Justin Fisher
| Justin Fisher | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| Background information | |||
| Born | April 11, 1970 (age 54) | ||
| Origin | Connecticut | ||
| Occupation(s) | Musician | ||
| Instrument(s) | Bass guitar, vocals, guitar, keyboards | ||
| Associated acts | |||
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Justin Fisher is a musician. He is best known for his work with the bands Nerf Herder and Psoma. He was a childhood friend of Rivers Cuomo.
Biography
Childhood
Fisher was a childhood friend of Rivers Cuomo after Fisher's mother, Mary Pat Fisher, befriended Cuomo's mother Beverly Shoenberger. According to Justin in the unauthorized Weezer biography Rivers' Edge, "Basically, Rivers and I met in the sixth grade right after he had left his ashram and got to our school. The first time I really met him he had a bunch of these kind of cool fantasy magazines and there were a bunch of guys crowded around him. We had similar interests like Dungeons & Dragons, music and sports like soccer."
In the 7th grade, Cuomo introduced Fisher to the music of the rock band Kiss. Fisher had previously been a fan of the Beatles and the Beach Boys.
- See Fury
At an 8th grade talent show, Cuomo and Fisher witnessed some classmates covering the song "Metal Health" by Quiet Riot, and the two noticed girls rushing the stage and "everyone freaking out", and thereafter decided to form their own band with Eric Robertson on drums and Cuomo's brother Leaves on guitar. The project, dubbed Fury, was a Kiss cover band. In the summer of 1984 Fury began holding rehearsals and, by September, they had played their first show. Fisher and Cuomo later both attended E.O. Smith High School. There, the two were pegged as "metalheads". Fisher and Cuomo both enrolled in karate classes. Said Fisher, "It was as much protecting ourselves as it was an interest in martial arts, karate and ninja sort of Asian stuff."
Avant Garde and Zoom
Avant Garde was a heavy metal band formed in 1985 by Cuomo and Fisher in Connecticut. Started while they were still in high school, the band recruited more members and eventually moved to Los Angeles to try to make it big. The band later changed its name to Zoom before dissolving in 1990.
1990s
Fisher and Rivers Cuomo moved into a house together on Amherst Avenue in Los Angeles. Fisher helped to form the short-lived band Shufflepuck in the mid-90s, with Adam Orth, another childhood friend of Fisher and Cuomo. A self-titled album was recorded under the Interscope Records label and the band contributed the track "Where the Hell Is She" to the compilation Hear You Me! A Tribute to Mykel and Carli. In 1998, Fisher contributed backing vocals to the song "American Girls", the sole release by the Rivers Cuomo side-project Homie, for the soundtrack to the film Meet the Deedles. In 1999, Fisher briefly joined the Rentals as a touring member for the band's brief Japanese tour in support of the album Seven More Minutes. Fisher also contributed additional group vocals to Rentals frontman Matt Sharp's eponymous solo album, released in 2004.
Nerf Herder and Psoma
In 1999, Fisher joined the rock band Nerf Herder, who had previously opened for Weezer on the Pinkerton Tour. Fisher performed keyboards and bass on the albums How to Meet Girls (2000), My E.P. (2001), and American Cheese (2002). In 2002, he was replaced by Ben Pringle (who later briefly joined the Rentals) when Fisher left to pursue his own band Psoma. The band released one EP and two studio albums under Fisher's own label, named "Amherst House Records" after the house on Amherst Avenue in Los Angeles where Fisher lived with Rivers Cuomo in the early 90s.
Discography
with Avant Garde
- 1987 — The Blue Demo — bass
- 1988 — The Purple Demo — bass
- 1989 — Somethin' Different! — bass
with Shufflepuck
- 1996 — Shufflepuck — guitar, vocals
- 1998 — Hear You Me! A Tribute to Mykel and Carli — guitar, vocals on "Where the Hell Is She"
with Homie
- 1998 — Meet the Deedles Soundtrack — backing vocals on "American Girls"
with Matt Sharp
- 2004 — Matt Sharp — group vocals on "Just Like Movie Stars"
with Nerf Herder
- 2000 — How to Meet Girls — bass
- 2001 — My E.P. — bass
- 2002 — American Cheese — bass