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| i didn't write any of dat stuff \/ \/ ;) |
My Chemical Romance
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Based in New Jersey, My Chemical Romance is an alternative pop/rock and punk-pop band that has been compared to Thursday and, to a lesser degree, Cursive. Their name was inspired by author Irvine Welsh (of Trainspotting fame), and while many of their songs are loud, fast, hyper, and aggressive, My Chemical Romance's work also tends to be melodic and pop-minded. My Chemical Romance got started in the early 2000s, when lead singer Gerard Way and drummer Matt Pelissier decided to try writing some songs together. The first tune that Way and Pelissier -- who had been friends since high school -- came up with was called "Skylines and Turnstiles" (a post-9/11 song written after Way witnessed the Twin Towers fall while working at his animation job in New York City). Way and Pelissier both felt good about the song, and Way asked guitarist Ray Toro if he would be interested in working with them. My Chemical Romance's five-man lineup was complete when Way, Pelissier, and Toro joined forces with bassist Mikey Way (Gerard Way's brother) and guitarist Frank Iero. With that lineup in place, the band started playing all around the Northeast Corridor and made plans to begin working on its first album.
In 2002, Eyeball Records (the New York-based indie that Thursday had recorded for) released My Chemical Romance's debut album, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love. The album was often compared to Thursday -- a comparison that, for various reasons, was inevitable and unavoidable. Both bands were from New Jersey, both had recorded for Eyeball, and both combined punk-pop's musical aggression with introspective, confessional lyrics. Plus, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love was produced by Geoff Rickly, Thursday's lead singer -- add all of those things up, and there was no way that My Chemical Romance was going to escape Thursday comparisons. But Thursday isn't their only influence; reviewers have cited the Smiths, Morrissey, the Cure, and the Misfits as influences. And Way has even cited British heavy metal icons Iron Maiden as an influence.
Lyrically, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love is as dark as it is introspective and cathartic; Way has been quoted as saying that the band's lyrics were a great way for him to deal with the problems he had been going through (which included severe depression and a serious illness in his family). The 2002 release included Way and Pelissier's first song, "Skylines and Turnstiles," and many of the album's other song titles were equally intriguing, including "Honey, This Mirror Isn't Big Enough for the Two of Us," "Drowning Lessons," "Headfirst for Halos," "Our Lady of Sorrows," and "Vampires Will Never Hurt You." In 2003, My Chemical Romance signed with Reprise/Warner Bros. and released Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge one year later. Proving to be widely popular, the album boasted several successful singles on commercial radio and MTV, including "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)," "Helena," and "The Ghost of You."
Amid their growing popularity, Pelissier departed from the band in mid-2004, and he was replaced on drums by Bob Bryar. Relentless touring further increased their fanatical fan following; the band headlined dates with Alkaline Trio, scored an opening slot for Green Day, and shared bills with Story of the Year, Taking Back Sunday, and the Used, among many others. As My Chemical Romance prepared to enter the studio for their third album, they issued Life on the Murder Scene in March 2006. The CD and double-DVD package documented almost everything MCR over recent years: the CD contained demos and live cuts of songs, and the two DVDs showcased life on the road, live footage, music videos, and lots more. | |
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AFI
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Hardcore punk revivalists AFI (A Fire Inside) originally formed in 1991 when its members -- vocalist Davey Havok, guitarist Markus Stopholese, bassist Vick, and drummer Adam Carson -- were attending high school in Ukiah, CA. Vick was replaced by Geoff Kresge after several months, and the band played a few local gigs and released a split 7" titled Dork with fellow Ukiah natives Loose Change (a band that incidentally included future AFI member Jade Puget). An EP titled Behind the Times was released as well. The bandmembers then split up to attend different colleges, with Kresge temporarily moving to New Jersey to join Blanks 77, and all assumed East Bay's AFI was defunct. However, the band reconvened during a holiday break from school to play a one-off reunion show, and audience response was so positive that the bandmembers decided to quit school and concentrate on music full-time. A couple of singles preceded a record deal with the Nitro label, which issued the band's second album, Very Proud of Ya, in 1996. Two LPs followed in 1997 -- a re-release of their 1995 debut, Answer That and Stay Fashionable, and Shut Your Mouth & Open Your Eyes -- and personnel shifts ensued; Kresge was the first to leave, being replaced by Hunter Burgan, and Stopholese departed in favor of ex-Redemption 87 guitarist Jade Puget. The new lineup recorded an EP titled A Fire Inside in 1998, and issued a noticeably more mature full-length in 1999, Black Sails in the Sunset. 1999 also saw the release of the All Hallow's EP before The Art of Drowning followed a year later. Though already owning a fiercely loyal core base of fans, the latter album saw the band's music being received by an even larger audience, due in part to the moderate success of the single "Days of the Phoenix." In the new millennium, AFI hooked up with Jerry Finn and Garbage's Butch Vig for some recording. The end result was the ambitious Sing the Sorrow, released in March 2003, their major-label debut for DreamWorks that showcased the band's significant growth from their early hardcore days. The record also marked AFI's crossover into the mainstream as their fan base considerably grew, national news publications praised them, and several singles found airplay on MTV. Working again with producer Jerry Finn (blink-182, Green Day), the band's next record was their most labor-intensive to date, resulting from two years of detailed songwriting. Decemberunderground, album number seven, surfaced on June 6, 2006, on Interscope. |
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Panic! at the Disco
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Just barely out of high school, pop-punk outfit Panic! At the Disco burst out of suburban Las Vegas in 2005 with their full-length debut, A Fever You Can't Sweat Out. Taking their name from a line in Name Taken's "Panic," the group materialized when friends Spencer Smith (drums) and Ryan Ross (guitar) grew tired of covering blink-182 tunes together and thus recruited classmates Brendon Urie (guitar/vocals) and Brent Wilson (bass) to complete the quartet. Crafting pop-influenced songs with theatrical touches, quirky techno beats, and perceptive lyrics, Panic! At the Disco posted some demos online and soon caught the attention of Decaydance, the Fueled By Ramen imprint headed by Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz. Even though the band had yet to play a live show, they were subsequently signed. With their record issued in September 2005, the guys hit the road that fall on the successful Nintendo Fusion Tour alongside Fall Out Boy, Motion City Soundtrack, Boys Night Out, and the Starting Line. As their single "I Write Sins Not Tragedies" found its way into TRL hearts (and the Top 40) by the early months of 2006, the band kept the momentum going on the road with the Academy Is..., Acceptance, and Hellogoodbye. Proving to be a popular lineup, the tour consistently sold out venues across the country. Wilson parted ways with the group mid-year; Panic! pressed on with a full summer of headlining dates around the country that culminated with appearances in Chicago at Lollapalooza and overseas at the UK's Reading and Leeds festivals. |
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Avenged Sevenfold
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The members of metalcore outfit Avenged Sevenfold were still in high school when they formed in 1999 in Huntington Beach, CA. Still, it didn't take long for M. Shadows (vocals), Zacky Vengeance (guitar), Synyster Gates (guitar), the Reverend (drums), and Johnny Christ (bass) to make an impression with their aggressive hybrid of metal and punk-pop. The band debuted in July 2001 with Sounding the Seventh Trumpet (Good Life), and followed two years later with the Hopeless release Waking the Fallen before jumping to Warner Bros. for June 2005's City of Evil. That summer they supported the album with a live run on the Warped Tour's main stage. |
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Taking Back Sunday
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| Formed in 1999, Amityville, NY's Taking Back Sunday took their version of melodic hardcore from bands like Lifetime, Endpoint, and Sunny Day Real Estate, as well as guitarist Ed Reyes' emo band the Movielife. The band's first demo, a five-song CD, was released in February of 2001.
After a year of self-promotion and touring, including shows with At the Drive-In and Alkaline Trio, Taking Back Sunday signed to Victory Records. The band immediately went into New Jersey's Big Blue Meanie Recording Studios with producer Sal Villanueva and engineer Tim Gilles to record a full-length debut. That album, Tell All Your Friends, layered Adam Lazzara's emotional vocals and the dual-guitar assault of Reyes and John Nolan for a classic hardcore sound with pop songwriting components. It was released on Victory in March of 2002.
The group spent the rest of that year and much of 2003 touring, but when bassist Shaun Cooper and guitarist John Nolan left the band, Taking Back Sunday's future was left in doubt. However, guitarist/vocalist Fred Mascherino and bassist Matt Rubano filled out the lineup in time for the band's fall 2003 tour and recording sessions for Tell All Your Friends' follow-up. That album, Where You Want to Be, arrived in summer 2004 and debuted at number three on Billboard's Top 200. TBS toured steadily behind the album, headlining a sold-out North American tour and hitting the usual Warped Tour stops. Signing with Warner Bros. in June 2005, the band also co-headlined some dates with Jimmy Eat World during the year. Ever the hard workers, they were back in the studio by August; the result was their third full-length, Louder Now, a number two hit on the Top 200 that was issued in April 2006. Produced by Eric Valentine (Third Eye Blind, Queens of the Stone Age), the album was a darker, more aggressive effort that tapped into the band's live energy. | |
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Flyleaf
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Heavy music and pained lyrics go together like cake and ice cream, and Belton, Texas quintet, Flyleaf, aren't about to break with tradition. But while many loud rockers reopen old wounds by singing about their broken homes and broken hearts, Flyleaf confront past traumas to heal old scars and prove in the process that hope shines brighter than despair.
"I used to be in a really negative band, and that seemed to almost fuel my emptiness because that's what the songs were about," says charismatic singer Lacey Mosley. "That's why I think what we're doing is important because there needs to be something heavy out there that has a positive message so people see that it's possible to get through the worst situations."
Flyleaf's self-titled debut album echoes with songs about abuse, neglect, addiction, and dysfunction, and messages about overcoming adversity. And the band's wide array of brooding beats, atmospheric textures and lunging riffs compliment Mosley's emotionally revealing lyrics, which range from breathy and beautiful to scathing and aggressive.
"I'm So Sick," starts with a moody bass line throbbing over a haunting ethereal vocal before guitars crash in like a rock through a plate-glass window. The track see-saws between rage and reflection, guitarists Sameer Bhattacharya and Jared Hartmann providing textural flourishes and atmospheric touches that bridge the emotional shifts. "Cassie" layers stop-start guitars atop an urgent backbeat and builds to an exultant chorus. "All Around You" augments a wall of power chords with evocative jazzy licks and "Fully Alive" is a cinematic number with angry muted riffs that segue into another glorious refrain.
Flyleaf's infectiously heavy positivism is all the more surprising considering Mosley's struggles while growing up. "My mom was a young single mother of six," she explains. "We didn't have money and things were hard for all of us. We moved whenever we couldn't make ends meet in one place, and that happened pretty often so there was a lot of struggling, suffering, and character building."
"It's easy to get depressed when you're dealing with that kind of stress," she continues, "especially when it looks like things will never get better. There was nothing constant in my life, and nothing to believe in. I got into some really bad stuff that I thought would make me feel more loved, or maybe just numb, but it cost me everything that was important to me, and literally almost took my life."
When you take a dive, sometimes you have to hit the bottom before you can swim your way back to the top. For Mosley, writing songs about survival helped her reach the surface and breathe again. "I had to lose everything to look up and see that there is a truly constant hope of a happy ending and that's what we make music for," she says. "If my music helps one person, than it's worth having been through what I've experienced."
Five years ago, Mosley started playing music with drummer James Culpepper. The two joined up with Bhattacharya and Hartmann, who were in a local band that had just split up. "Our first practice together was awesome," Mosley says. "Sameer and Jared are really experimental with melodies and pedals, and we all had different influences that were all blending together with the same passionate and hopeful heart, and that brought out this beautiful feeling. It was magical." Bassist Pat Seals joined in 2002. "The doors were open and I just happened to walk through at the right time," Seals says.
Flyleaf played anywhere they could slowly but consistently increased their fan base with local bands and national acts like Riddlin Kids, Bowling For Soup, Fishbone, and Evanescence. Eventually they landed a show at Austin's legendary annual music convention South by Southwest in 2003. Although their set started at the un-rock -n' roll time of 5 p.m., they rocked the house, which lead to a showcase for various labels. After many meetings and much deliberation, Flyleaf signed with Octone.
In early 2005 the band's self-titled debut EP-- produced by Rick Parasher (Pearl Jam, Blind Melon) and Brad Cook (Foo Fighters, Queens Of The Stone Age)--was released and listeners got a taste of the band's poignant song craft through tracks like "Breathe Today," "Cassie," and "I'm Sorry" (which also appear on Flyleaf's full-length). To support the EP, Flyleaf toured with Saliva, Breaking Benjamin, 3 Doors Down, Staind. and Trust Company. Though many of the audiences had no idea who Flyleaf were when they started playing, every night their spirited performances earned them new fans.
"We think about where we started and where we are and realize, 'Wow, we are playing in front of 1000 people tonight.' And then we just can't be thankful enough to those bands who gave us a chance to play with them, even though we are sort of nobodies."
In spring 2005, Flyleaf recorded their full-length debut with acclaimed producer Howard Benson, who has previously worked with Papa Roach, My Chemical Romance, P.O.D., and All American Rejects. Flyleaf stayed in Los Angeles for two months and worked on more than 20 songs with Benson at Bay 7 Studios. Together they decided on 12 of them to arrange, fine tune, and shape so they best reflected the group's powerful messages and experiences.
"He really took an interest in what we had to say and helped put all the parts in the right places," Mosley says. "We were so used to recording with our friends and finishing whole EPs in a few hours. So it was great to spend two months with Howard having this surreal professional experience in every part of the process."
"A flyleaf is the blank page at the front of a book," explains Mosley. "It's the dedication page, the place you write a message to someone you're giving a book to. And, that's kind of what our songs are: personal messages that provide a few moments of clarity before the story begins."
With their tight-knit chemistry, compassionate approach ,and songs that haunt the mind hours after they've stopped playing, Flyleaf are turning heads and leaving crowds wanting more. Indeed, their story has just begun. |
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The Used
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The members of the Used had to overcome poverty, homelessness, and substance abuse, not to mention the straight-laced attitudes of their hometown of Orem, UT, to bring their screamo-tinged brand of post-hardcore to life. But they persevered and earned a contract with Reprise Records, releasing their self-titled debut album in June 2002. Having only played a handful of shows around Orem prior to their record's release, the band -- vocalist Bert McCracken, guitarist Quinn Allman, bassist Jeph Howard, and drummer Branden Steineckert -- began relentless nationwide touring that quickly saw their fan base multiply. Club dates soon turned into successful stints on larger-scale festival/package tours including the Warped Tour, Ozzfest, and Projekt Revolution alongside Linkin Park and Snoop Dogg. In summer 2003, the Used issued the introspective CD/DVD Maybe Memories, which contained unreleased songs, live material, behind-the-scenes footage, and more. Their official sophomore offering showed up in September 2004 as In Love and Death. |
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The Pink Spiders
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| The Pink Spiders stormed onto the Nashville music scene with their eyes on the prize. In a whirlwind of hustle and clatter, the band seemed an instant iconoclastic frame of French New Wave cinema come to life. Striking figures in pink and jet black, they were distant and aloof, itchy, and sex-fueled. The first gunshot came in January of 2004 with The Pink Spiders Are Taking Over!, a battle cry of an EP that served as a frenetic, precocious primer for the band's pop-punk fascination with decadence, obsession, and thwarted lovers.
With an almost Machiavellian sense of ambition, the band calculated, strategized, and plotted, signing an indie deal with CI Records in the summer of 2004, touring relentlessly and living off the freshly-lit cigarettes, stiff drinks, and sexual adventure that would fill their upcoming work. Live shows from the period were kinetic and jolting performances marked by in-jokes and brash, swaggering bravado. The band liked to stick it to the crowd, with drummer Bob Ferrari often giving them the finger during a one-handed solo and bassist Jon Decious spitting beer into the front row. "We're the Pink Spiders, and you're not," singer and guitarist Matt Friction once taunted by way of introduction to a packed, unsuspecting audience. Crowds were never quite sure if the band would seduce them or insult them, but they could always be certain the band would dispense their blitzed hyper-driven pop-punk with beer-swilling abandon.
January 2005 brought the stunning full-length Hot Pink and a whirlwind of industry attention. The work is a chillingly well-conceived album that unfurls like a grainy black & white film about fast getaways and fast women. It's doo-wop on a bender; catchy, infectious doses of dark, unruly pop for the lust-filled swinger. There is humanity in Friction's clever portraits of love and the human condition, even if his primary concern is for skirt-chasing seduction and the short-lived addiction that inevitably follows. Every tale is a new city, a new girl, a new crush, with an explosive backdrop that gets the blood going like Buddy Holly's pop sensibility cut with a sneer.
The band toured nonstop on the record, battling the elements and chaos offered by life on the road. Not only did their trailer catch fire in Buffalo, but the band slept in New York City subways when they had nowhere to crash, and donated plasma to fund their demanding tour schedule. A mere three months after the record was released, several major-label offers were on the table, and in April 2005, the band signed with Geffen. The Pink Spiders have since been named one of Alternative Press's "100 Bands You Need To Know In 2006."
Their major label debut, Teenage Graffiti, is a fevered, luminous record of rock 'n' roll escapades. Produced by Cars' frontman Ric Ocasek and mixed by Tom Lord-Alge, the record inventories the impulsiveness of summer road trips, the apathy of youth, and testosterone-fueled fun. It kicks off with a rebel yell, capturing the feeling of a sweaty club with beer bottles clanking on the ferocious "Soft Smoke." The song "Saturday Nite Riot" is an instantly infectious sing-along with soaring bubblegum harmonies and a climactic beat. Numbers like "Back To The Middle" show the band packing more fist-pumping punch than three-minute pop boundaries usually permit. Standout track "Little Razorblade"--an ode to the crush-heavy pang--gives '60s-flavored pop confections a black eye with its cinematic stagger from love-weary pop song to petulant rock wail.
Teenage Graffiti shows the band achieving its former dynamism with a renewed defiance, rebellion, and dexterity. Just as the first EP threatened, the Pink Spiders are indeed taking over--with brighter tones and darker sunglasses. | |
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Page Updated Fri Aug 11, 2006 7:38pm EDT
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