Like many people who grew up in the height of the Drive-Thru Records era, discovering new up and coming bands was a bit of a tricky science. For me personally, I found many new artists through punk rock CD compilations, surfing the web on AbsolutePunk, getting to a concert early to check out the openers, or by skimming through the pages of Alternative Press. So how did a band like The Movielife make it so easy to enjoy their music? The Movielife were a punk rock band in spirit, but their ability to mix in hardcore elements and make their concerts an experience made me a lifelong fan. Early songs like “Hand Grenade” and “Walking On Glass” were my first introduction to the band, and it made me backtrack through their earlier catalog to grab as much music as I could get my hands on.

The third full-length studio album from The Movielife felt like a momentous opportunity for them to stand out from the pack of Drive-Thru bands that began dominating the greater part of the decade. Forty Hour Train Back To Penn was recorded at Salad Days Studio with veteran producer Brian McTernan, and his fingerprints are all over this punk classic. The band released two singles from the set, “Jamestown” and “Face or Kneecaps,” however during the promotional cycle of the record, The Movielife decided to call it quits. This kind of derailed the intentions of Drive-Thru Records doing a bigger push for the LP, but the legacy that this band left behind is still felt today. The majority of the songs written on this record were by lead vocalist Vinnie Caruana and guitarist Brandon Reilly, and they would end up being the last ones standing when The Movielife released Cities in Search of a Heart 14 years later. Forty Hour Train Back To Penn tackles many situations head-on like fractured relationships, traveling on the road, and growing up, while still having an emotional element to each track to showcase the band’s collective growth as people and musicians.