about fdb

Armed with matching uniforms and a wall of flat screen televisions, the Fabulous Downey Brothers create an outlandish, absurdist onstage spectacle. But don’t mistake the extravagant presentation for an exercise in style over substance. For FDB, style and substance are interlocking gears of the hyperactive ambition of their wildly catchy music.

FDB proudly piles on the audio/visual bells and whistles to create their albums and kinetic, multimedia live shows. What they don’t say with words, they communicate with colors, tones, shapes, and synchronized moves that deconstruct the customs of rock band performance. With a huge body of songs and videos that regularly wrestle with nihilistic and techno-centric themes, FDB is both funny and no joke – their stuff leaves you laughing while looking nervously over your shoulder, deathless melodies lodged inescapably in your brain.

The Fabulous Downey Brothers’ fingers are firmly, expertly planted on the pulse of a forbidding digital world, striving to make musical sense (and artful nonsense) of it for the rest of us. The resulting translation is surprisingly relatable, disarmingly profound, and best played on repeat.

Current Lineup

Live Band:
~ Sean Downey - bass guitar and lead vocals
~ Chandra Farnsworth - lead vocals
~ Crow Ross - drums
~ Tyler Fiala - synthesizer
~ Jackson Leavitt - guitar [Fight Milk]
~ Liam Downey - lead vocals [So Pitted, Miscomings, Mold Mom and Wi-Fi Cellphone Kidz]

Productions:
~ Josh Chin - lights
~ Daniel Kelleher - projectionist
~ Riley Walund - press representative

press quotes

“The Downey Brothers win enough points for their costumes alone, but behind the masks, they are excellent songwriters with a knack for pop hooks. The Fabulous Downey Brothers got energy going in wonderful ways. If you live in Seattle and haven't witnessed them yet, you are seriously missing out.” – KEXP

“…by local band the Fabulous Downey Brothers, who fold together the eccentricity of Devo with the peppiness of the B-52s and a lovably theatrical, post-punk zaniness.” - The Seattle Times

“The group’s music, inspired by the asymmetrical, staccato sounds of XTC, The B-52’s, and Oingo Boingo, sounds like it’s blaring out of a mad scientist’s music factory with production levels set at mega-overdrive.” – Seattle Weekly

“In their own zoo of zaniness, they display a 1980s art-rock panache and Devo-esque raucousness that verge on genius.” – The Stranger

“Beneath the antics, costumes and whimsy of their music, there is something substantial, something meticulous and philosophical about the Downey Bros.” – Crosscut.com

“Other than Bowie, in fact, I can’t think of too many artists I admire who have successfully married style and substance which is why it’s so refreshing that The Fabulous Downey Brothers seem intent on providing both.” – Three Imaginary Girls

“Hilarious/terrifying (hilarifying!), hard-tripping, Oompa-Loompa/Weird Al/Fred Schneider spazz-core freak pop with a cherry on top.” – The Stranger

“To state the obvious, the Fabulous Downey Brothers know how to put on a hell of a show.” - KEXP

The Fabulous Downey Brothers: "If Devo and Pee-Wee Herman had had six lovechildren, they might have hoped to create something like the technicolor herky-jerky circus that is the Fabulous Downey Brothers. Of all Seattle bands, FDB easily wins the “best large foam-based headwear” award with its freak-chic statement pieces that range from huge silver face-triangles to sparkly forehead spirals, fur-covered blobs, and elongated iridescent tube hats. The group’s music, inspired by the asymmetrical, staccato sounds of XTC, the B-52s. and Oingo Boingo, sounds like it’s blaring out of a mad scientist’s music factory with production levels set at mega-overdrive. The band urges audiences to “Work harder!” in its most recent single of that name, and witnessing the hyper-stimuli of the painstakingly choreographed neon-cabaret live will make you wish you’d done exactly that. FDB puts most lazy, sleepy bands in Seattle to shame." 
 - Seattle Weekly. Kelton Sears

PROMOtional materials

Booking & inquiries

fabulousdowneybrothers@gmail.com