Episode 406 - Blake Smith & Mike Willison of Fig Dish

Fig Dish IS a 1990s rock band based in Chicago. The band signed to PolyGram Records in 1995 and released two full-length albums before becoming inactive in 1998.

Fig Dish's sound was influenced by 80s college rock and indie bands such as Dinosaur Jr. and The Replacements, and has drawn comparisons to Cheap Trick. They were part of a mid-90s Chicago rock scene that included The Smashing Pumpkins, Veruca Salt, and Local H. They were closely associated and often shared bills with those and other Chicago acts such as Triple Fast Action, Smoking Popes, and Hushdrops. The band's name was said to have been chosen for its resemblance, when pronounced, to the vulgar German phrase fick dich.

That's What Love Songs Often Do, Fig Dish's 1995 major label debut album, which had been out of print for years, was re-released in April 2013. Chicago Magazine wrote that the band was a "folkloric Chicago outfit," and quoted Blake Smith's summary of the band's career: "We were too busy being the underdog Midwestern raging partying guys, and it killed us.... We just weren’t very good at playing the game, and we drank a lot back in those days."

LINKS

Fig Dish

Caviar

The Prairie Cartel

The Donnor Pass

The Diablos Interval

Veruca Salt

Cheap Trick

The Webb Brothers

Onanism