Frontman Christo Bowman talks about the process behind Bad Suns’ debut album Language & Perspective, not following trends by making your own path, and why chemistry is the most valuable thing to have in a band.
Interview: Anberlin: The Exit Interview (Part Three)
Guitarist Christian McAlhaney compares his experiences in Anberlin and Acceptance, remembers first joining the band and fitting in right away, recalls working on Dark Is the Way and Vital, and clarifies why being a touring musician can be simultaneously joyous and difficult.
Interview: Anberlin: The Exit Interview (Part Two)
Lead singer Stephen Christian discusses Anberlin’s final album Lowborn, the excitement of the first two records, how being in the band taught him not to be scared to fail, and why leaving behind a legacy of responsibility is important.
Review: Real Friends – Maybe This Place Is The Same And We’re Just Changing
It seems a little strange that this feels less like a review for Real Friends’ first full-length Maybe This Place Is The Same And We’re Just Changing and more like a State of the Scene Address. After like a year of “outsiders” talking about “our” bands, people seem to be up in arms that an entity like Real Friends are getting discussed at all. Like it somehow ruins this faux-popularity that they didn’t even really like in the first place. Regardless of what you think about Pitchfork’s Ian Cohen and to a certain extent someone like Noisey’s Dan Ozzi, a vast majority of diehard fans have spent the past few months wondering if all of this emo proselytizing is even a good thing. Leave it to the Internet generation to find a new way to condemn bands for selling out, like being good at your fucking job is some sort of cross to bear.
Read More “Real Friends – Maybe This Place Is The Same And We’re Just Changing”Review: Joyce Manor – Never Hungover Again
The first rule of listening to Joyce Manor is not turning Joyce Manor into a quote unquote big deal. In a culture that’s always so eager to deem something the “next big thing,” it’s only natural that bloggers and journalists alike have turned their ears and eyes towards the Torrance, CA quartet. But here’s a new flash – Joyce Manor only wants to play super-catchy punk in super-efficient bursts of auditory ecstasy. The band isn’t here to defend pop-punk, revive emo, or save rock and roll – rather Joyce Manor just wants to have a good time, play some solid tunes, and maybe have an adult beverage or five afterwards.
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Interview: Anberlin: The Exit Interview (Part One)
Drummer Nate Young explains why 2014 will be Anberlin’s last year, sheds light on those weird album covers, reflects upon Cities and New Surrender, and talks about how starting in the band at the age of 15 molded him into the man he is today.
Review: Anberlin – Lowborn
I will forever defend the right of a band to go out on their own terms. I’ve said before that I would happily follow any of my favorite artists years past relevance and ages after their creative apexes, but I am equally okay with bands who realize when it’s time to leave the party and decide to give their fans a proper goodbye. There’s something about a very consciously crafted swansong that can just be so perfect when executed correctly. And “the perfect swansong” is precisely what Anberlin are shooting for with Lowborn, their seventh full-length studio album, and their last.
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Review: Four Year Strong – Go Down In History
You realize about five seconds into Go Down In History that Four Year Strong, the Worcester, MA-based quartet that exemplified the best parts of pop-punk’s “easy-core” subset with its first two full-length releases, has completely and unabashedly returned to form. This is, by all means, a great thing.
I hate using a phrase like “return to form”–a cliché with the best of them–but after the band’s 2011 (probably near-career-ending) effort In Some Way, Shape Or Form, it seems wholly appropriate. That last record showed an unfortunate take on Four Year Strong’s typical sound, one that was seemingly executed through a lens of trying too hard to “mature.” That might have been due to pressures at a major label or simply the band’s own desire to show growth in their art. Either way, it didn’t work very well, and Four Year Strong was left with an album that both alienated fans and didn’t see commercial or radio success.
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May feel like a child back in elementary school drinking out of it — but it’s so good I don’t even care.
