Title Fight

Title Fight was an American punk rock band from Kingston, Pennsylvania, formed in 2003. The band was comprised of Jamie Rhoden (vocals, guitar), Shane Moran (guitar) and brothers Ned (vocals, bass) and Ben Russin (drums). Title Fight plays music in the vein of Jawbreaker, Kid Dynamite and Lifetime; taking influence from such melodic punk rock acts as Saves the Day, emo bands Knapsack and Seaweed, and, more recently, indie rock acts like Dinosaur Jr. and My Bloody Valentine. Title Fight would release their first single, Flood of '72, in April of 2007 under SideOneDummy Records. Later they would release their first studio album, The Last Thing You Forget, in July of 2009 under Run For Cover Records. They would release their second studio album, Shed, in May of 2011. Their third studio album, Floral Green, would release the following September of 2012, once again utilizing SideOneDummy Records. Ned Russin, the lead bassist, recalls in a 2015 interview: "When we did ‘Floral Green’ so close to ‘Shed’ it was just basically a logistics thing. After we finished ‘Shed’ we had some tours lined up and we had some stuff going on. We looked at it and said if we don’t do a record in whatever it was – May to June – then we won't be able to do it until next January, and then it won't be out for another six months after that. So we could either really bust our asses and make it straight away, or wait really long and play that game. We were so hyped from doing ‘Shed’ and touring we decided to take that. It worked out because it put a kind of interesting pressure on us." In April of 2013, they released the single Face Ghost under Secret Voice and would proceed to release their first EP, Spring Songs, that November under Revelation Records. The band decided to take their time with the production of their fourth studio album, Hyperview, allowing them to experiment with new ideas and implement deep reflection on the overall production of each song. This thought process is manifested in the unique sound Hyperview provided, being different from the overall sound the band had provided prior to this release. Ned states that the inspiration for Hyperview's sound was "all over the place", being influenced by sounds such as Morrisey, The Strokes, Neko Case, and more. Ned goes on to clarify, "We weren’t trying to rip something off, we weren’t trying to say here’s a band that we like, let’s sound just like them. We were saying these are bands we like in one sense or another, let’s reference interesting parts of that and try and bring it into our sound, using the general idea rather than copy the sound completely." Hyperview would release in February of 2015 under their final label, Anti- Records. Hyperview would be the bands last release before entering an unannounced period of inactivity following their final show in 2018. More recently, in August of 2023, Ned Russin once again came forward in another interview in which he provided further insight on this period. Russin states; "We've never said 'hiatus,' we've never said 'broken up,' we've never said any of those words. These are words that have been put on us, but it's not anything we've ever said ourselves so, like, everything is a misconception." He continues on to emphasize, "I get that 100-percent ‘yes’ or 100-percent ‘no’ is a thing people want to hear, but then also as soon as you give one of those answers, people start pestering you — like, 'Oh, what will it take for you to do this'— and that's also a thing I'm not interested in." Ned recalls that during the duration of Title Fight's activity, each member was at a far different point in their life than they are currently. They were around the age of 19 years old, living at home with their parents and unsure if they could make their music pay the bills. "We kind of felt like we had a two-year window to figure out if we could make it work. It ended up becoming something that was sustainable, but we were well aware that it could be taken away at any minute." He explains, mentioning that- at the time- it was something that concerned all of them. "Ten years later, it’s not a thing I’m worried about now. I’m perfectly content with the choices that I’ve made and the choices I continue to make to play music and to live this kind of lifestyle." Currently, Ned Russin has been active with his project Glitterer, which initially was a solo project, but more recently includes his brothers Ben and Alex Russin on drums and guitar, effectively creating a band. Ben Russin is also the lead drummer for Citizen. Shane Moran has been working with artist Kenny Mason on his recent projects. As for Jamie Rhoden, he has kept a considerably low profile since the bands' period of inactivity began, even before then having expressed distaste in the overall structure of social media. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.