The Starting Line
recent reviews
The Starting Line - Eternal Youth
The Starting Line
Eternal Youth
The Starting Line - Based on a True Story
The Starting Line
Based On A True Story
The Starting Line - Direction
The Starting Line
Direction
The Starting Line - Based on a True Story
The Starting Line
Based on a True Story
The Starting Line - Say it Like You Mean It
The Starting Line
Say It Like You Mean It
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recent interviews
The Starting Line
Kenny Vasoli of The Starting Line
Adam Grundy sits down with Kenny of The Starting Line to discuss the upcoming holiday shows.
The Starting Line
The Starting Line at Warped Tour (Video Interview)
The Starting Line chat with Jackie Cular at the Vans Warped Tour.
The Starting Line
Matt Watts of The Starting Line
Matt Watts of The Starting Line talks about label difficulty and releasing 'Based on a True Story.'
LATEST ARTICLES

The Starting Line Talk With Rolling Stone

The Starting Line
Jason Tate

The Starting Line caught up with Rolling Stone to talk about their new album:

I had held the first three records on some sort of pedestal because we were playing them so much and people obviously had an attachment to those songs. And so when I was telling [Tim] that I don’t know if people are gonna care, he just said, ‘I think that’s just insecurity talking.’ And he explained that if we did want to make a record, it would just be a higher likelihood of people getting to hear it in general. He said that even putting our efforts on a seven inch, you’re just minimising the chances of people being exposed to it. And that sounded very sensical to me. So, and as soon as he said the insecurity thing, it really was a perfect reverse psychology on me where I was like, ‘I’m not insecure. I’m better at songwriting now than I’ve ever been.’ And I do feel that in my heart of hearts.

Review: The Starting Line – Eternal Youth

The Starting Line - Eternal Youth
Adam Grundy

18 years. There’s something a bit romantic about the amount of time that it took The Starting Line to follow up 2007’s brilliant LP of Direction. While turning 18 years old seems to signify our final path towards adulthood and leaving our youth behind, the reality behind this landmark age is that our lives are just beginning. Eternal Youth comes at just the right moment in time for our scene that is experiencing another surge and resurgence with bands like Motion City Soundtrack, Yellowcard, and now The Starting Line making new music again that is both worthy of their past legacy, while simultaneously moving the needle of creativity forward in their musical journey. The Starting Line first arrived in the pop-punk scene with Say It Like You Mean It, a widely adored scene staple via Drive-Thru Records, and yet it made sense for the band to outgrow that genre with stylistic choices made on Based on a True Story and eventually Direction. Eternal Youth signifies the band recognizing that the pop-punk genre is reminiscent of, as Kenny Vasoli put it in an interview I conducted with him in 2022: “I do know that we’re a pop punk band. And it’s a genre that sort of represents nostalgia and eternal youth, which I’m totally able to appreciate.” Wait, did Kenny drop the name of his returning LP for all the world to see and we all missed it until now? Eternal Youth to me represents the best version of The Starting Line, and I’m so happy that they’re back.

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The Return of The Starting Line

The Starting Line
Jason Tate

Kenny from The Starting Line talked with The Aquarian about their new album:

Those three records were made in a five- or six-year time span. It’s really messed up to think about. Then it took us 18 years to record another one! Time seems to be a weird accordion. In that very short amount of time a lot happened in my life. Then in the next 18 years it got spaced out in terms of events. Making Say It Like You Mean It memories are attributed to being in a professional studio and working with a professional producer for the first time. Also, I was working with one of my idols [Mark Trombino] who had made so many of my favorite records up to that point. It was hard not to be intimidated by it. 

A lot of that process I was going with the flow. It even frustrated Trombino a little bit. I remember there were times he would say, “How does this sound?” I would say, “Sounds really great!” Then he would say “What do you think of this?” And I’d say “That sounds so good!” [laughs] “Okay just get the fuck out of here and I’ll actually do work” because I was no help at all. I guess I have to start having opinions about these things. 

It was just big wide eyes taking it all in! I wanted to sound like Blink 182 and Jimmy Eat World! This would be cool if we could have a record that sounded as good as Clarity. I remember I was listening to very little pop-punk by the time we got to making Based On A True Story. I was trying to fit more of that style into the songwriting and moving away from general punk aesthetic. It was closer to our philosophy now. This is who we are and this is what feels good on the stage. Let’s try and concentrate on that good stuff.