Draft:Just Fan Fiction

Just Fan Fiction
Just Fan Fiction in 2024. Left to right: Adrian Cabo, Blake Hill, Ollie Mira (bottom), Kevin Mars
Background information
Origin	Katy, Texas, U.S.
Genres	Alternative Rock, Pop-Punk, Indie Rock
Years active	2022-Present
Members	Blake Hill Kevin Mars Adrian Cabo Ollie Mira
Past members	Michael Schwin Spencer Ray Selph Devin Holden Jacob Cardinal Quinlan Rawles

Just Fan Fiction is an American rock band formed in 2021 in Katy, Texas, a suburb of Houston. Their current line-up consists of founder, guitarist, and vocalist Blake Hill, bassist Kevin Mars, drummer Adrian Cabo, and guitarist and vocalist Ollie Mira. Although they can loosely be described as a rock band, they have stated they don't want to limit themselves to one genre, instead taking influence from any and all types of music. The band themselves primarily describes their music as based on Alternative rock, Pop-punk, Nu metal, Power pop, and even some Jazz and Country music.

Formed after the demise of Blake's previous musical projects The Hostile Redemption and Reckless & Royal, Blake and keyboardist Michael Schwin began the band as an acoustic Third Eye Blind tribute duo. After beginning to write original material, they booked themselves as Just Fan Fiction and began to play local shows around Houston, Texas. The name originated from Blake, who after going through a difficult time in his life began responding to verbal attacks to his character with "Whatever you heard about me is just fan fiction." After the duo began growing in popularity, a full live band was recruited, and songs that started out on acoustic guitar and piano became fully fleshed out with electric guitar, bass, and drums. Primary lyricist, Blake Hill, writes about relatable topics such as the beginnings and endings of relationships, nostalgia, alcoholism, betrayal, and anything else that inspires him.

As of October of 2024, the band has released 6 singles, including "Concerts", "Beautiful In Blue", and "The Background" in 2022, "Katy, Katy, Katy" and "Adolescence" in 2023, and "Dance Like That" in 2024. They are known for energetic live shows, as well as Blake's heart on his sleeve attitude.

History

Pre-Just Fan Fiction

Failure To Notice (2008-2016)

Blake formed his first band, Failure To Notice, when he was in high school along with friends Adrian Cabo on drums and Quinlan Rawles on guitar. After putting out two EPs and performing around Houston, the band gradually fell apart after Quinlan moved away to attend college. Several years later, Blake and Kevin met working at Papa John's Pizza, with the catalyst being a blink 182 tattoo on Blake's forearm sparking a conversation that led to them sharing their love of that band and pop-punk music. In late 2015, Blake, Kevin, and former drummer Adrian all got together in an attempt to revive Failure To Notice, with Quinlan even coming into town to help record what would be their final single, "Sarah", released in early 2016. But family, work, and other factors led to the slowdown and eventual halt of the attempted revival of Failure To Notice.

The Hostile Redemption (2017-2021)

By the beginning of 2017, Blake met guitarists Jose Alejandro Chirinos Lopez, Herbert Castillo Fuentes, and drummer John Mangini. Along with bassist Kevin Mars, the five of them got together in late February 2017 and formed a new band, The Hostile Redemption. After writing 4 original songs and practicing a slew of pop-punk covers, they played their first show that summer. After adding a fifth original song, plans were made to find a studio to record a debut EP. A studio was found, and the 5 songs were recorded, but the band was not happy with the results and the recordings were not released. Soon after this, Herbert also decided to depart the band and was replaced with Adrian Cabo, who would play guitar this time instead of drums. As they continued to play local shows around the Houston area, they recorded their first official single "Run Away" with Kenny Gardner of Murder on Tape Audio. Soon after recording their second single "B.U.M.U.R.", drummer John announced that he and his wife would be moving back home to Ohio to be closer to family as they were trying to start one of their own. After his departure, Blake reached out to an old friend from another band that played around the same time as Failure To Notice. Jacob Cardinal had been dormant in the music scene, but agreed to come back and became the official drummer for The Hostile Redemption. After learning the 2 singles and 5 other originals, the band went back to Kenny to record a five song EP titled Reflections that was released on September 28th, 2019.

After the EP was released, things started to go downhill for the band. No new music was written or recorded, and Blake was going through hard times as he had recently separated from his wife. The only new song that was attempted would later be re-written as "Beautiful In Blue". Being about his divorce, other band members thought Blake's lyrics were a bit too dark for The Hostile Redemption, and the song would never be completed by this band. The band was starting to grow in the local music scene, but that growth was soon grounded to a halt, along with many other things in the spring of 2020 and the Covid 19 pandemic. They decided to take an indefinite hiatus until things started to return to normal after the Covid lockdowns. During this break, Blake used the time to complete an early version of "Beautiful In Blue". After recording the initial tracks with Kenny, he showed it to friend and former Failure To Notice bandmate Evan Sampere, who expressed interest in playing music again. Evan went to Kenny to help finish the recording, lending his vocals for part of the song, including a rap in the second verse. Blake and Evan decided to release the song, and formed an acoustic duo called Reckless & Royal. They began playing local shows after the bars and venues started opening up again, but in May of 2021 they had a huge falling out that lead to the immediate break up of the short lived duo. About a month before however, The Hostile Redemption had reunited and resumed practices. Despite landing a couple of opening gigs for Saving Abel and Lit, the band never truly gained its momentum back. A lack of musical progression and professional differences led to the decision to officially end The Hostile Redemption on October 3rd, 2021.

Initial Formation (2021-2022)

After the demise of Reckless & Royal and The Hostile Redemption, Blake was in a down time of his life and was contemplating giving up on music altogether. But he got together with an old friend named Michael Schwin, who played piano. Together, the two of them played some Third Eye Blind songs with Michael on piano and Blake on acoustic guitar and vocals. They decided to start playing shows as a Third Eye Blind acoustic duo, and named the project The Semi-Charmed Life. Starting in the fall of 2021, they began playing shows around Houston, but after starting to incorporate original songs into the mix they changed the band name to Just Fan Fiction. The name came about from Blake, as it was a time in his life where a lot of people were attacking his character through social media. His main response became, “Whatever you heard about me is just fan fiction.” The first song they reworked was "Beautiful In Blue" from Blake’s former project Reckless & Royal. Since Evan was no longer involved, Blake went back to Kenny and re-recorded Evan’s vocal parts on the Reckless & Royal version, rebranding it as a Just Fan Fiction song. He also finished another song with Kenny that he began in Reckless, but never finished. "Concerts" was released on May 27th 2022 as the first official single of Just Fan Fiction, and "Beautiful In Blue" was released on June 3rd 2022. In late summer, Blake and Michael went back to Kenny at Murder On Tape Audio to record their 3rd single, a piano and vocal cover of Third Eye Blind’s "The Background". It seemed fitting as they started as a Third Eye Blind tribute. The song was released on September 15th 2022.

Full Band Lineup (2022)

As Blake and Michael continued to play acoustic shows around Houston, they also started the search for more musicians to complete a full band lineup of Just Fan Fiction. Blake and Michael remained the core, but wanted to bring on live members to fill up the sound space at shows. The first official live member came in the form of Spencer Ray Selph on lead guitar. Blake and Spencer first met back in 2019 when he ran sound for a Hostile Redemption show at BFE Rock Club. Both Blake and Spencer were going through divorces, and bonded over that. Blake also asked former Hostile Redemption bassist Kevin Mars to play bass for the live shows. As for a drummer, Blake's first choice was Jacob Cardinal, but Spencer suggested asking Devin Holden, recently of local Houston band Hold On Hollywood. Devin agreed, and the full lineup of Just Fan Fiction got together for their first practice on October 9th, 2022. After a couple of rehearsals, they played their first full band show on October 28th, 2022.

Recording & Lineup Changes (2023-2024)

After deciding what the next single would be (and first as a full band), "Katy, Katy, Katy" was recorded in late December with Devin leading production, and later released on February 25th, 2023. It wasn't long into the new year that the band underwent several changes however. On January 14th, Devin spontaneously quit the band after an argument with Spencer. He was immediately replaced with Jacob Cardinal, who played the next two shows but couldn't fully commit long term to the band. Before his peaceful departure in late February, Jacob reached out to fellow ex-Hostile Redemption band member Adrian Cabo. Even though he had played guitar for that band, he had previously played drums for Failure To Notice. Adrian had missed playing live and was happy to join the band. By late March, the next single was decided and recorded at Magik Studios, as Spencer knew the owner Karim Khorsheed. On April 8th, 2023, a music video for "Katy, Katy, Katy" was released on YouTube, and "Adolescence" the band's 5th single was released on June 9th, 2023. A music video made up of studio footage for "Adolescence" was released on YouTube on June 19th, 2023.

Soon after recording his keyboard parts for "Adolescence", Michael Schwin announced that he would be departing the band due to time conflicts. He played his final show on April 7th, and officially left on good terms on April 10th, 2023. He has an open invitation to rejoin anytime he wants to. But things had started to become not so amicable between a couple other band members. At first, Blake and Spencer had gotten along quite well. They didn’t always see eye to eye, but both had a great drive for the band and shared a bond as friends. But the longer the group progressed, the more the tension between the two of them grew. Blake struggled internally with what he wanted to do regarding Spencer, but in the meantime they continued to practice. After fulfilling their obligation to the next couple of shows, Blake finally let Spencer know his intentions to dismiss him from the band. It was a mutual decision from Spencer, and he officially quit on June 11th, 2023.

Officially, Just Fan Fiction was on a bit of a break after Spencer’s departure, but behind the scenes there was a lot happening. Even before Spencer left, Blake was already talking to his old friend and Failure To Notice band member, Quinlan Rawles. Q had been living in Midland, but recently moved back to Houston. The four of us actually got together at Adrian’s house on May 27th for the first unofficial meeting of the new lineup. Blake began working with Q on learning the guitar parts of our songs, as well as spicing things up with new guitar parts as well. During this time, we also released our next single on July 15th. It was an acoustic version of Yellowcard’s Ocean Avenue. Blake and Michael had actually recorded the vocals, acoustic guitar and piano right before the full band was assembled, and right before Blake set it up for release, I added bass guitar to it. Although Blake would later remove it from streaming platforms as we were trying to establish our sound as a full band, and Adrian particularly thought that song didn’t really represent us as a full band. We had a few acoustic practices at either Blake or Adrian’s house, but eventually had our first full band session on July 26th 2023 at Adrian’s house. He converted his office into a practice room, which became our home base for the time being. But the plan was to eventually set up a practice space at Q’s place close to downtown Houston, which was a more central location to everyone. Blake and I lived on the northwest side and Adrian lived way down southwest. As Q learned our original songs, we also brought back another FTN song, Hawkstone Hill, and we had several more practices at Adrian’s house,  getting tighter than ever before as we geared up for our next set of shows.

On August 31st 2023, Q played his first show with us as we debuted our new lineup at Scout Bar. I also played my first show with To The Stars, an Angels & Airwaves tribute band. Blake had recently introduced me to the singer/guitarist, Cody Edward Torrison, who was leading the project. After finding out Just Fan Fiction was playing a show with an AVA tribute, Blake informed me they were also needing a bassist for that show. I spent the next several weeks learning the songs from their set, and got together with them for a rehearsal at the drummer Mike Marsh’s house on August 24th. Cody, Mike, and bassist/synth player Tommy Trant also played together in a couple other bands, including The Noise and 4Now, but Tommy was needed for synth for Angels & Airwaves songs, leaving the door open for me to play bass. After that first show, To The Stars wouldn’t book another show for the foreseeable future, but the four of us remained in a group chat and kept things open for another gig in the future. Cody did have several projects and performed as a solo artist as well, and Mike had more than one project, so they stayed pretty busy.

After Q’s debut show with us, we booked and played several more, including September 7th 2023 at Black Magic Social Club, September 29th 2023 at Acadia, and October 8th 2023 at The Compound. Soon after that we organized and performed at a benefit for Blake’s daughter Juliet, who had recently beaten leukemia. Juliet Fest took place at The Wildcatter Saloon on October 15th 2023, and also featured our friends Caravel, Doug Westcott, and Nick Dees from Hold On Hollywood. Spencer also ran sound for this event. By this time he and Blake had made up from their rift that led to Spencer’s departure. We finished out the rest of the year with shows at Acadia on October 18th, Huntsville on November 4th, an acoustic performance (because Adrian couldn’t make it) at Acadia on November 5th, Scout Bar on November 9th, and Acadia on December 1st.

Not long after Q joined the band, we began writing a brand new song titled Dance Like That. We also adapted yet another old Failure To Notice song called The Dreams, but this one was never recorded before. As we discussed what our next single should be as well as who should produce it, we ultimately decided to record Dance Like That. Since it was the first song we all wrote together as the new line up, as well as being a catchy radio friendly song, we thought it would make a good single. As for who to produce it, we decided to work with Devin again. He brought his equipment to Adrian’s house, and we tracked the drums, bass, guitars, and vocals on January 13th, 2024. Blake and Q later recorded more guitar parts on January 22nd, as Devin had originally recorded using amps and wanted a direct in option too. After adding synth, mixing, and mastering, we approved the final mix and released the song on April 20th 2024.  

As we entered 2024, we decided to focus mainly on writing new material. After recording Dance Like That, the next song we wrote was called Vice. I started out that song with a bass riff I came up with, and eventually worked out the majority of the structure. Blake wrote the lyrics about alcohol addiction, and I suggested he write the second verse from the perspective of a friend of the alcoholic. He ended up writing the first verse and chorus from the alcoholic’s point of view, and the second verse and chorus from the friend talking to the alcoholic. After that we wrote Brutus, which was about the falling out between two best friends. That turned out to be very ironic, because it wasn’t long afterwards that Q spontaneously quit the band.

Q never said anything directly to me, but according to Blake and Adrian, he was not happy about me being late to a few practices and the first couple of shows he played with us. And I wasn’t late to the shows, just late to when we were supposed to sound check. And despite trying very hard to make it to practice when Q wanted us to start, it seemed like nothing would make him happy. So far, we had played two shows in February on the 3rd and the 24th, and he had told Blake that he was planning on quitting after the next show we had booked on March 16th. But after that gig, he still came to practice and it seemed he was happy on the surface. We even began discussing plans to record a full length album, and even filmed some interviews to use in a future documentary. The rest of us quietly assumed that he changed his mind about quitting, and Blake even told me that his threat to quit was more of a power play, and his whole plan was to quit and have the rest of us beg him to come back. The day he actually did quit was a bit of a surprise. Blake and I had scheduled an acoustic gig in a bar in Katy, and we needed to bring a PA system since the place didn’t regularly have live music. This included mic stands, one of which was Q’s. I was the one who went to Adrian’s house to pick up what we needed, and the theory is that Q waited for me to grab the stuff first before going to pick up his own equipment, just to see if I would take anything of his. On May 2nd 2024, right before Blake and I were about to perform, Q texted Blake about the mic stand I took, saying he’s done with the band and someone can bring his stand to him later. Another prevalent theory is that he was already looking to quit, and just needed an excuse. Earlier that same week, I had canceled our regular Monday practice due to family reasons, and then Adrian had to cancel on Wednesday also due to family reasons. Blake, Adrian and myself also agreed it was most likely a symptom of his drinking that caused him to act this way. Once it was evident that he wasn’t bluffing, the album and the documentary would have to be put on hold until we figured out a replacement.

At this point, we had 2 future shows already booked. We did not want to have to cancel, so we contemplated how to proceed. We discussed finding a fill in guitar player, a permanent guitar player if possible in time, or even playing as a three piece. Blake ended up finding someone to fill in, but not a permanent replacement. Jeremy “J-Pop” Kennedy, formerly of local Houston band Black Kennedy and current member of studio project Suicide Stars alongside Nick Dees, agreed to play the shows with us on May 24th and June 1st. He attended a couple practice sessions to learn the songs for our decided setlist, and he clicked with the rest of us personality wise. But after playing the shows with us, he didn’t want to continue with the band. We were open to the idea of him joining as a permanent member, but he didn’t seem to want to devote the time to join us full time. The rest of us noticed he wasn’t really putting in a lot of effort to learn our songs either, whether that was because he felt he only needed to learn enough to make it through the shows, or he was still rusty from not having played live in a while. Either way, there were no hard feelings, and he let us know from the beginning he was only on board for the 2 shows for sure. We just considered it a favor from a friend that he did fill in.

Soon after that, we would end up finding a permanent second guitarist. After reaching out to a couple guitarists through social media who declined, Blake’s friend Justin suggested Alejandro Joel Miramontes. Alejandro, or “Ollie Mira”, grew up in California where he started playing guitar in middle school. He moved to Katy, TX his senior year of high school, studied jazz at Texas State in San Marcos, lived and performed in Nashville for a couple years, played with several different bands, and recorded and released two solo albums during those times. After moving back home to Katy in late 2023, he performed regularly around Houston as a solo acoustic act. Blake was doubtful he would want to join Just Fan Fiction at first, thinking he was above what we were doing, but was pleasantly surprised he agreed to meet up with us. He vibed very well with the rest of us from the get go, and despite Blake laying on his desire for him to join a little thick, he did agree to join us as a full time member on June 26th. He definitely put in the effort to learn our songs for the next show’s setlist, and his skill at guitar blew us all away. Not to mention he was an amazing singer as well, and brought a whole new level of vocal harmonizing to the band, something we never had before. Blake was even willing to make him a co-lead vocalist of the band, with Ollie fronting his own songs and a multitude of covers he would bring to the table.  

Ollie played his first show with us at The Abbey Pub on July 12th, 2024, and soon after we began preparing for another show a couple months away. Ollie had booked a show at a place called The Rustic in midtown Houston, but wanted to perform as a full band. Apart from a select few, we hadn’t really taken the time to learn very many covers as Just Fan Fiction. But we discussed the idea of learning around 4 hours worth of material and being able to book shows as a cover band. We had talked about that idea before, but Adrian especially seemed to think it would take a long time before we would be ready to do that. But Ollie was the push we needed for that, and gave us a list of about 20 songs that he knew already and performed acoustically by himself. Blake, Adrian, and myself all spent time at home between practices learning the songs from that list, and gradually became more adept at playing them all together at practice as well. After playing a couple more shows at BFE on September 7th, and 8th Wonder Brewery on September 14th, we played a 2 hour gig at The Rustic on September 28th, billing ourselves as “Ollie & The Fiction” since Ollie fronted that show.

Band Members

Current Members

• Blake Hill - Guitar, Vocals (2021-Present)
• Kevin Mars - Bass (2022-Present)
• Adrian Cabo - Drums (2023-Present)
• Ollie Mira - Guitar, Vocals (2024-Present)

Past Members

• Michael Schwin - Keyboards, Synths (2021-2023)
• Spencer Ray Selph - Guitar (2022-2023)
• Devin Holden - Drums (2022-2023)
• Jacob Cardinal - Drums (2023)
• Quinlan Rawles - Guitar (2023-2024)

Timeline

References