Review: Taking Back Sunday – Tell All Your Friends

Taking Back Sunday - Tell All Your Friends

It’s pretty amazing to think of just how much the music scene has changed in a short 20 years time. During the “emo boom” of the early 00’s, it seemed like every major label was falling over themselves in order to sign the next big thing in music and cash in on the interest in the punk/emo scene. There seemed to be a bigger buzz online in several key music website communities that you could sort of feel, or at least get a basic pulse, of when that next band was poised to make a big splash on the music landscape. As much as has been written about the tumultuous relationship Victory Records had with their bands and their contracts, I figured I’d focus the majority of this retrospective on the beauty of the music that Taking Back Sunday has left us with. Tell All Your Friends was one of those electric records that was destined to be huge, immediate, and make the listener feel like they were a part of something that belonged to them. I remember hearing of Taking Back Sunday for the first time in college when a friend of mine had just “discovered” a new band that he described as a mix between hardcore, punk, and anthemic pop that he thought I’d be into. What I wasn’t expecting was for this band to open up a gateway of possibilities of where my music tastes would gravitate towards for the foreseeable future.

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Sum 41 Announce New Double Album

Sum 41

Sum 41 talk with Rolling Stone about their upcoming double album, Heaven and Hell:

What came out of this creative renaissance was Heaven and Hell. The first part of the two-part LP, known as “Heaven,” taps back into the current nostalgia surrounding pop-punk — a style Whibley started writing in before it became a thing again: “When that happened, I was like, ‘What kind of luck is that?’ ” he says. The album’s second, heavier side (“Hell”) features metallic tracks closer to the band’s most recent sound. “As I listened to almost all of it, it just kind of dawned on me,” he recalls. “‘Did I just make a double record by accident?’ “

One Armed Joey – “Numbstruck” (Video Premiere)

One Armed Joey

Today I’m excited to bring you the latest taste of new music from the Bay Area’s own punk rock band, One Armed Joey. The new single is called “Numbstruck,” and is taken from their upcoming new album called Happiness, To Me out on May 27th via Sell The Heart Records. One Armed Joey is perfect for fans of melodic punk rock bands like MxPx, Goldfinger, and The Ataris. The band shared this about the new track:

”Numbstruck” is about the anxiety brought on by watching the world and everything around you continuously change, but getting to the point where you’re numb to it all and would rather feel something rather than nothing. I feel like whenever I’m overwhelmed, I look back on simpler times and wish for that naivety, but then realize how selfish that can be. Dealing with significant life changes is a challenge, but accepting and embracing those life changes is even harder.

There couldn’t be a better time to discover another great punk band to add to your collection. If you’re enjoying what you hear, please consider pre-ordering Happiness, To Me here.

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