Listen to The Offspring’s new album for free!

You can listen to the entire new The Offspring CD, Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace right here for free! This was the band that got me into music nearly fifteen years ago; I can only hope the new CD is better than their less than stellar 2003 effort, Splinter.

Your thoughts on the album?

The Bamboozle (Day One) 5/3

Since 2006, The Bamboozle festival has grounded itself outside Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Each year, over one hundred bands play for two days over the course of the first weekend in May. Beginning around noon and ending near midnight, the festival showcases the smallest, unsigned bands to the most popular acts in the country. It’s normally a humid affair–this time, however, the weather was cold and rainy.

I arrived on Saturday around noon to check out the first day of The Bamboozle, heading to the 5 Gum side stage to check out Long Island’s The Sleeping. A post-hardcore act that I’ve caught at Bamboozle in the past, the band performed with Sebastian Bach (ex-Skid Row), playing a solid set featuring some of Bach’s material in addition to The Sleeping staples such as “If Your Heart Was Broken”. Though later in the evening after fatigue set in I’d chill out to some pop-rock acts, The Sleeping were a great way to kick off the weekend with a crowd that was certainly ready to dance. The band sounded tight; guitarist Cameron Keym’s metal-inspired licks were sharper than ever, and vocalist Douglas Robinson captured the crowd.

Story of the Year were next on my list at 2PM, so I ventured to the Asbury Park main stage. Let it be known that the sound, for both Day One and Day Two, was terrible on the Asbury Park stage–unfortunate because about half of the bands I saw during the weekend set up on that stage. As I’m not a professional audio engineer, I’m not exactly sure what the problem was but the sound was never consistent: bass was either muddy or non-existent, and microphones never maintained the same volume, often cutting out nearly entirely for seconds at a time.

Despite common sound issues that would plague nearly twenty bands on that stage, Story of the Year sounded excellent for the duration of their set. It’s been some time since i caught the band on tour, but their live show had always been their strongest point; it’s great to see they’ve only improved over time. Their set:

And the Hero Will Drown
The Antidote
Anthem of Our Dying Day
Wake Up
In the Shadows
Until the Day I Die
Is This My Fate? He Asked Them

Over half of their set came from their debut Page Avenue, but the band unfortunately included two of their lesser songs from that release in “Anthem of Our Dying Day” and “Under the Day I Die” but did include two of the strongest, opener “And the Hero Will Drown” and “In the Shadows”. The new songs from The Black Swan (”The Antidote”, “Wake Up”) sounded promising, so I’ll need to check out that album soon.

New Jersey ska-stalwarts Streetlight Manifesto were up next on the opposite main stage (which suffered from none of Asbury Park stage’s sound issues). The band played extremely well, with a large selection of songs coming from Somewhere in the Between. The band pleased the crowd with “Dear Sergio”, a song that engaged many people listening who were familiar with Catch 22’s Keasbey Nights but not necassrily Streetlight Manifesto.

At 3:30PM on the Nokia Ticket Rush stage, Vinnie Caruana played a set entirely of The Movielife songs with Set Your Goals as his backing band. Though he stated numerous times throughout the set that “this [wasn't] The Movielife”, you’d be hard pressed to find a single person in the crowd who was concerned with that fact. Vinnie sang like the band hadn’t broken up five years ago, with dead-on delivery of songs nearly a decade old. Set Your Goals’s (a band I wanted to see as well but passed up on to see Saves the Day) guitarists, bassist, and drummer covered each song with precision. Cuts included “Hand Grenade”, “Pinky Swear”, “Hey”, and “Face or Kneecaps” before the near-obligatory closer, “Jamestown”. Vinnie constantly thanked the crowd for giving him the chance to play these songs, but it was really the crowd constantly thanking him for resurrecting the songs of an incredible punk-pop band.

Dressed as cops and coming out to Inner Circle’s “Bad Boys” on the PA, Less Than Jake took the Asbury Park stage at 4PM, opening with “All My Best Friends Are Metalheads”. My first time catching the band live, I was quite impressed with how tight the band sounded. I’m not a huge fan of the band (perhaps getting into them late into their career), but I respect their contributions to the genre and their live show convinced me to give them some more attention. Their full set:

All My Best Friends Are Metalheads
Last One Out Of Liberty City
Overrated
Gainseville Rock City
Johnny Quest Thinks We’re Sellouts
Great American Sharp Shooter
Ghosts Of You And Me
Science Of Selling Yourself Short
Look What Happened

I took an hour break between 4:30 and 5:30 to check out various tents and merchandise, picking up a great Refused Shirts For a Cure tee. SFaC is a great project; all proceeds go to the Syrentha J. Savio Endowment. The SSE provides financial assistance to underprivileged women who cannot afford expensive breast cancer medicine and therapy; there are a lot of shirt designs, I urge you to see if your favorite band is there and to pick one up for just $12.

I caught a little bit of theAUDITION and Bless the Fall, two bands I didn’t have much interest in checking out but stayed at for a little bit while talking to some friends. Chiodos played at 5:50 on the Asbury Park stage, my next destination. The band played a balanced mix between their two full-length albums; they sounded decent, and the crowd was explosive the entire time. The full setlist:

The Undertakers Thirst For Revenge Is Unquenchable (The Final Battle)
There’s No Penguins In Alaska
Baby, You Wouldn’t Last A Minute On The Creek
Teeth The Size Of Piano Keys
Bulls Make Money, Bears Make Money, Pigs Get Slaughtered
The Words ‘Best Friend’ Become Refined
Is It Progression If A Cannibal Uses A Fork

I rushed over to the opposing NowWhat mainstage before Chiodos was finished to catch New Jersey locals Saves the Day, who opened up with Stay What You Are’s “See You”. Chris Conley sounded tremendous: his voice was not only crisp and clear, but he sounded confident and in control of the crowd the entire time. When told the band had time for only one more song (the main stage times were getting increasingly backed up), he asked the crowd to pick between “Ups and Downs” and “Firefly”–”Firefly” apparently was the first thing he heard and played both that and then “At Your Funeral”, upping the count of songs from their 2001 LP to three. The full set:

See You
The End
Anywhere With You
You Vandal
Can’t Stay The Same
Head For The Hills
Shoulder To The Wheel
Firefly
At Your Funeral

It would have been nice to hear “Ups and Downs”, one of my favorite Saves the Day songs, but the band still played a great set nonetheless. The band has too much material to get picky about songs not played, especially when they picked nine great tracks anyway.

Jack’s Mannequin, another casualty of the Asbury Park stage, was next at 6:50; they didn’t start immediately after Saves the Day, so I managed to make it across the parking lot in time to get close to the stage before the band started. “Dark Blue”, with part of the extended introduction, kicked off the setlist which included a song from the upcoming The Glass Passenger (which certainly sounds promising — I was worried after a slew of less-than-stellar post-Everything in Transit tracks) and a cover from Something Corporate’s North. The set:

Dark Blue
Holiday from Real
The Mixed Tape
Suicide Blonde
Bruised
Kill the Messenger
La La Lie
Me and the Moon (Something Corporate cover)
MFEO

The band played well, but their sound was somewhat marred by the stage. Before “Kill the Messenger”, frontman Andrew McMahon commented on the weather; during the song (which features the lyrics “I’m going to send a little rain your way”) the misty rain slowly picked up. Even taking into account projection, the song had never felt so real or so powerful. Aside from the lack of staple “I’m Ready”, I don’t think I could have asked for a better setlist. “MFEO” is an incredible track that stands on its own, but it really works perfectly for closing a set, especially outdoors in the rain, in the parking lot.

Paramore played the Asbury Park stage at 8PM; almost immediately it was obvious just how poor the stage’s sound actually was, as one of the tightest pop-rock acts in the scene today suddenly sounded sloppy and uninteresting. The band kicked off with Riot!’s “Let the Flames Begin”, following it with All We Know is Falling single “Emergency”. Either during that track or during “Stop This Song (Lovesick Melody)”, a b-side from the Riot! sessions, the stage’s sound started to click back together and the band sounded incredible for the rest of their set, which was, in its entirety:

Let the Flames Begin
Emergency
Stop This Song (Lovesick Melody)
Here We Go Again
That’s What You Get
Pressure
For A Pessimist, I’m Pretty Optimistic
crushcrushcrush
Woah
Misery Business

“Here We Go Again” was sans the At The Drive-In mini-cover, instead segueing flawlessly into “That’s What You Get”. Much like an hour ago watching Jack’s Mannequin amongst teenage girls barely (if at all?) old enough to drive, I felt out of place singing along to every word, but it’s always refreshing to catch other guys mouthing the words: this is great pop music, and I’m glad that these young teens are growing up on true pop-rock, not manufactured radio garbage or Britney Spears-esq bubblegum, even if the band is dominating the radio with songs such as “Misery Business”, the set’s closer.

During the aforementioned hit single, I walked out of the crowd to get to Jimmy Eat World, an act I’m almost embarrassed to admit I had never seen live. The band’s performance was unparalleled by any other act all day, and their forty-five minute setlist was incredible:

Big Casino
Sweetness
Work
Always Be
Crush
Here It Goes
A Praise Chorus
Let It Happen
Dizzy
Bleed American
Pain
The Middle

The rain was a constant mist during their performance; it was a little chilly, but incredibly relaxing. There’s not much to be said about the band’s performance other than that their live sound is a near perfect recreation of their studio albums, from the guitar subtleties to the incredible harmonies.

Snoop Dogg closed Day One, coming on around 9:30. I was a little further back than normal (near the soundboard) for his set, but he still sounded pretty good. I had never seen him live, so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but he managed to hold my attention for some time. I left midway through his set to get to a party, but his full set was:

Murder Was The Case
P.I.M.P. (Remix)
Who Am I? (What’s My Name)
That’s That Shit
Gin And Juice
Lodi Dodi
Woof!
I Wanna Fuck You
Snoop’s Upside Ya Head
Beautiful
Nuthin’ But A G Thang
Ain’t No Fun
Deeez Nuuuts
Notorious DPG
Snoop Dogg
My Medicine
Sexual Eruption
Drop It Like It’s Hot

The entire day was great, as I got to see some older bands for the first time live in addition to seeing some of my favorites once again. The weather was great: I’d prefer chilly and rainy to blistering heat and humidity any day. Moreover, cell phone service actually worked, which allowed me to meet up with friends throughout the day. There was room for improvement though: I couldn’t find any time cards (something usually handed out when you walk in), and, to beat a dead horse, the Asbury Park stage sounded terrible. Scheduling was pretty solid: Set Your Goals and Men Women & Children were the only two bands I missed due to conflicting times.

If anyone has any corrections/updates to the setlists I posted (which should be accurate, but there’s always room for error), please post them in the comments.

Thursday / Envy on the Coast / Innerpartysystem / God Fires Man @ Poughkeepsie 4/24

In early April, Thursday announced that they would be recording a split with Envy, a Japanese hardcore outfit on Temporary Residence Records. I got a chance to speak with Geoff Rickly, Steve Pedulla, and Tom Keely, who shed some light on that record:

Unlike A City by the Light Divided, the band recorded the split completely analog, working with tapes instead of ones and zeros. Three songs were recorded and mixed at Big Blue Meenie Studios, a familiar location for Thursday in their home state of New Jersey. Steve hinted that one more song may be recorded, but that for now they’ll be playing a new track live for the first time (which Geoff would later call “As He Climbed the Dark Mountain”, inspired in part by Cormac McCarthy’s The Road).

I spoke to Tom about the Requiem for a Dream soundtrack, a recommendation he made a few months ago to me; he followed it up with recommending The Fountain’s soundtrack. It’s something I’ll need to check out for sure, as Clint Mansell’s work is remarkable. Geoff’s recommendation of Beirut certainly paid off well, and I can only recommend Beirut right back to anyone who is reading this. We talked briefly about the differences between Beirut’s two albums, agreeing that the first one is probably better.

I got a chance to talk to Steve about record labels and the art of releasing music; we spoke about the NIN and Radiohead method, and it being something the band would be interested in if they had the giant fanbase/audience that those bands have. It will be interesting to see what the band does for their next full-length, as Steve said they are “exploring many possibilities”. After mentioning the leak of their good friends’ Thrice’s Alchemy Index, Steve mentioned his disgust for the demos leaking from A City by the Light Divided, an emotion I can certainly understand, though we both agreed we do listen to album leaks from our favorite bands.

For anyone wondering about the band’s Bamboozle chances (Bearfort?), the answer is a resounding “no”, straight from the band’s mouth. I was interested in talking to Andrew Everding about his role in the upcoming split, but he and Tim weren’t around at the time.

God Fires Man, an alternative rock band from New York City, opened the evening. The band certainly had the energy to keep on pace with their good friends in Thursday, but the live act didn’t do much to convince me that the band really stands out. The band’s drummer really sets the pace for their sound, but they try to merge too many styles without really doing anything particularly memorable. They certainly have their punk and hardcore influences, but they never fully embrace them, instead straddling multiple genres and never really defining their own sound. Their debut record, A Billion Balconies Facing the Sun, was just released in February; I haven’t had a chance to check that out yet, but maybe it will open my eyes to what the band is trying to accomplish.

Philadelphia’s Innerpartysystem set up their equipment next, with a rig including lights and lasers. A band I was first introduced to on New Year’s Even (again, opening for Thursday), they blend a handful of styles together that most closely resembles Men Women & Children mixed with mainstream dance. The band comes off strongly as a novelty; they seem to enjoy what they’re doing, but it’s nothing I’d want to see again, already tired of their act from earlier in the year. It’s something I’d recommend checking out once–you really should see their lighting/lasers–but the band seems more suited to opening for a crowd that is ready to dance. They would define the experience I’d love at a club (see what AFI-side project Blaqk Audio is prying at), but they are extremely out of place opening for Thursday.

Envy on the Coast, from Long Island, New York, directly supported Thursday this evening and opened with”Artist and Repertoire”. Vocalist Ryan Hunter sounds like a watered-down Daryl Palumbo, which is nearly a metaphor for the entire band — a watered down version of some sound they are striving to create. They’re trying, which is more that can be said for a lot of other bands that sound similar, but they constantly fall short. That isn’t to say their efforts aren’t good anyway; they write some solid songs with hooks you’d only expect from a band with a lot more experience. On the flip side, the band tries to incorporate effects and keyboard (and for that matter, a level of technical guitar playing), but the result is never quite as strong as the band will lead you to believe.

Nonetheless, the band played well, with Hunter’s voice sound remarkably close to the their debut album Lucy Gray. In fact, most of the instrumentation is recreated near-perfectly, a good indication that the band isn’t drowning in studio magic. Lucy Gray (and consequently their live show, which consists entirely of material from that debut on Photo Finish Records) is so promising, that you can’t help feeling excited that their follow-up has serious potential, as long as the band decides to move away from their sugary pop elements and more towards the technical side they keep hinting at.

The band closed the evening with “Gift Of Paralysis”, probably my favorite song by the band (if not “Tell Them That She’s Not Scared” or “Sugar Skulls” even). The full set is as follows

Artist and Repertoire
Sugar Skulls
(X) Amount Of Truth
Vultures
Mirrors
Tell Them That She’s Not Scared
Suckerpunch
Gift Of Paralysis

Thursday took the stage near 10PM, opening with “Into the Blinding Light” (the first time I’ve seen the band open with this track). Upon first inspection, the band sounds like any local post-hardcore band with tight instruments but with a vocalist struggling to keep up. Luckily for Thursday, this was only the case due to how low Geoff’s vocals were mixed; in this instance, he was completely drowned out by the dueling guitars of Steve and Tom. With the lack of vocals, the song failed to capture the audience.

Geoff stepped down into the crowd for “At This Velocity”, and all doubts of Thursday’s live abilities were immediately put to rest. “Division St.” followed, and Geoff’s vocals were finally more prominently mixed, and the crowd responded appropriately. It’s clear that most fans still prefers Full Collapse and War All the Time, so cuts from those albums definitely got the crowd moving.

Introduced as a song about being forced to write pop-rock songs for a major label, “Dead Songs” was next. Probably the strongest cut on Kill the House Lights, the song interestingly has elements in the chorus that are easily the poppiest Thursday has ever sounded. Even so, their message isn’t convoluted in the least, with Geoff’s delivery as honest as it is passionate.

The car crash pair of songs followed, and though I’ve seen these songs live (especially “Understanding”) many, many times, it’s clear that they are two of Thursday’s strongest live tracks and will remain in rotation for a long time. I was hoping to possibly hear “Panic On The Streets Of Health Care City” (a partial demo of “Other Side of the Crash”) at some point live, but it looks unlikely, and it doesn’t really matter considering how good the A City by the Light product is.

Two more from War All the Time (”Signals Over the Air”, “For The Workforce, Drowning”) were next. Both were performed exceptionally well live, much better than their album counterparts which themselves are great anyway. My favorite live Thursday song, “How Long is the Night?” was next, though this was clearly one of the band’s worst performances of the song. Geoff just didn’t click with the band throughout the song as he normally does. It was nice to see the song reintroduced into the set, however.

The most exciting part of the evening was easily Thursday’s first-ever performance of “As He Climbed the Dark Mountain”. One part The Road and one part a dream Geoff had about the helplessness and sheer terror of losing his father, the song was exactly what you would expect on a split with Envy. The band showcased a side they’ve only hinted at, writing technical, speedy riffs. Tucker pummeled the drums in perfect time, and somehow Geoff managed to sound completely different yet familiar at the same time. The song was dedicated to Geoff’s father who was in attendance.

“Jet Black New Year”, a crowd favorite, rocked The Chance. The band followed up with “The Lovesong Writer”, a great song that unfortunately didn’t appeal to much of the crowd hoping for more older material to close the set. The band walked off stage and came back with an encore of “Autobiography of a Nation” and “Sugar in the Sacrament”, the former being a great way to end a show while the latter not so much so.

A great song live on its own merits, “Sugar in the Sacrament” doesn’t pack the intensity I think the band feels it does, and it’s kind of disappointing to hear them close a show with it, especially when Geoff hinted at the possibility that they would play “A Hole in the World” (a cut I haven’t heard live since War All the Times was released in 2003) after being offered ten dollars to do so by some fans before the show. The full set list:

Into the Blinding Light
At This Velocity
Division St.
Dead Songs
Other Side of the Crash/Over and Out (of Control)
Understanding in a Car Crash
Signals Over the Air
For the Workforce, Drowning
How Long is the Night?
As He Climbed the Dark Mountain
Jet Black New Year
The Lovesong Writer
Autobiography of a Nation
Sugar in the Sacrament

Despite early vocal issues, the band played extremely well the entire evening, especially on the new track, which only excites me more for their upcoming split. There are a few bootlegs of the song from The Chance on Google Video.

Fan Video for AFI’s “This Time Imperfect”

Around the release of Sing the Sorrow (AFI’s major label debut in 2003), I created a music video for “This Time Imperfect”, a hidden track on the album. It’s been getting a lot of positive responses, so I thought I’d share it here.

The footage is taken from the Playstation remake of Final Fantasy VI, a game originally released in the early 1990s on the SNES. (Note, the closing credits need to be modified, as it still contains the URL for my old website, TimeFall–I’ll be updating it to refer to inTuneMusic shortly.)

Bayside / Straylight Run / Four Year Strong / Tokyo Rose / Measured in Grey @ Poughkeepsie 1/28

Nearly as much as I enjoy checking out new bands live, I enjoy visiting new venues. My first time out to Poughkeepsie to see a show, the Chance is a small, intimate theater; growing up with shows in Philadelphia, I’d liken it most to The Trocadero in China Town. Unfortunately, we arrived late, catching Tokyo Rose’s final song (and missing local act Measured in Grey entirely).

We caught stood out of the pit for Four Year Strong, a dual-vocal punk-pop act mixed with hardcore elements and a synthesizer. A watered down (and much less talented) version of the excellent Set Your Goals, the I Surrender Records five-piece from Massachusetts was energetic playing in front of a crowd that knew every hook. The entire evening’s sound was exceptionally lacking in the treble range–and being new to the venue, I’m not sure exactly if that’s normal–but Four Year Strong’s drums sounded extremely lackluster, despite a strong performance from drummer Jake Massucco. The frontmen certainly can’t sing–at least in a classical sense–but they did a decent enough job performing the gritty, hardcore-inspired vocals. Synth player Josh Lyford is extremely out of place; the band does not need the trite keyboards and synthesized melodies on top of their guitars. Moreover, he spent most of the time awkwardly dancing, since most of the songs don’t require his Korg. The band’s live performance suffers more from a lack of well-written songs than lack of dedication or energy, as they seem to pour their entire souls into the music. Unfortunately, the songs they’re putting so much heart into aren’t anything to write home about.

In stark contrast to the energetic and crowd-involved Four Year Strong, the evening’s next act, Straylight Run, was incredibly dull and lackluster. I enjoy Straylight Run’s two albums (and, of course, their original demos), but tonight’s live performance was completely lacking. They performed the songs I wanted to hear (among others: Existentialism on Prom Night, It’s For The Best, Soon We’ll Be Living In The Future, Take It To Manhattan), but John Nolan’s vocals started off extremely rough and never really settled; Michelle Nolan’s vocals came off exceptionally weak, and boring, but she did manage to sing in key the entire night and sounded wonderful when she put the extra ‘umph’ into her performance. Most disheartening was the band’s extensive use of overdubbing/sampling; guitars, drums, horns, and keys were all sampled for most of the evening. Live sampling is sometimes necessary or a strong enhancement to a live show, but in Straylight Run’s case it ruins the performance. While well-written and certainly strong, the band’s songs do not need samples to come off live, and the band would do well to ditch the crutches and become a real live act.

Bayside took the stage a little before 10PM, opening with “Carry On” from 2007’s The Walking Wounded. The band played thirteen songs, eight of which came from their first two full-lengths. I’m still hoping “I and I” and “Choice Hops and Bottled Self-Esteem” make their way into future setlists; tonight they played (not in order) [this should be correct]:

The Walking Wounded
They’re Not Horses, They’re Unicorns
Duality
Carry On
Dear Your Holiness
Hello Shitty
Devotion and Desire
They Looked Like Strong Hands
Montauk
Blame it on Bad Luck
Don’t Call Me Peanut
Masterpiece
Alcohol and Altar Boys

Bayside played great, engaging the home-state crowd the entire time. Songs from their 2005 self-titled album seemed best received, perhaps the reason behind it making up a bulk of their set. The crowd attempted to start a few pits, but the bulk of the crowd didn’t quite understand the basics behind it, resulting in large push-mosh pits. I spent a few songs just protecting some of the younger girls from being completely trampled, but eventually “Don’t Call Me Peanut” settled the crowd down. I’ve written about this band a few times before, and I stand by what I said earlier: Jack O’Shea is an excellent guitarist with a clear metal influence. From his subtle guitar work on the largely acoustic “Don’t Call Me Peanut” to his ripping solos, it’s impossible to see the band without his signature licks.

Anthony Raneri is a great frontman, and he was on top of his game this evening. Painful lyrics like those on “Blame It On Bad Luck” are delivered with emotion and heart. “Devotion and Desire”, the band’s most well-known single, closed out the evening as part of their encore, and the crowd finally opened up a few decent pits for the song. This tour continues into March, if it comes your way don’t miss out, if only to see a great set from Bayside.