The Fiends

"Drawing on their stylistic differences and inspirations to make their mark across the post-punk scene...The Fiends thrive in their pop-infused approach to alternative rock, maintaining its original shabby aesthetics." - Ana Lamond, Clash Magazine

Known for their shoegaze melodies, The Fiends are an alt-Indie rock outfit from Swansea, South Wales. Fronted by Ethan Goslett’s honest and rugged vocals mixed with poetic lyricism shows a raw and compelling perspective of his songwriting. Joshua Albrighton’s bass lines add depth and groove that will captivate the entire song, driven by Ben Quint’s drums that cut through the mix and propel the music. Invigorated by Ceulan William’s taste in blues rock mixed with intricate melodies influences his lead and rhythm playing style that creates a shoegaze sound for the band.

To Begin At The Begining...

Since forming the band in 2020, The Fiends have gone from strength to strength - dominating their local music scene and playing multiple sold-out headline shows as well as supporting Pastel, Peter Hook & The Light, As December Fall, The Lottery Winners, The Rills and main support to a 500-person crowd with THE SNUTS at Swansea’s prestigious venue - Sin City.

Logo & Website

Not only are The Fiends musically progressive, but they also wanted to emphasize their sound further with visual communication. Homing in on that grungy aesthetic, I wanted to create a visual identity that is a first impression statement of who The Fiends are: Roaring Guitars, Post-Punk riffs, Groovy Bass Lines, and Shoegaze Indie melodies with a grunge aesthetic.

The Fiends Website is available to view here

Mazel Tov EP

The 'Mazel Tov Era' marked a change in the tone, artwork, and sound direction. Compared to their previous indie rock sound, they shifted to a much darker and grungier mature tone with the Mazel Tov EP. From a narrative perspective, Mazel Tov was written to congratulate those going through everyday life. The band wanted people to be able to interpret each song individually, relating each track to personal struggles that they have experienced or are experiencing.

Like the music, the visual direction had to be drastically different, unlike anything they've done before. The band opted for a documentary-style visual direction using photography from Matt Eynon that conveyed the mood and tone of the EP. This was due to how each song documented the struggles of a relationship through lyrics and quotations from the lead singer.

Vinyl, Merch & Lyric Book

The documentary's visual style must be consistent across physical media content such as 12" vinyl, lyric books, CDs, merch, Spotify canvas, and social media.

With the aid of graphic design, this shift in direction was successful due to the fact the band's following and engagement increased on social media, and they have gone on to sell out Sin City (250cap) and play the main stage at Swansea Arena. The EP was also very well received, with over 90,000 streams currently on Spotify, which is impressive for a local Swansea band. This gained the attention of Revolver Records, who have signed them and are currently under management with Craig Vegas (Catfish And The Bottlemen Manager).

Cyanide / Acoustic Rendition

Cyanide is an outlook on youth that reflects on being young and dumb with alcohol and drugs. From Ethan’s perspective, it is what almost everyone experiences when going to a house party, which is often a rush of chaotic energy. The song itself depicts that addicting feeling as it’s one of their catchiest indie tunes to date. Cyanide became an instant fan favourite as it’s a topic that audiences can relate to. They become part of what the song is about.

Not only did the artwork signal a shift in direction, but we also developed a social media campaign with a music video and reels that maturely progressed the grungy aesthetic from their previous singles. I was also tasked with editing their first music video with footage from Matchbox Productions. Since the release of Cyanide, it has been featured in Clash magazine and reached over 44,000 streams on Spotify. There's also a stripped-back acoustic rendition of Cyanide that shows the emotional strength of Ethan's lyrics as a songwriter.

Listen to Cyanide

Small Talk (Doesn't Stand A Chance)

“It's about the birds and the bees, the nonsense in romance and everything else in-between, of being a lustful teen“ - Ethan Goslett
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Small Talk is The Fiend's 3rd single that debuted on Valentine's Day 2022. The track exposes the rose-tinted glasses behind love and romance with heart-felt honest lyrics. The visual direction is a progression of the vibrant and grungy visual direction from the previous 2 singles, but much more realised and expanded with a focus on typography that emphasises the wording of the lyrics. The colours were reminiscent of the 90's punk rock culture as well as being appropriate for the Valentine's Day release. This visual direction would be translated to a lyric video, posters, artwork, and merch. This resulted in over 14,000 streams on Spotify and currently over 800 views on their lyric video.

The lyric video for Small Talk can be viewed here

Teen Aspirations

Teen Aspirations is the follow-up single to The Glitz & Glamour that depicts a close friend going off the rails, drifting away from childhood into the drug and alcohol culture that can be seen in modern youths of Swansea. The sound is warm and melodic with lyrics that set a harsh and depressing tone that breaks the rose-tinted glasses of the nostalgia for youth. The artwork represents that tone with an illustration of a bedroom riddled with references to the youth culture that is overshadowed with vibrant warm colours that make it feel nostalgic.

The Glitz & Glamour

The Glitz & Glamour is The Fiend's first single which debuted on the 4th of February 2021, reaching over 1000 streams in 24 hours. The Glitz & Glamour depicts a typical night out and how everything is glamorised to be better than what their hometown is. The grungy visual direction first took off with the artwork depicting a council flat building that was reworked to look sleek and modern, which was inspired by the lyrics that reference "when the council flats looked like the Empire State!".

The Challenge

Create a brand identity for UK band The Fiends with motion reels, single artwork, merch and posters.

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