Fighting Gravity is an American music group based out of

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

, United States. Originally a ska band called Boy O Boy, Fighting Gravity has incorporated a variety of music into their style, including

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, rock, and

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. Fighting Gravity was formed while its original members were attending

Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also has educational facilities in six re ...

. In the late 1990s, Fighting Gravity was the subject of a five-page article in ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' by senior editor David Wild as part of the summer college issue. The band has maintained a sizeable East Coast concert following.

History

In 2007, Fighting Gravity, along with

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Barenaked Ladies Barenaked Ladies is a Canadian rock band formed in 1988 in Scarborough, Ontario. The band developed a following in Canada, with their self-titled 1991 cassette becoming the first independent release to be certified gold in Canada. They reached ...

Guster Guster is an American alternative rock band from Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Founding members Adam Gardner, Ryan Miller, and Brian Rosenworcel began practice sessions while attending Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, and ...

, and O.A.R., took part in the IZStyle Winter Tour, a series of concerts aimed at raising awareness of alternative and renewable energy sources. The band's last official shows were in the 2007 time frame and all members have continued to be active musicians. Since the breakup, Mike Boyd took the position as the Director of Performing Arts at the Collegiate School in Richmond, Virginia. Schiavone McGee toured in support of a solo CD released in October 2010 entitled ''My Only Secret'', and then went on to perform as a vocalist for the band In Full. Rich Stine went on to form and play in Elevator to Space and toured with Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers for a short time before moving on to music production and engineering. Philippe Herndon founded Caroline Guitar Company, an effects pedal company. Their first pedal, the Wave Cannon distortion, was released in 2010. Dave Peterson is promoting concert series throughout Virginia with Seven Hills Presents. Karl von Klein is currently the jazz and orchestra instructor at the Maggie L. Walker Governor's School. Jim Pennington was the band director at Freeman High School and is now the band director at

Deep Run High School Deep Run High School is a part magnet high school in Henrico County, Virginia, United States. It is named after Deep Run School, one of Henrico County's first schools which was a two-room schoolhouse that can still be found on the grounds of Sh ...

. Eric Lawson continues to perform as keyboardist for Flat Elvis, a Richmond-based '80s band. He is a freelance music journalist and works for a tech company. Michael Sauri is one of the guitar players in Schiavone McGee's band and owns a home remodeling contracting company called Tri-Vista in Arlington. Fighting Gravity performed a few reunion shows in 2017, with the last of the year being performed as part of the 102.1 The X Miracle on Broad Street Tour at The National in Richmond on December 26 and 27, along with

The NorVa The NorVa is a performing venue located in Norfolk, Virginia, the name being a syllabic abbreviation of the city and state of its location. About The theatre was the brainchild of local music venue entrepreneurs Bill Reid and Rick Mersel, who h ...

on the 28th and a D.C. show in Spring 2019.

Musical style

In late 2003 and early 2004, Fighting Gravity consciously decided to change their musical style. The band released the horn section and changed its songwriting style to a more guitar-driven rock. The change was welcome among most, but had a few skeptics.

Awards and accolades

Fighting Gravity has sold more than 300,000 albums and performed before more than one million people in the United States and abroad, including locales such as

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...

and

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

, and has performed two

USO The United Service Organizations Inc. (USO) is an American nonprofit-charitable corporation that provides live entertainment, such as comedians, actors and musicians, social facilities, and other programs to members of the United States Armed F ...

tours overseas for United States troops. Fighting Gravity is supported by 25,000 email subscribers and 1,500 street team members.

Band members

Originally while in Blacksburg, VA the band consisted of guitarist/Vocalist David "Tree" Triano, bassist/vocalist David Peterson, Vocalist Tim Greening, original drummer Jamie Bruce, then drummer Tom Brennan and next Mike Boyd, trumpet players Jane Roebuck and Tim Altman, Sax player John Edens and Keyboardist Dee Campbell. After moving to Richmond, VA from VA Tech....Lead singer Schiavone McGee, Keyboardist Eric Lawson, Trumpet dude Jim Pennington, trombonist Chris Leitch joined the band. In 1995, Pennington departed and was replaced by saxophonist Karl von Klein. In 1996, Chris Leitch departed and was replaced by trombonist/percussionist John Utley. In 1997, Karl von Klein departed, replaced by saxophonist Mike Ghegan. In 1999, Ghegan departed, replaced by trombonist/turntablist Stefan Demetriadis. Guitarist Michael Sauri replaced a departed Triano in 2000. In 2001, a rotation of horns brought saxophonist Kevin Tyser into the section. The horns were phased out in 2003-2004. Other former members include guitarists Philippe Herndon, Sinakone Phrakhansa and Rich Stine.{{Cite web , url=http://student.vwc.edu/~chronicle/9_22_06/community/music.php , title=Welcome to the All come out to play at Lake Taylor Music Festival , access-date=2009-08-07 , archive-url=https://archive.today/20070206223327/http://student.vwc.edu/~chronicle/9_22_06/community/music.php , archive-date=2007-02-06 , url-status=dead As of 2007, the band had three core members: Schiavone McGee, David Peterson and Mike Boyd.

Discography

Studio albums

*''Boy O Boy O Boy'' (1991) *''Shish-ska-BOB'' (1992) *''Bobsled'' (1992) *''No Stopping, No Standing'' (1994) *''Forever=One Day'' (1996) *''Everywhere and In Between'' (1998) ( MP3.com album) *''You and Everybody Else'' (1998) *''Hello Cleveland'' (1999) (live album) *''Flood Zone'' (2000) (live album) *''Under the Radar'' (2001) (live acoustic album) *''Blue Sky and Black'' (2006)