Originally planned as a solo outing for vocalist/guitarist
Chris Farren,
Fake Problems hail from the Southern coastal vacation town of Naples, FL. Occupying the space between alt-country, folk, and indie pop with an added dose of punk D.I.Y. appeal,
Farren ultimately got together with some high-school buddies -- bassist/vocalist
Derek Perry, guitarist
Casey Lee, and drummer
Sean Stevenson -- to go at it as a full band. The guys played around locally, burning their own CDs and screening their own shirts, eventually booking tours outside of their hometown.
Fake Problems first documented their sound on the 2005 album
Watching the Bull Get the Matador, though it had some electronic undertones rather than just the twangy country-folk-rock (which could evoke images of early
Against Me! alongside
Whiskeytown) later releases would showcase further. The enthusiastic quartet toured around with
O Pioneers!!! during 2006, as the
Spurs & Spokes 7" arrived via Sabot Productions that August. Sabot then issued the roundup EP
Spurs & Spokes | Bull > Matador that fall; the release compiled their summer EP with four re-recorded tracks from
Fake Problems' then out of print debut. The band continued touring around the southeast U.S. and readied its next album, How Far Our Bodies Go, with producer
Rob McGregor (
Hot Water Music,
Against Me!). Early 2007 dates opening for
Against Me! led into the record's April appearance. ~ Corey Apar, All Music Guide