Fists formed in a shared maisonette above Sherwood Video in Nottingham in 2007 as a three-piece (Angi Fletcher, James Finlay and Theresa Wrigley) after previous band ‘Fist of the Champions’ imploded before a proper live show (the guy in the band who owned most of the gear left with most of the gear).
The band was initially a home recording project inspired by Daniel Johnston, Michael Yonkers, R Stevie Moore, skiffle and Joe Meek: musicians and engineers whose means of recording and producing music (in varying degrees) chimed with the limitations that the band had at the time.
Angi and James had started putting on DIY shows with friends in and around Nottingham. It wasn’t long before they started putting their own band, Fists, on the line-ups too – going on before the support act, playing for 15 minutes through a selection of 10w practice amps, acoustic guitar, Casio keyboard and drum kit. The sound engineer couldn’t tell them to fuck off because they were the promoters.
Pete Conway (guitarist) joined the band after seeing one such show. Joe Wrigley (Theresa’s brother) filled in on bass.
In 2009 friends of the band decided to set up a record label called Hello Thor Records to release a debut 7”. Dave Biggs joined the band on bass permanently.
Cockatoo / Skit (“a delightfully tumbledown fusion of hillbilly twang and soft-psych pop harmony” The Stool Pigeon) was released in spring 2009 on 7”. The band got their first radio plays and were invited to play the BBC Introducing stage at Glastonbury. Rough Trade Shops licensed Cockatoo for their 2009 Counter Culture compilation. Fists toured the UK with Glasgow band Sparrow and the Workshop who they met at a festival.
In 2010 and 2011 Fists put out two more releases on Hello Thor Records – the four track Olympic Hits EP (“…a pleasingly disorientated collection of Cowboy Junkies style intimacy, pounding mystery-rock and country music spiked with bad acid” 4/5 Artrocker Magazine) and another 7”, Ascending / Stag (“British Indie as it should be: emotive and rough around the edges” Trebuchet Magazine). The band played dates with The Vaselines, Obits, Sparrow and the Workshop amongst others as well as a few festivals (Summer Sundae, Truck, Splendour).
Having become fast friends with Brooklyn band Obits (Sub Pop band featuring members of Hot Snakes, GVSB and Edsel) Fists were invited out to the US for a sold out East Coast tour in March 2012. This was a bit of a wake-up call for the band who realised that they really ought to knuckle down and write an LP.
Phantasm was recorded in December 2012 on Lightship95 (a floating studio ship on the Thames) with Rory Attwell (who had also done the two previous sessions) behind the mixing desk. The album was recorded mostly live with minimal overdubs. The band recorded 14 songs in 6 days, 11 of which made the record.