Ryan RitchieSan Pedro punk band F.Y.P plays its first local show in nearly a decade today at The Blue Star. However, singer-guitarist Todd Congelliere says the performance is not a reunion in the traditional sense.
For starters, F.Y.P (Five Year Plan) had 20 members during its initial run between 1989 and 1999 and only two of those — Congelliere and guitarist Sean Cole — are part of the new lineup. In addition, Cole joined the group as a drummer in 1995 and was the bassist by the time the band ended. Then there's the fact that the title of F.Y.P's final record, Toys That Kill, became the name of the quartet formed by Congelliere and Cole after F.Y.P's demise. And if that wasn't confusing enough, Toys That Kill bassist Casey “Chachi” Ferrara and drummer Mike “Jimmy Jackets” Felix are also the rhythm section for the current version of F.Y.P.
“It's absolutely not a reunion,” Congelliere goes on. “Because 'reunion' is a bad word. Plus, reunions also imply making a lot of money.”
Promoters have offered to book F.Y.P for a few years, Congelliere says, but the 39-year-old has resisted. He's been busy with Toys That Kill and his other groups, which also include indie-pop act The Underground Railroad to Candyland, an acoustic-based foursome titled Stoned At Heart and solo work.
In fact, in May Toys That Kill issued its fourth full-length, Fambly 42, on Congelliere's Recess Records. The group is slated to embark on a national tour in October, which makes the singer/guitarist's decision to say yes to an F.Y.P show now even stranger. Congelliere responds that since he had no plan when he began F.Y.P and didn't have one when the group ended, resurrecting F.Y.P at an inopportune time actually makes sense considering the group's history.
Congelliere changed his mind because a promoter told him that people would have fun at an F.Y.P show. With that in mind, he re-visited his previous material with a different perspective and agreed to play as F.Y.P for so long as audiences and his band were having a good time.
“I kept saying no because we are so separated from those songs,” Congelliere says. “I always said I hated reunions and we even had songs about this. But all that is just shitty pride stuff. Deep down, I want to play these songs and I want people who didn't see us get to see us play these songs.”
The new F.Y.P has performed recently in Escondido and Hawaii and did a few secret shows in San Pedro, but this flurry of activity does not mean F.Y.P is a full-time group. If anything, the performance at The Blue Star will be the only Los Angeles F.Y.P show for a long time because “one of these shows could easily be the one where we say no more,” Congelliere says.
He adds: “The only thing that's going to stop us is having one of those shows where there's no reason for us to be there, or we're not into it.”
F.Y.P plays today at The Blue Star with Four Letter Words, Audacity, Death Hymn #9 and Maniac. The show is 18 and over, $12 for advanced tickets and $14 at the door
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