FIG MINTS (OF YOUR IMAGINATION)

Fig Mints is the brainchild of Bobby Rogan (real name “Pinky”), a band name that he flippantly coined to make fun of himself recording without a band, and he’s been reluctantly stuck with ever since (“I had this idea to mix instrumental versions of my songs and do a self-styled karaoke with each “band member” having a part in the act that was prerecorded and very self-deprecating”). Unofficially coming into existence in the Spring of 2004 after moving into the actual Cozy Home on Henry Street, Utica NY – Bobby was inspired by the music and madness of that “scene” to start recording the songs he’d been writing, teaching himself how to play the drums and bass, and attempting to write lyrics “that weren’t sappy”. The last four years have been productive with 5 official Fig Mints full-length records recorded on 100% analogue cassette (“Tascam 488 all the way, baby”) being released through Cozy Home Records – How’dyer Day Go? (2004), Enjoy It While You Can (2005), Bad Choice Brigade (2006), Is It Today Already? (2006), and Hugs & Smiles (2007). All 5 records are available for free download at www.cozyhomerecords.com More recently Fig Mints released “The Passionate Understanding” via our own Quixodelic Records, a 7-song collection of unreleased tracks recorded between 1999 and 2005.

Over the years, Bobby has honed a very distinctive style combining elements of indie guitar pop, experimental punk, and American psychedelics – a style that he frequently attempts to break free from but thankfully never does, describing it as sounding like “someone trying to sound like Guided By Voices but failing miserably”. Quirky intelligent lyrics combined with this spikey and sometimes fragile pop-punk sound have become trademarks of Fig Mints recordings, influenced initially by like likes of Sonic Youth and Nirvana, and latterly by Bob Pollard, The Jesus & Mary Chain, and Syd Barrett.

Although the majority of Fig Mints recordings are written, recorded and produced exclusively by Bobby for live shows he often enlists the help of several Cozy Home crew members including Paul, Luke and Dusty from The Real Burnouts, as well as Jenny Penny, Cashew Cook, and J. Schnitt. Likewise Artie Lester, Paul or Dusty Burnout and Jenny Penny have helped on the records “when I needed an extra bit of something”. As one of the accidental driving forces behind Cozy Home Records over the last 5 years Bobby has frequently been involved in writing, producing, and playing with a seemingly neverending list of bands and deviants such as The Real Burnouts, The Fucking Flame, Pinky Stink’s Problem, The Chesterfield Medical Experiment, The Utica Flower Company (et al.), and Travel Labyrinth.

After a relatively short and perhaps unproductive spell on the road, Figs is in the process of relocating back to his Utica roots where it is fully expected that at the very least he will continue writing ”a song a month” and complete the most recent record he has been working on. There appears to be no definitive plans for either the immediate or long-term future of Fig Mints other than “to make music until I run out of ideas. Hopefully I die before that happens, cos I’d be bored to death otherwise” – how can you not dig an attitude like that?

Find out more about Fig Mints (Of Your Imagination) at:

www.myspace.com/figmints or www.cozyhomerecords.com

CATEGORIES:COZY HOME, FIG MINTS, INTERVIEWS, QUIXODELIC RECORDS