Before making music as Glitterer, Ned Russin sang and played bass as a member of Title Fight, the beloved Kingston, PA, outfit who haven't performed live since early 2018. While Title Fight never directly announced a hiatus or their breakup, Russin has now shared a bit about the group's status in a new interview.
Speaking with Norman Brannon (Texas Is the Reason, Shelter) in the artist's fanzine-turned-online newsletter Anti-Matter, Russin is asked about Title Fight's "ambiguous ending" as it relates to the launch of Glitterer, and how he's felt about said ambiguity as Title Fight's faithful wonder about the outfit's future:
I think it sits with me just fine. I think a lot of other people have a lot of problems with it, but it doesn't bother me. One thing that I've really tried to adapt to in the more recent years is the idea of not subscribing to any sort of binary, which means the idea of a band existing or not existing is not so important to me anymore. I used to fight back against the definitions or the language that people tried to put on the band — like, we've never said "hiatus," we've never said "broken up," we've never said any of those words. These are words that have been put on us, but it's not anything we've ever said ourselves so, like, everything is a misconception.
Asked if the ambiguity was deliberate, Russin continued:
I mean, yes and no. It's complicated, as you can imagine. Part of it, I think, is that "the big breakup" is just something I do not care to be a part of, but it's also something that doesn't really exist anymore. There is a chance that any band will play again, no matter what. It doesn't matter if everyone hates each other; it doesn't even matter if people have passed away. The bands will find a way to make things work if they want to and that's totally fine. I get that 100-percent "yes" or 100-percent "no" is a thing people want to hear, but then also as soon as you give one of those answers, people start pestering you — like, "Oh, what will it take for you to do this" — and that's also a thing I'm not interested in.
Title Fight's most recent album remains 2015's Hyperview, and in his wide-ranging conversation with Anti-Matter, Russin reflects on the "different complicated feelings" during Title Fight's inactivity, completing online college courses while on the road, and feeling the societal and familial pressure of one's mid-20s "that wasn't even there, but that I felt" as a touring artist.
"[Title Fight] stopped touring in 2016. We played shows in 2017, and then the last show we played was in 2018," he recalled. "So we entered a state of not knowing what was going to happen in late 2016. I was 26 years old, and I had been doing that thing since I was 12."
As Glitterer, Russin most recently released EP Fantasy Four last year, and he shares that making music with the project has ultimately "not had the same pressures as Title Fight."
"In my mind there was some sort of break between Glitterer and myself — in a way that I didn't feel with Title Fight for some reason," he explains. "Maybe for some reason with Title Fight, there was an acceptance of the hailing. Maybe people have been saying 'Ned from Title Fight' so often that I've just become that. But I feel much less pressure with Glitterer to be what people want me to be. And that's been very… 'liberating' feels like too strong a word, but it's felt nice to not have to feel like I owe anyone anything."
Read Russin's complete interview with Anti-Matter.
Speaking with Norman Brannon (Texas Is the Reason, Shelter) in the artist's fanzine-turned-online newsletter Anti-Matter, Russin is asked about Title Fight's "ambiguous ending" as it relates to the launch of Glitterer, and how he's felt about said ambiguity as Title Fight's faithful wonder about the outfit's future:
I think it sits with me just fine. I think a lot of other people have a lot of problems with it, but it doesn't bother me. One thing that I've really tried to adapt to in the more recent years is the idea of not subscribing to any sort of binary, which means the idea of a band existing or not existing is not so important to me anymore. I used to fight back against the definitions or the language that people tried to put on the band — like, we've never said "hiatus," we've never said "broken up," we've never said any of those words. These are words that have been put on us, but it's not anything we've ever said ourselves so, like, everything is a misconception.
Asked if the ambiguity was deliberate, Russin continued:
I mean, yes and no. It's complicated, as you can imagine. Part of it, I think, is that "the big breakup" is just something I do not care to be a part of, but it's also something that doesn't really exist anymore. There is a chance that any band will play again, no matter what. It doesn't matter if everyone hates each other; it doesn't even matter if people have passed away. The bands will find a way to make things work if they want to and that's totally fine. I get that 100-percent "yes" or 100-percent "no" is a thing people want to hear, but then also as soon as you give one of those answers, people start pestering you — like, "Oh, what will it take for you to do this" — and that's also a thing I'm not interested in.
Title Fight's most recent album remains 2015's Hyperview, and in his wide-ranging conversation with Anti-Matter, Russin reflects on the "different complicated feelings" during Title Fight's inactivity, completing online college courses while on the road, and feeling the societal and familial pressure of one's mid-20s "that wasn't even there, but that I felt" as a touring artist.
"[Title Fight] stopped touring in 2016. We played shows in 2017, and then the last show we played was in 2018," he recalled. "So we entered a state of not knowing what was going to happen in late 2016. I was 26 years old, and I had been doing that thing since I was 12."
As Glitterer, Russin most recently released EP Fantasy Four last year, and he shares that making music with the project has ultimately "not had the same pressures as Title Fight."
"In my mind there was some sort of break between Glitterer and myself — in a way that I didn't feel with Title Fight for some reason," he explains. "Maybe for some reason with Title Fight, there was an acceptance of the hailing. Maybe people have been saying 'Ned from Title Fight' so often that I've just become that. But I feel much less pressure with Glitterer to be what people want me to be. And that's been very… 'liberating' feels like too strong a word, but it's felt nice to not have to feel like I owe anyone anything."
Read Russin's complete interview with Anti-Matter.
