Psychedelic Furriers

Trot out any clichéd adjectives — dark, intense, brooding — to describe local indie rockers Fur and the words will fit. See, the band has embraced the nihilistic, Eno-informed, wan-skinned swagger of the likes of Joy Division and Radiohead (when they were good) and added Detroit blood, sweat and terribly good songs. 

Singer Ryan O'Rourke, guitarist Michael O'Connor, drummer Zach Pliska and keyboardist Johanna Champagne — all late twentysomethings — are two EPs into their Fur career, and are now working on their debut album. Success came down after their song "Break Me, My Love" aired on Showtime's killer new series Homeland. The song is from Fur's second EP, Devastate the Details. City Slang spoke to O'Rourke and O'Connor to find who and what they are.

Metro Times: What's the genesis of Fur?

Michael O'Connor: The band formed in early 2009. Ryan and I had met each other through some family circumstances and we started talking long before we ever played instruments together. We had some similar musical influences and eventually realized that we both played. ... So we started to write songs together. Long before we really thought about forming a band, it was just for fun and seeing what we could come up with. Eventually, we went through trying to find band members — we had some typical Craigslist misadventures. We got a band together and started playing local shows. We started at the Belmont. ...

MT: You must reveal some of those Craigslist stories.

O'Connor: It's interesting to have people come through. You try to put a very specific ad up on Craigslist targeting exactly what you're looking for, and you get all kinds of people. We wish that we had filmed some of that, ... people who would show up and say they could play an instrument, and not even bring an instrument. People who would show up to sing, but instead of singing they'd say, "Oh, I just wanted to hear it the first time." People have a lot of thoughts about being in a rock band while in their bedroom with a tennis racket. You have to separate who's serious about it and who has the dream in their head. I think it would be an interesting movie. Obviously, you're riding the border of having really interesting, entertaining people and sort of making fun of people. I think you'd have to be really careful with that side of it. But isn't that how reality TV sells, essentially?

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