The Fantasy Defender is a project started by Dawn Mandarino (The Flairs/Tuuli) after wanting to create a new sound that mixed melodic 80's pop sensibilities with a goth-glam sound to darken the mix….think Cyndi Lauper meets Garbage!  Rounding out the line-up is sassy drummer Grant Scott & bassist extraordinare Joe Gervasi.

In her previous punk/rock bands, Mandarino shared the stage with such legends as Cheap Trick, David Lee Roth and The Buzzcocks and actively toured across Canada, the U.S., France, and Indonesia playing in front of a staggering 90,000 people. She gave highly praised performances at Vancouver's New Music West festival, Toronto's NXNE and Canadian Music Week, New York City's esteemed punk rock venues CBGB‘s and The Continental, Los Angeles' International Pop Overthrow Festival and the ROCKRGRL Music Conference in Seattle.

The Fantasy Defender takes Mandarino in a new direction which utilizes her melodic pop instincts while keeping the rock ‘n’ roll edge. The debut album "Lick the Poison" (released in April 2010) is clever, catchy, intoxicating, and undeniably fun.