'Net Helps Band Fisher Find Fame

Singer Kathy Fisher Talks About New Album, Surprising Road To Success

On Nov. 14, Farmclub/Interscope records will release the album "True North" from modern-rock newcomers Fisher. In doing so, the band will be making music history.

Here's why: It was the first time ever that an artist had been signed with a major label based simply on its Internet success.

OK, it's time to gloat. In my very first "On The Set" column, some of you might recall that I predicted that the unsigned band Fisher would be the "next big thing."

Now the duet's pop single "I Will Love You" is causing a sensation around the country before the single's official release.

I caught up with the beautiful and very talented singer Kathy Fisher of the band Fisher, which is on a whirlwind press feeding frenzy to talk about the band's amazing good fortune.

Making Herstory
Fisher's success is due not only to Web technology, but to its large and loyal Internet fan base.

Fisher's albums went to No. 1 on the MP3.com Web site, and their songs were downloaded more than 2 million times, making them one of the hottest bands in cyberland.

Record companies took notice, but were timid about repping a band that was yet unproven in the record stores. Then Farmclub/Interscope came knocking.

Lead singer Kathy Fisher calls the success "totally amazing."

"(We) went into the studio in March and turned in the record in early June," she tells me.

"We were hoping to get a release in September before the fourth quarter, because (record companies) never release new artists (in the) fourth quarter," she says.

But there was a snag. Although the record execs loved the album, they weren't sure that they'd heard the one single that could shoot Fisher out of the gate. Disappointed, Fisher was sent back to the studio.

"In our minds, we were done with writing and ready to tour," Fisher tells me.

After taking the month of July off, they trooped back into the studio in August to write that golden single.

But fate came calling first, and the song would never get written.

Ballad Box
"In August, the freakiest thing happened. A radio station started playing 'I Will Love You' off the Internet," Fisher tells me.

The big surprise for the band wasn't so much that they were playing a Fisher song, but that the station (Star in San Diego) had chosen a piano vocal ballad.

"It's the least likely candidate for hit radio," Fisher says.

"Anyone in the industry will tell you can't break an artist with a piano vocal ballad because no one will play it during drive time," she says.

But those gutsy DJs did spin "I Will Love You" during drive time to audience acclaim.

"It started getting a phenomenal response. People were calling in crying," Fisher says. "Women were pulling off the side of the road on the way home to call the station on their cell phones."

Soon, Fisher's most "least likely candidate for hit radio" was the most requested song at the station. Other stations around the country also picked up the song and added it to their playlists.

Farmclub/Interscope had its single.

"(The record company) moved our release date from February 2001 to Nov. 14, 2000. So we've been doing everything the label normally does in 12 weeks' time in six," Fisher says.

Soundtrack
"We always call it artistic pop," Fisher says, describing the band's sound. "It's pop structure, but it's a little more lyrically intricate than the usual pop fare."

More specifically, she says that Fisher's sound can be produced "if you put Sarah McLachlan, Tori Amos and Fiona Apple in a blender and threw in some Massive Attack and Radiohead and pressed 'puree.'"

Band member Ron Wasserman writes the songs and arrangements and Fisher writes the lyrics and sings.

Where does she get the inspiration for her sometimes emotionally wrought work?

"I wait for something to happen to my friends," Fisher tells me with a laugh.

And what about that sweet and soulful voice?

"I was very blessed with an instrument I could use," the native West Virginian tells me. "Necessity is the mother of invention. I have an alto voice and it's kind of limited in that respect. I've had to take what I was given and work it."

Hometown Hero
One of the first markets to play "I Will Love You" was in Fisher's hometown.

"It's hit my family because it's playing in West Virginia. My sister's alarm clock went off to it one morning," Fisher tells me.

Fisher says that the success really hit her when her sister called and told her that she heard the song.

"You always want to be the local girl that does good," Fisher says.

Guess what, Fisher? You've done better than good.

If this column's been music to your ears, you may want to check out Steven Sato's interviews with:

• Singer Brian McKnight
• The band Hanson

The Big Scoop