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"As of September 1, Fig Dish will no longer be playing the role of\nred-headed stepchild at A&amp;amp;M. A source at the label has\nconfirmed that the band will officially part ways with in A&amp;amp;M\nin two weeks and Fig Dish will be free to record elsewhere.\n&amp;quot;It&amp;apos;s like sitting in a cellblock somewhere for four years waiting\nfor the warden to come and give you the nod,&amp;quot; says Fig Dish\nsinger/guitarist Blake Smith, only half-joking about the band&amp;apos;s\nlackluster tenure at A&amp;amp;M, where the band&amp;apos;s two albums of edgy\nguitar rock sold a combined 16,000 copies. Smith says the band has\nno intention of breaking up and has recorded enough material for a\ndouble-CD this summer. A source close to the band says the group\nowes the label another album under its current contract but,\naccording to Smith, &amp;quot;we&amp;apos;re not giving them shit. We&amp;apos;re out.&amp;quot;\nFig Dish have always received friendly radio support in their\nnative Chicago, but the band considers its minimal exposure\nelsewhere the fault of its label. &amp;quot;As we come up with zero results\ntime and time again, it leads you to believe there&amp;apos;s zero effort\ngoing on,&amp;quot; says the source. The final straw was an estimated\n$80,000 soft-porn music video the quartet made for the single &amp;quot;When\nShirts Get Tight,&amp;quot; which featured a handful of elite porn stars.\nThe band reportedly picked up the tab for both clean and dirty\nversions of the video, but neither of them received any airplay on\nMTV.\nAccording to Smith, the band is working to regain its publishing\nrights for its only two releases on A&amp;amp;M, That&amp;apos;s What Love\nSongs Often Do and When Shove Goes Back to Push. In\nthe meantime, Smith&amp;apos;s been writing a novel and working with former\nTriple Fast Action guitarist/vocalist Wes Kidd on a as-yet-untitled\nside project. Smith can also be heard in non-traditional fashion on\nthe new Local H album, Pack Up the Cats. During the\nintroduction to the song &amp;quot;Hit the Skids Or: How I Learned to Stop\nWorrying and Love the Rock,&amp;quot; the singer is heard leaving a message\non Scott Lucas&amp;apos; answering machine, where he tells the Local H\nfrontman he&amp;apos;s ordering a spinach pizza and then proceeds to read\nthrough the Chicago area&amp;apos;s movie listings.\n\nA new Fig Dish album won&amp;apos;t be heard until the band finds a new\nlabel, and the search will undoubtedly begin on September 1. Before\nthat happens, says Smith, &amp;quot;we&amp;apos;ll probably come out of retirement\nand start touring.&amp;quot;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/the-straight-dish-19980819>