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My Life In 35 Songs, Track 15: “Thunder Road” by Bruce Springsteen

My Life in 35 Songs
Craig Manning

Show a little faith, there’s magic in the night

Saturday, May 30, 2009: that was the last night I ever performed on my high school stage. By that point, I’d set foot on that stage countless times: for musicals and choir concerts, for performances in front of school district administrators, for so many hours of rehearsals and practices. It got to be the kind of thing that you experience so many times you start to take it for granted. And then, suddenly, that story was over, and I was trying to wrap my head around how the place that had made me into a musician was about to be in my rearview.

“It’s a town full of losers, I’m pulling out of here to win.”

Those were the last words I ever sang on that stage by myself. There were other words that I shared, singing in harmony with fellow classmates. But that line, the iconic sign-off of Bruce Springsteen’s greatest song, became my sign-off, at least for my musical journey at that school and, really, for my entire high school experience.

On paper, it’s an appropriate line for a big coming-of-age moment. Sequenced at the very top of 1975’s Born to Run, “Thunder Road” is the Boss’s bold, brash invitation for a girl to run away with him. “My car’s out back if you’re ready to take that long walk/From your front porch to my front seat,” he sings at one point. Later, as the song barrels into its final verse, Springsteen ups the stakes: this town is crawling with ghosts, and if you stay here, the promise of your youth will be spent; “Your graduation gown lies in rags at their feet.” So get in the car, baby, and let’s drive. Let’s drive so fast and so far that they can’t possibly follow us. Let’s get out of this town and never, ever look back.

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Review: Deadlands – Seven

Deadlands - Seven
Adam Grundy

The music world can always use another metalcore band, right? Deadlands are from Long Island, New York and are comprised of Kasey Karlsen (vocals) and CJ Arey (guitarist/producer). Their sound is a blend of rock bands like From Ashes To New and Poison the Well, paired with Karlsen’s vocal range similar to Courtney LaPlante of Spiritbox, all put on blend with a style that feels fresh and exciting. Seven is their latest EP/effort via Spinefarm Records and it’s a hard-hitting collection of seven songs that are filled with great production, slick guitar work, and visceral vocals that have enough melody throughout for others to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Kasey Karlsen shared, “Our goal is to really bring listeners out of the present world. With all of the crazy crap going on in our everyday lives, we try to take you to different realms. Subconsciously, the music might help you reflect on yourself.”  By taking the listener on quite the thrilling ride, Seven marks a new standout moment for not only metalcore, but Deadlands as well.

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Interview: Cody Parks and the Dirty South

Cody Parks and the Dirty South
Adam Grundy

Recently I was able to connect with rock band Cody Parks and the Dirty South that is self-described as “Country Metal.” The band has toured extensively, and is ready for their moment in the spotlight. In this interview with lead vocalist Cody Parks, I asked him about where the band draws their influence from, five records he couldn’t live without, and the best parts of playing in a band. If you’re curious about this band, please consider checking out their merch store here.

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Thank You For The (New) Venom: An Analysis of My Chemical Romance’s 2025 ‘Three Cheers’ Remix

My Chem - Compare
Adam Grundy

I have to admit that I rolled my eyes a bit at the thought of remixing/remastering what I consider to be one of the most sonically dynamic records this scene has ever had the privilege of calling our own: My Chemical Romance’s Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge. How exactly do you make any improvements to a classic recording? The answer was found out quickly when I first put my ears around the 2025 remix/remaster of Three Cheers. Instead of just making it louder, the original mixer of the record (Rich Costey) used the original source files that were carefully stored away by veteran producer Howard Benson to fully revamp the overall sound that comes out of the speakers when you hit “play.” This article will not be so much of a review per se of the Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge record, as I originally did the retrospective review a few years back, as much as it is a deep dive into the overall package that is presented here in 2025.

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My Life In 35 Songs, Track 14: “Crashin” by Jack’s Mannequin

My Life in 35 Songs
Craig Manning

Even if your voice comes back again, maybe there’ll be no one listening.

It was the only time in my life that I wanted summer to end.

As a kid, you wish summers could last forever. You survey the horizon from the vantage point of mid-June and it feels like you’ve got an entire lifetime’s worth of school-free days ahead of you. Days to be lazy. Days to hang out with friends. Days to spend at the beach, or cruising around your neighborhood on bikes, refusing to waste even a second of daylight. And frankly, as a kid, summers kind of do last forever, simply because two and a half months is still such a significant amount of time in the grand scheme of how long you’ve been alive. Relative to everything else, summer is endless.

As a teenager, you still wish summers could last forever, but you also have enough perspective on time to know that they’ll end up passing you by so much faster than you think. You’ll blink twice and suddenly it will be mid-August, and you’ll be left wondering where all those weeks went. As the onslaught of September and the first day of school approaches, you cling to the remaining 80-degree days and the dwindling summer sunsets like they’re oxygen, because the thought of losing that freedom again and going back to the cloistered halls of your high school feels all wrong.

Growing up, I certainly never thought I’d find myself wishing for summer to hasten its demise, but that’s exactly where I found myself in late August of 2008. For one thing, I didn’t think I could stand one more second working my shitty summer job. But the bigger factor at play was her, the girl I’d spent the summer chasing. At so many moments throughout that season, amidst so many flirtations and longing glances and intoxicated evenings where we got a bit closer than we should have, I thought we were only a matter of time. She’d break up with her boyfriend and choose me, and we’d spend the summer together, making every moment count. But she didn’t break up with her boyfriend, and she didn’t choose me, and before I knew it, we’d run out of time.

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Interview: Daniel Ellsworth and The Great Lakes

Daniel Ellsworth and The Great Lakes
Adam Grundy

Recently I was able to connect with the band called Daniel Ellsworth & The Great Lakes to discuss what went into their cool new single called “After All (Strung Out Version)”. In this interview, I asked the band about their writing process, where they find inspiration that they put back into their music, and what to expect at one of their concerts. If you’re enjoying the interview, please consider staying connected with the band here.

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Review: HAIM – I Quit

Adam Grundy

Have you ever had the feeling that a little piece is missing from an album? It’s something that you have a hard time putting your finger on, but it’s an uneasy feeling that something is just…off. I got a little bit of that feeling when I listened to HAIM’s fourth studio album called I Quit, a record that is largely about giving up on relationships that aren’t worth our time and effort. Even as I kept coming back to I Quit over my weekend, I couldn’t shake the feeling that a bit of the magic that the band put into their stellar predecessor of Women In Music Pt. III wasn’t there. This current set was produced by Rostam Batmanglij (Ra Ra Riot, Vampire Weekend), lead vocalist/guitarist Danielle Haim, as well as some extra production from Buddy Ross (Frank Ocean), and the overall sheen that comes through the speakers on singles like “Relationships” and “All Over Me” are readily apparent. The music that surrounds the early standout moments just doesn’t seem to recapture that classic HAIM style, even if those “highs” found in the key songs are great.

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My Life In 35 Songs, Track 13: “Someone Like You” by SafetySuit

My Life in 35 Songs
Craig Manning

Can you see me, holding you right in my arms?

Fast cars, loud music, and summertime: These are a few of my favorite things.

I have long been obsessed with the way a windows-down summer car ride can turn a song transcendent. Hearing the right song when you’re cruising down the road without a care in the world? In my opinion, there’s not much in the world that can make you feel more boundless. It’s something about the volume of the music in the car, the way it surrounds you, the reverberations you can feel coursing through the seats, the armrests, the steering wheel, your entire body. It’s something about the wind in your hair, and the sunshine, and the way the summer air smells. It’s definitely something about the freedom summertime brings, especially when you’re young, and especially when you’ve got wheels. Combine all these things with the right song, and it will sound as good as anything you have ever heard.

That’s what I learned at the outset of summer 2008, the first time I listened to the SafetySuit album Life Left to Go in the car. I’d gotten my driver’s license the previous summer, but this would be my first summer with my own car, and it wasn’t lost on me what that meant. That old cliché about wheels giving you wings might be overused, but it’s also accurate, because having a car unlocks so much when you’re a teenager. I didn’t know what the summer was going to bring, but I’d already made up my mind that I was going to make it count, and the freedom of having my own means of transportation was absolutely at the center of that pledge. All I needed was the right song to consecrate my vow. Enter SafetySuit.

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Review: Shayfer James – Summoning

Shayfer James - Summoning
Adam Grundy

The latest album from Shayfer James, called Summoning, is a sonic wall-of-sound that showcases this talented singer-songwriter’s wit, charm, and crisp songwriting. Shayfer shares on the creation of Summoning, “I decided to sequester myself away on the frozen oceanside of New Brunswick, Canada, because I knew I had a new album in me. I didn’t know what it would sound like or what it would be about, but I knew it was in there and that I wanted to be alone and somewhere beautifully cold when I wrote it.  The four weeks I spent writing Summoning were lush with gorgeous sunrises, flocking crows, and self-acceptance. It felt like a spell. A summoning of self. I felt tapped into the ether, and there’s really no better word to describe my time on Cape Tormentine other than ‘magic.'” You can tell that Shayfer James put his whole self into this record that invites the listener in closer to his world, if you’re brave enough to step into the dimly lit hallways of Summoning.

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My Life In 35 Songs, Track 12: “Come Around” by Counting Crows

My Life in 35 Songs
Craig Manning

I have waited for tomorrow from December ‘til today, and I have started loving sorrow along the way.

“I’ll believe it exists when I’m holding it in my hands.”

For six months, I repeated those words to myself like they were a self-help mantra. I was talking about the supposedly brand-new album from Counting Crows, which was set to drop on March 25, 2008 after a long, long hiatus. The band had teased the LP the previous fall with the release of “Cowboys,” a loud, bitter, rip-roaring rocker that sounded like the reincarnated version of their 1996 cult classic Recovering the Satellites. I loved that sound and how energized it felt, but then again, I probably would have loved anything coming out of the Counting Crows camp at that point. In the moment, the band’s newest song was “Accidentally in Love,” the Oscar-nominated hit from 2004’s Shrek 2, and their newest album was 2002’s Hard Candy. They had, in other words, been away for a while.

I was convinced that I’d somehow cursed the Crows. As a kid, “Mr. Jones” was the first rock song I’d ever loved, and the band’s moody, melodic roots rock, for me, became synonymous with growing up. But I’d fallen head over heels in love with their music with the 2003 best-of collection Films About Ghosts, which recontextualized those ‘90s hits in exciting ways and unearthed a series of rich, remarkably written deep cuts – songs like the searching title track from Recovering the Satellites, the epic “Mrs. Potter’s Lullaby” from 1999’s This Desert Life, or the simultaneously sad and funny “Holiday in Spain” from Hard Candy – that made me realize there was probably a lot more to this band than what got played on the radio.

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Review: Turnstile – Never Enough

Turnstile - Never Enough
Adam Grundy

How exactly does a band that has blown up as much as Turnstile has these past four years follow up the breakaway success of Glow On? By simply going bigger, bolder, and recognizing that there is Never Enough Turnstile music in this world. Never Enough is now the fourth studio album from the Baltimore-based hardcore band, and the set was produced by lead vocalist Brendan Yates, veteran hitmaker Will Yip, and the English record producer A.G. Cook. You can feel a bit of each producer’s stamp on this record, with Yates’ influence coming in the strongest of the three. The promotional period of this new era of Turnstile kicked off in March when billboards around Los Angeles were donned with the album name of Never Enough paired with the sky-blue aesthetic of the cover art. The band announced a release date shortly thereafter of June 6th, 2025, and also recognized guitarist Meg Mills as a permanent member of Turnstile. Much like many other key artists have done recently, Turnstile accompanied Never Enough with a feature-length visual companion that hit theaters yesterday. While some of the highs of this record are not quite as breathtaking as what was found on Glow On, Never Enough re-solidifies Turnstile as the most creative band in the hardcore genre. The possibilities seem limitless for this talented artist who continues to find new and interesting ways to convey the right emotions and messaging through their unique music.

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Interview: Sarah Rose Project

Sarah Rose Project
Adam Grundy

A couple of weeks ago, I was able to schedule a Zoom call with Sarah Rose of Sarah Rose Project to discuss everything that went into her debut self-titled solo record that is being released via Say10 Records. In this interview, I asked Sarah about the differences in writing solo versus with Sarah and the Safe Word, the stylistic choices made on key songs on the new album, and her ideas for the solo tour this summer. Sarah Rose Project is available on vinyl here.

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Interview: Josh Epstein of JR JR

JR JR
Adam Grundy

This past week I was able to connect with Josh Epstein of the band JR JR to discuss what went into their latest album called Back To The Land. In this interview, I asked Josh about some of the lyrical concepts/themes present in the new LP, the band’s approach to their dynamic live performances, and the freedom they feel in releasing their music. Back To The Land released last Friday on all streaming services, and there is also a vinyl pressing available here.

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Review: Sarah Rose Project – Sarah Rose Project

Adam Grundy

”If I had to describe this album in one sentence it would read, ‘Musical Heaven for Theater Kids.’ Whether or not you identify as such this album will make you an honorary theater kid by the end of it,” shared Adam Gecking of Say10 Records about Sarah Rose Project and her self-titled solo record. Armed with a plethora of stylistic choices, vibes and key cameos from artists that Sarah Rose has worked with and respects, Sarah Rose Project plays out like walking into a dirty jazz bar from the 80’s and being instantly captivated by the music. For fans of Sarah and the Safe Word, you will likely still connect with the material found in this solo venture, as the music is still in the vein of cabaret, paired with some old school singer-songwriter craftsmanship. Sarah Rose shimmers and sways all over this record that is filled with lush self-production and breathtaking moments.

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