorite part of the video? Let us know in the comments below or tweet us over @TheHoneyPOP! We’re also on Facebook and Instagram!
Are you looking for exclusive interviews with your favs? Check this out!
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT FENCER:
FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | TIKTOK | TWITTER
