LONGMEADOW – Tom Fisher, a 16-year-old sophomore at Longmeadow High School (LHS), performs his original acoustic indie folk songs under the moniker “Lifetime Warranty.” Since forming the solo project more than a year ago, he’s created homemade recordings and played close to a dozen shows locally.  

Fisher told Reminder Publications his music is a way to channel his feelings creatively and considers the experience of playing them to be “incredibly cathartic for me.”

He described his sound as “lo-fi” or low fidelity – he mainly records with his acoustic guitar with little additional instrumentation on his songs.

To date, Fisher has self-produced and recorded four extended play (EP) recordings, which he has released on Bandcamp, a music streaming and purchasing website that caters to independent musicians. His first EP, “Colorless,” was released in June 2015 and includes songs such as “Mistake Makers Club” and “Sleep.” One of his EPs, “ForeverForever” was released on cassette tape.

“Most of my songs are just about real life stuff that I’m going through,” he explained. “My first EP that I wrote entirely while I was finishing up freshman year and it was a huge transitional period so a lot of the songs on that first EP reflected that.”

His song “Mistake Makers Club” is about one of his friends from who he drifted apart from once he entered high school.

Another one of his songs, “Western Massachusetts Blues,” is about feeling disconnected with one’s hometown.

Fisher’s recorded the songs on his phone, computer, and with a cassette recorder.

“With [Lifetime Warranty], I feel like doing a studio recording would kind of just take away from a lot of what the music that I make has to offer,” he explained.

Fisher’s musical influences include Cyberbully Mom Club – a Philadelphia-based lo-fi indie pop band. The name Lifetime Warranty comes from one of Cyberbully Mom Club’s songs.

“I do draw my influences from a ton of different genres that aren’t necessarily my exact genre,” he added. “A lot of my songs are influenced by more surf rock type music or some of my songs are more folk-type music than others.”

Fisher started playing music in 2007 at the age of 7.

“My mom just got for me and my sister a little 66-key Casio keyboard just to kind of [play] around with,” he noted.

He said he’s “incredibly passionate” about music and plans to attend college for music production or composition.

“It’s definitely what I want to do with my life,” Fisher explained. “It’s way more than just a procrastination tactic, trust me. It’s just what I’ve been doing and what I’ve been wanting to do since I was really young.”

He’s taken several music classes during the course of his education in Longmeadow. 

“Longmeadow High School has a really good music studio technology and production course,” he added. “I took choir through all of middle school and various general music classes that were available. If there’s an opportunity for me to take a class that has to do with music, I’m probably going to.”

Fisher’s next show will be June 10 at 6 p.m. at the Longmeadow Community House and includes other bands such as Northampton-based Mail Myself to Thoreau and three acts from Worcester, including Liam Shepherd, Falconry, and Empty Grows Every Bed.

For more information about Lifetime Warranty visit www.lifetimewarranty.bandcamp.com.

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