PRE-ORDER: This item will be shipped with the aim to deliver on release day.
Format Details:
Release Date: 13 February 2026
Label: Forge Again Records (code 7)
Packaging Type: Gate Fold
No of Units: 2
Barcode: 608275543743
Description
Chicago's FIG DISH didn't name themselves after a soft, sweet, fleshy fruit; rather, the name is a phonetic approximation of the German expletive, fick dich. (make of that what you will). FIG DISH were four high school friends: guitarists/vocalists Rick Ness and Blake Smith, bassist/vocalist Mike Willison, and drummer Andy Hamilton. In their day (a day that began in the late Winter of 1991 and ended in the early summer of 1998), they were known for catchy songs, memorable (often booze-fueled) live shows, and self-sabotage.
In July 1995, FIG DISH's debut That's What Love Songs Often Do was released. And just like that, the band was catapulted from regional obscurity into national obscurity. MTV played the video for the band's first single, "Seeds" and FIG DISH toured the U.S. and Canada relentlessly with bands like Veruca Salt, The Muffs, Letters to Cleo, Juliana Hatfield, Local H, and The Rentals. In 1997, their sophomore album When Shove Goes Back To Push, was sunk by a risque music video for the single "When Shirts Get Tight"
Featuring adult film stars that MTV refused to play and the band was dropped by an indifferent Polygram Records in the summer of 1998.
FIG DISH returned from hibernation in 2024 with two sold out shows in Chicago and the release of Feels Like The Very First Two Times, the band's first "new" release in 27 years, collecting unreleased tracks recorded in the late 90s. On August 1, 2025, Forge Again Records reissued That's What Love Songs Often Do on vinyl for the first time, 30 years after the original CD release. The officially licensed 2xLP features white vinyl, reworked gatefold jacket art by Wall of Youth and vinyl mastering by Carl Saff.
FIG DISH celebrated the 2025 re-release with live shows in Chicago and Milwaukee with old tour-mates Letters to Cleo and capped off the year with shows in Kenosha and Chicago with Local H and Fountains of Wayne.
RIYL: CHEAP TRICK, VERUCA SALT, LOCAL H, THE POSIES
"Few groups have done the drunken, chaotic, ramshackle but insanely infectious Midwestern garage-pop thing better" - Jim Derogatis, Chicago Sun-Times
"A potent haze of slacker sloth and fierce rock assault." - Ira Robbins, Trouser Press
"I would walk through a sniper's alley to see this band live." - Illinois Entertainer
"...almost every one of these songs will stick to your brain like musical super-glue." - CMJ
Tracklisting
Fig Dish
Boys Night Out
