California-soaked indie popsters twist listeners with tightly wound harmonies upon sweet, melancholic and instantly classic tunes; has been compared to The Stone Roses, REM, The Byrds and Big Star.

10 MP3 Songs
ROCK: Roots Rock, POP: California Pop



Details:
It's a rare moment when a group of artists can come together, set aside their egos, and simply make great rock music. In the summer of 2000, that's what happened when Fojimoto was formed by singer/songwriter Marwan Kanafani, bassist Ryan Waggoner, and drummer Jon Fojtik. Under the cloak of such influences as Big Star, the Kinks and REM, Fojimoto quickly grew into a tight friendship.

Ryan and Jon grew up together in the Michigan cow town of Blissfield, playing on stage together in Jon's father's family wedding band since seventh grade. Twelve years later, the pair shipped out to California in search of new avenues for musical expression. Marwan was a 20-year-old St. Louis emigrant in Berkeley when he met Jon through a mutual friend and bass player David Simon. The three of them formed Solarcane, and made a beautiful record called "Book of Alibis." When Solarcane split up, it was only natural for Ryan and Jon to begin playing music with Marwan to form Fojimoto.

In the past year and a half, Fojimoto has been developing the garage-mod-beach-melodic sound that first caught the attention of musicians throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Wherein, through late night hootenannies and local gigs, a community of artists including Splintered Tree, Luster, John O'Brien and Priscilla Ederle are re-tooling the new sounds of pop rock and roll.