Title Fight

Title Fight formed in 2003 as a three-piece band consisting of Jamie Rhoden on guitar and vocals, Ned Russin on bass and Ned's twin brother Ben on drums, playing local shows in Kingston and Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Ned Russin claims his older brother, Alex Russin is a huge influence in their formation of Title Fight. Their name came from the cover of an old HBO showtime guide that Ned had read in the attic when he was younger. In addition to popular punk bands, Rhoden claims the Positive Numbers Fest (an annual hardcore/punk music festival in Wilkes-Barre, PA) was an influence on the band's formation.[1] The band produced a demo entitled "Down for the Count" in 2003 that is still available on the internet.

In 2005, the band added Shane Moran on second guitar and recorded two demos in 2005 and 2006, during which they played shows in what they call a "small, tight-knit community" around Kingston, Pennsylvania.[1] These included several shows at the Doylestown, Pennsylvania YMCA Teen Center.

They recorded a split with the Erection Kids in 2007 on FlightPlan Records. Members of the Erection Kids later went on to form Balance And Composure. The band quickly followed up their first release with the Kingston 7" (also on FlightPlan Records) in February 2008.[2] Title Fight played with Fireworks on their tour with Set Your Goals Summer of 2007, ultimately leading to Jeff's (owner of Run For Cover Records) discovery of Title Fight.[3] On October 16, 2008, it was announced that the band had signed to Run for Cover Records.[4] The Last Thing You Forget 7" was recorded in December 2008 at the Getaway Group in Massachusetts with Jay Maas and released in June 2009 on Run for Cover Records.[3] The 7" featured three new songs while the CD release featured all of their releases to date. The artwork for the album was done by John Slaby, a friend from Wilkes-Barre.[3] Later in June, the band went on tour with Crime in Stereo and Fireworks.[5] This was followed by a US tour with New Found Glory.[6] The Kingston EP has also been re-released on Six Feet Under Records with Dave Sausage in order to revamp the EP.[3] During these years, Title Fight altered their sounds to a more Melodic hardcore genre, with influences including Knapsack, Jawbreaker, and the Promise Ring.[3]

In 2010, Title Fight was featured on Triple B Record's compilation, America's Hardcore, with a new song entitled "Dreamcatchers". They also toured the United States with Bayside, Senses Fail and Balance And Composure[7] and a tour of Japan with H₂O.

Title Fight in 2011

On January 19, 2011, Title Fight signed to SideOneDummy Records and announced they had finished recording their debut full-length, produced by Walter Schreifels (Gorilla Biscuits, Quicksand, and Rival Schools)[8] and engineered by Will Yip at Studio 4 in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. The band also embarked on their first headline tour in 2011 with the Menzingers, Touche Amore, Dead End Path, and Shook Ones.[9]

The band released their new album, Shed, on May 3, 2011.[10] On February 10, they released a new song off Shed for free download entitled 27 and Shed's album artwork. On February 23, SideOneDummy posted pre-orders for a new Title Fight 7" called "Flood of '72". The 7" featured the song from Shed along with an acoustic version of the song, and was released on April 12.[11]

At this time, Title Fight would play their first Australian tour,[12] then embarked on a 22 date European tour, starting November 28, 2011, visiting France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Belgium, the UK and finishing in Ireland with a final show in Dublin. The band also played both dates of Reading and Leeds Festival.

2012 saw Title Fight supporting Rise Against on the second leg of their 2012 Endgame Tour, followed by an appearance on the Vans Warped Tour. Around these two tours was when the band had started workshopping ideas for their following album.

Title Fight announced via Tumblr that their next release Floral Green would come out on September 18, 2012.[13] July 24th, 2012 Title Fight released a single "Head in the Ceiling Fan" for free download on tumblr.[13][14] On August 14, 2012 the band premiered another song "Sympathy", on NPR music.[15] On September 13, 2012 SPIN magazine premiered a full stream of the record on their website.[16] Floral Green debuted at #69 on the Billboard Top 200. On October 19, 2012, Title Fight hosted a record release show in Warrior Run, Pennsylvania along with the Menzingers, Tigers Jaw, Gypsy, and Grey Zine prior to headlining a US tour with supporting acts Tigers Jaw, Pianos Become the Teeth, Whirr, Young Beats and Single Mothers.

Title Fight released the four-song EP Spring Songs on November 12, 2013 through Revelation Records,[17] with its second track "Be A Toy" premiering on August 12 through SPIN magazine. The music video for "Be A Toy" was released on November 20, 2013, and was filmed on Super 8 during the bands' 2013 Spring European Tour, directed by Susy Cereijo.[18]

In July 2014, the band announced on their Instagram account that they had signed to ANTI-, and were in the process of recording a new album with producer Will Yip.[19] On December 1, the band announced their new album would be called Hyperview, set for a February 3, 2015 release date, and released a video for the track "Chlorine" through The FADER.[20]

Aside from a few select appearances, the band has been primarily inactive, with their last show taking place on January 2018.

Despite not being active since 2018, Title Fight's social media accounts occasionally update with information regarding merchandise and the members' other projects. In September 2023, it was revealed that the band had started a new record label called Purple Circle, which had been used to reissue Kingston. Around this time, Ned Russin said in an interview with BrooklynVegan that he did not consider Title Fight to be entirely broken up, though he wanted to keep the band's future ambiguous.[21]