Title Fight
Title Fight were an American rock band from Kingston, Pennsylvania, formed in 2003. They released three studio albums – Shed (2011), Floral Green (2012) and Hyperview (2015) – gradually shifting from a hardcore punk-oriented sound towards shoegaze and indie rock. Hyperview was released through Anti-, a record label to which the band signed in July 2014.
This article is about the band. For use in sport competition, see Championship § Title match system.
Title Fight
Kingston, Pennsylvania, U.S.
2003–2018 (inactive)
- ANTI-
- Revelation
- SideOneDummy
- Run for Cover
- Six Feet Under
- Flightplan
- Jamie Rhoden
- Ned Russin
- Shane Moran
- Ben Russin
Although not publicly announced, the band has been on hiatus since 2018.
History[edit]
Early years[edit]
Title Fight formed in 2003 as a three-piece band consisting of Jamie Rhoden on guitar and vocals, Ned Russin on bass and Ned's twin brother Ben on drums, playing local shows in Kingston and Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Ned Russin claims his older brother, Alex Russin is a huge influence in their formation of Title Fight. Their name came from the cover of an old HBO showtime guide that Ned had read in the attic when he was younger. In addition to popular punk bands, Rhoden claims the Positive Numbers Fest (an annual hardcore/punk music festival in Wilkes-Barre, PA) was an influence on the band's formation.[1] The band produced a demo entitled "Down for the Count" in 2003 that is still available on the internet.
In 2005, the band added Shane Moran on second guitar and recorded two demos in 2005 and 2006, during which they played shows in what they call a "small, tight-knit community" around Kingston, Pennsylvania.[1] These included several shows at the Doylestown, Pennsylvania YMCA Teen Center.
Progression[edit]
They recorded a split with the Erection Kids in 2007 on FlightPlan Records. Members of the Erection Kids later went on to form Balance And Composure. The band quickly followed up their first release with the Kingston 7" (also on FlightPlan Records) in February 2008.[2] Title Fight played with Fireworks on their tour with Set Your Goals Summer of 2007, ultimately leading to Jeff's (owner of Run For Cover Records) discovery of Title Fight.[3] On October 16, 2008, it was announced that the band had signed to Run for Cover Records.[4] The Last Thing You Forget 7" was recorded in December 2008 at the Getaway Group in Massachusetts with Jay Maas and released in June 2009 on Run for Cover Records.[3] The 7" featured three new songs while the CD release featured all of their releases to date. The artwork for the album was done by John Slaby, a friend from Wilkes-Barre.[3] Later in June, the band went on tour with Crime in Stereo and Fireworks.[5] This was followed by a US tour with New Found Glory.[6] The Kingston EP has also been re-released on Six Feet Under Records with Dave Sausage in order to revamp the EP.[3] During these years, Title Fight altered their sounds to a more Melodic hardcore genre, with influences including Jawbreaker, Seaweed, Lifetime, Knapsack, and the Promise Ring.[7]
In 2010, Title Fight was featured on Triple B Record's compilation, America's Hardcore, with a new song entitled "Dreamcatchers". They also toured the United States with Bayside, Senses Fail and Balance And Composure[8] and a tour of Japan with H2O.
Musical style[edit]
Title Fight's style has been described as post-hardcore,[23][24] hardcore punk,[25][26] melodic hardcore,[27][26] punk rock,[28] shoegaze,[26] soft grunge[29] and post-rock.[25] Forming as a hardcore band, they soon began to draw influences from a variety of other genres such as alternative rock, shoegaze, and post-rock.[26][25] Bassist Ned Russin identified Title Fight musically as hardcore punk in a 2009 interview with PunkNews.org.[30]
Other projects[edit]
The members of Title Fight are also known for their presence in many other Wilkes-Barre hardcore bands, most notably Bad Seed, which featured Shane on vocals and Jamie on bass. Ned joined the band later on bass while Jamie switched to guitar. Bad Seed released a demo in 2008 and a self-titled EP in 2009 on 6131 Records and played Sound and Fury and This is Hardcore Fest before disbanding in 2010. Along with Bad Seed, Shane, Ned and Ben played in the straight edge band, Disengage, who released a seven-song EP, Look Back, in 2010 Full-Length, Expressions, in 2011, and a self titled EP in 2014. Ned also plays in straight edge Wilkes-Barre band Stick Together, hardcore band Big Contest, and shoegaze indie-rock act Noise Pet. Jamie also plays in a shoegaze punk band by the name of Haze who released a demo of rough mixes in 2014. Ned and Ben are the younger brothers of Alex Russin, guitarist/singer of Gypsy and hardcore band Cold World.[31]
In September 2010, the local venue, Cafe Metropolis in Wilkes-Barre, where Title Fight played their first show, closed. To give back to the rising hardcore community, Title Fight and other local friends took action by opening Redwood Art Space, a venue in Wilkes-Barre. The venue opened in March 2011. However, in June 2012 the venue was forced into moving.
In 2017, Ned Russin started a solo project called Glitterer, which later expanded into a full band in 2023.[32][33] Meanwhile, Ben Russin took over as the drummer for Citizen in 2023.