We Are the Fury

Hailing from the not-so-musical-hotbed of Toledo, OH, We Are the Fury originally came together in 1999 around three high-school friends, vocalist Jeremy Lublin, guitarist Chris Hatfield, and bassist Alan Hoffar. At the time, they were known as Hearsay TAO (first just Hearsay), a post-hardcore group along the lines of Thursday. The guys added Lublin's little brother Stephan on drums, and played around for about a year before keyboardist Todd Wehrle joined, shortly before their album Where Vision Ends was recorded. With an energetic live show, Hearsay TAO became one of the biggest drawing acts in the area, and in 2002, they self-released the EP By Land, by Air, by Sleep. At some point along the way, the guys felt a name change was in order and became the Fury, putting out a five-song self-titled EP as such in 2005.

The name change went hand in hand with a style change (presumably because of it), the guys trading in their emotional post-hardcore ways for a stylish post-punk attack influenced by David Bowie, the Rolling Stones, and the Cure, which earned them comparisons to groups like Hot Hot Heat and Head Automatica. Apparently picking the wrong name, however, they were forced to switch things up in the fall of 2005 to avoid legal problems, rechristening themselves simply We Are the Fury. They caught the attention of East West Records, and with their new moniker in place (and new digs in Los Angeles), their 2005 EP, retitled Infinite Jest, was reissued by the label in late January 2006. Also during 2006, the quintet toured nationwide, hitting up the year's SXSW and CMJ music festivals, all while readying the debut full-length Venus, which was finally released in early 2007.