Review: Polar Bear Club, "Chasing Hamburg"

Polar Bear Club
"Chasing Hamburg"
(B9)

At this point in their career, Polar Bear Club probably hates being compared to Hot Water Music and Small Brown Bike. In fact, other than singer Jimmy Stadt’s gruff vocals, the upstart band shares little else with those other bands. I would liken Polar Bear Club more to Seattle’s defunct Waxwing, the post-hardcore slash emo band fronted by Rocky Votolato and flanked by guys who would go on to form Blood Brothers and Gatsby’s American Dream. With that comparison in mind, it’s pretty much a no brainer that PBC would recruit former Minus the Bear keyboard player and renowned knob twister Matt Bayles to production for their second full-length, first for Bridge Nine, “Chasing Hamburg.”

Lyrically, what I enjoy about all of the band’s recordings, and it’s something that is very apparent on “Hamburg,” is how transparent the words are. The topics on this particular record reflect that of a growing band, which is what Polar Bear Club is.

In “Boxes,” Stadt sings “You don’t have to be an asshole to be an artist.” A similar criticism is explored on “Song to Persona,” where Stadt mulls over the schism between a band, their music and the people who love them. As far as the music itself goes, it’s a natural progression from their last album, “Sometimes Things Just Disappear.” My biggest misconception about the album, based on the teaser 7” “The Summer of George,” was that the band was going to be poppier. But it’s quite the opposite. There are harder parts across the album and Stadt sings much better.

Having just got off a support tour with Set Your Goals and Four Year Strong and an upcoming tour with Crime in Stereo and Strike Anywhere, Polar Bear Club is definitely going to be a band to watch in the coming months and the proof is all over “Chasing Hamburg”

Recommendation: Buy it

Listen to: “Boxes,” “Chasing Hamburg,” “Drifting Thing”

Video: Get Up Kids, "Holiday/I'm a Loner Dottie, a Rebel/The One You Want" (Live)

I shot some video of the Get Up Kids Reunion show for Redefine last night. I will be adding more videos on my YouTube channel throughout the weekend. Enjoy.

Review: Silverstein, "A Shipwreck in the Sand"

Silverstein
“A Shipwreck in the Sand”
(Victory)

Long running Canadian screamo outfit, Silverstein, is still churning out records like it’s nobody’s business and their latest album, “A Shipwreck in the Sand,” is supposedly decidedly different. Supposedly.

Like the erstwhile other Canadian screamo band, Boys Night Out, Silverstein’s newest album is a concept record based around some story or another. While I’ve never shied away from concept albums (“Winners Never Quit” and “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea” being among my favorites) it’s a harder pill to swallow from a pop-punk band.

Not to say that “Shipwreck” is a bad album. It is probably Silverstein’s most polarizing record, in as much as the heavy parts are pretty heavy and the delicate parts are very delicate. But make no mistake, Silverstein do what they do best, which is to write and perform catchy songs with intricate guitar parts.

As much crap as I’ll get for saying this, there’s a consistency in Silverstein’s overall songwriting and this album is no different. Concept record or not, they have a formula in writing songs that are fairly easy to digest and while I can’t say that this is their best album, it is, in essence, a Silverstein album.

i love the get up kids. apparently, they're reuniting and i'll probably watch them, but i don't think this revisit to the past will eclipse the way i felt the first time i saw them play back in 1999. as hard as you try, you can't be 18 forever.

Review: 2*Sweet, "Sleep Without Dreams"

2*Sweet
“Sleep Without Dreams”
(C. Walrus)

Last week, I chatted it up with Justin Pence, 2*Sweet’s singer, for an upcoming feature in the next issue of Redefine. In the interview, Pence mentioned that labels weren’t necessarily knocking on their door; “It takes people a while to stomach us and we’ve come to grips with that,” said Pence. And it’s true, unfortunately. The reality is that 2*Sweet’s amalgam of hardcore, pop, metal and punk has the potential to be a giant clusterfuck, but it walks away as its own epic rock genre.

“Sleep Without Dreams,” the band’s full-length debut, is chock full of great pop jams such as “Rested Eyes Tell No Lies,” “Miss You,” and “Bury Me in the Lovers’ Graveyard,” as well as some heavier songs like “Friends Till the Weekend” and “Dateless for Armageddon.” There’s even a 90’s style quiet-storm song in “Tarantula Perfume.”

The album is driven by Pence’s operatic vocal range and vivid lyrical imagery, which can best be compared to other great musical storytellers like Nas and Eric Clapton. Yet at the same time, it’s Pence’s schizophrenic vocal choices that make the album a little harder to swallow. But if you’re able to get around that, then you’d be in for a treat of an album. It’s possible that “Sleep Without Dreams” is a major contender for the best album of the year – it’s just up to the kids to jump on it now before 2*Sweet starts playing stadiums.

MAJOR ANNOUCEMENT!!!! [APRIL FOOLZ]

Chasing Coolness @ BAMBOOZLE LEFT? WHAT?

That's right childrens, Chasing Coolness a.k.a. Ryan P. is skraight hittin' the best state in the Union to interview a billion awesome bands for this year's Bamboozle. For real. I'm doing the official blogging for the Bamboozle fansite, Boozle'd, and I'm doing real-time coverage of a plethora of sweet bands like Dance Gavin Dance, NFG, Paramore (Hayley what up?), The Starting Line, From First to Last and Metro Station.

I am totes stoked for this!!!!!! California peeps, I hope you have a place for me to crash!!! You herbs wanna go out and get In-N-Out with me? Sweetness!!!!!

Let's hook it up!!!!!

Bomb the comments and let me know where the parties are at. I'm going to be rolling with a camera crew and a microphone, getting in ya faces. On the real, all you crabs know the deal!

[EDIT]
I apologize to all my friends who fell for this and for my non-friends who accused me of being a hypocrite, hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. You fell for that jawn hook, line and stinker. Anyway, I won't be at Bamboozle Left, but my friends Ilene and Mike who spearhead both High Voltage Media and The Meltdown have a booth there, so if you are attending, support their booth. They have some awesome action figures and other nerd shit that their showcasing.

Also, my review of the Bamboozle Road Show is up on Redefine. Bee'lee dat.

hayley williams = worst. role model. EVAR.

[bad hair, bad skin, bad look. why do eems want to make out with her?]

Paramore's lone visibly interesting (i.e. the non-ugly guy) member Hayley Williams is probably one of the worst female role models ever. Now before you go off on some "Oh you wacky Asian, you don't know what you're talking about..." type shit, let's examine the facts:

1. I was raised by a single mom for pretty much my entire adolescent life.

2. I have a daughter.

3. Being raised by a single parent in the Asian-American community (with its ultra-conservative values, especially in the 1980s) pretty much trumps whatever type of suburban, faux riot grrrl bullshit you can throw my way (and I don't mean you, Kathleen Hanna).

That said, Williams' recent interview with Rolling Stone shows that not only is she an unfit role model for young girls everywhere, but that she's kinda dumb. Don't believe me? Here are some of homegirl's quotes:

"I don't know too much about guns. I want to get a little revolver, and the guys have shotguns, but all I know is that it's fun to be a little hillbilly sometimes. I mean, you grow up in the country and everyone's got a gun."

Awesome, just awesome. Hey, I don't have problem with people owning guns (unless they have children around them, which always ends badly) but owning a gun for the sake of owning a gun (and making it seem like you're less American if you don't) seems a little stupid. This is a pretty bad look considering all the public shootings (i.e. Virginia Tech, the high school in Illinois, the Tacoma Mall hostage situation, etc.) that have been going on.

"I'm not really into female vocalists, at least not in our world right now. I don't think I would ever listen to our band, honestly. I love our music."

So she hates female singers, but not in "our world." Earth? So you hate all girl singers? Clarity, Hayley, clarity! I'm assuming she means in the pop-punk-emo-Warped Tour genre. In that case, I can think of a slew of other bands that are much better: Dance Hall Crashers, Meg & Dia, The Rentals (which is technically fronted by Matt Sharp, but the Hayden sisters do play a pretty big part), The Catch, Schoolyard Heroes, Ginger Sling, The Gossip, Tegan & Sara, Walls of Jericho, Spark is a Diamond, Eisley...do I need to go on?

"The first real show that I think I ever went to was Copeland...."

Okay, that is just fucking sad.

As you can see from these choice quotes alone, Williams isn't really the best ambassador and while she does represent a minority in an insanely popular genre, she's not really offering up anything other than a false sense of empowerment. Even the video for the whore-warning anthem, "Misery Business," still shows Williams glamed up to take down the school's resident beyotch. Williams only spits the kind of waned, generic "you-go-girl" rhetoric that Gwen Stefani tacked on during the end days of No Doubt.

There have been plenty of stories that relayed young girls who are into the pop-punk scene who look at Williams as something of a demigod, yet they also buy the same records that (inadvertently) slam women. And at the end of the day, Paramore's hit sophomore release, "Riot," isn't that different from the likes Dashboard Confessional or Fall Out Boy, which -- at the most minimalist level -- can be considered misogynist.

But, kids are still going to buy their shirts and support this band that have absolutely nothing to offer in both music and message. The only solace I have is that they really won't mean anything to anybody in a few years.

[Recommended Reading:]
Jessica Hopper: Emo: Where the Girls Aren't

[Bonus Videos]:

Dance Hall Crashers, "Mr. Blue"


Bikini Kill, "Don't Need You" (Live)


Walls of Jericho, "There's No I in Fuck You"

Dashboard Confessional Covers "Pretty Pathetic"; Smoking Popes to Drop Christianity to Beat Up Carrabba

[Douchebag Confessional]

So I copped Dashboard Confessional's "The Wire Tapes Vol.1" last week and I wasn't really expecting much from it. Despite what others may think, I don't think that Chris Carrabba is as bad as, let's say, the Jonas Brothers, but man did he ever manage to slaughter the Smoking Popes classic, "Pretty Pathetic."

For one thing, Kris Roe of the Ataris did a much more passable cover on the Popes tribute album and this Dashboard rehash pales in comparison -- though in all honesty, both versions suck when measured up to the original.

Carrabba's inability to capture Josh Caterer's monotone style takes away from the songs morose mood and makes it sound like a peppy number best suited for a Gap or Volkswagen ad.

Ugh.

So while I didn't hate Dashboard Confessional before, I can publicly state that Chris Carrabba is on my shitlist.

Bonus Video:

Smoking Popes, "Need You Around/Pretty Pathetic"

Saves the Day, "Under the Boards"

Saves the Day
"Under the Boards"
(Vagrant)

For whatever reason, Chris Conley and the rest of Saves the Day have shaken the bad vibes of being on mega-conglomerate, Dreamworks and been steadily releasing a series of awesome recordings recently. Last year, they hit us off with the dark, "Sound the Alarm," and its acoustic-tour companion, "Bug Sessions Vol.1." For the die hard emos, STD is giving us "Under the Boards," which isn't too far off from 2007's "Alarm."

A little poppier, "Under the Boards," like all of Saves the Day's albums, relies heavily on Conley's descriptive lyrical imagery. While the album blasts off with surefire favorites like "Under the Boards" and "Get Fucked Up," the record peaks at the Beatles-esque tune, "Lonely Nights." While Chris Conley is far from Lennon, he surely gives one hell of a try, which is pretty admirable in itself.

The problem with "Under the Boards" is that that the songs tend to sound the same after a few spins. Maybe it's the consistent tempo of the album, but there isn't much to break up the monotony. Even in the strangely arranged "Getaway," the bridge is so weird that it deflates the power of the song.

But then again, I was wrong about "In Reverie," as it's one of my favorite STD records, so I imagine that with time, "Under the Boards" will grow on me as well because, let's face it, Saves the Day has never put out an album that I hated.

Redux: Taking Back Sunday's "Tell All Your Friends"

I first heard Taking Back Sunday's debut, "Tell All Your Friends," six years ago while cruising to get Mexican food with my best friend, James. I remember asking him if it was Saves the Day and him laughing. Then I went out and bought the CD, listened to it and never really gave it a second thought.

Not to say that songs like "Cute Without the 'E'" or "Head Club" never ended up on mixtapes (because they did), but I don't think I ever had the connection with that album as I have with Jimmy Eat World's "Clarity," Morrissey's "Viva Hate" or even Brand New's "Your Favorite Weapon (as well as all of their subsequent releases)." Now six years later, the angst, the pain and the viciousness of the album makes sense to me.

Recently, I've been reading Leslie Simon and Trevor Kelly's parody, "Everything Hurts: An Essential Guide to Emo Culture," and while many of the stereotypes about brooding teenagers -- and people who wish they were still teens -- happen to be true, it also makes you wonder what is going through a kid's head when they find lines like "And with this one last choking breath, I'd apologize for bleeding on your shirt" somewhat cathartic.

It's easy to write off angst and anxiety in regards to romance as being a kid thing, but you know what? It's not. Maybe I just tend to overanalyze things more than your average guy, but I'm finding that "Tell All Your Friends" is the type of record that makes more sense when you're in your 20's, as opposed to your teen years.

Again, not to discount anybody's feelings, but there's something strange about realizing that you never really shake being awkward and you never really learn how to get over a break up. It's tremendously harder to end relationships once you hit a certain age and the following enter your psyche:

"Is she dating someone else?"
"Is she sleeping with someone else?"
"Is he better than you?"
"Does she love him?"

And more times than not, you'll find the answer to these questions as "yes." So where does that leave you? Well, you can either stand outside of her window with a boombox blasting some Peter Gabriel, but you'll probably end up getting pummeled by her new BF, because that's the way reality usually works. Or you can get all your aggression out by plugging in "Tell All Your Friends," which edged its way into my list as one of the top break up records of all time last night.

Videos:

Greatest Romances of the 20th Century:



Cute Without the E (Cut from the Team):



Timberwolves at New Jersey:



You're So Last Summer:

Schoolyard Heroes = Most Unthreatening White Kids Evar

So if you read ap.net or punknews.org or any other semi-reputable webzine, then you've heard of the recent local shitstorm involving Seattle's own Schoolyard Heroes and some "concerned" parents who are attempting to boycott the band's First Amendment rights by citing some B.S. linking the band's lyrics to Satanic imagery. I wonder if Alkaline Trio ever gets hate mail from parents?

Anyway, this is really all a bunch of crap. Having known the SH kids for a few years, I can attest that as people they are far from Satanists or evil. In fact, how many Satanists do you know that proudly listen to Queen? Not many. Most fake goths are still rocking the Manson tees and shit. The only thing I can fault Schoolyard Heroes, or specifically mouthpiece and bassist Jonah Bergman, is being a bad Jew. I mean, Jonah, you have tattoos and you eat pork, seriously, what would your Rabbi say about that? Personal diet aside, Schoolyard Heroes will probably avoid getting banned because a) their records are really fucking good and b) the idiots who are "taking a stand" are just getting them more press.

spitalfield r.i.p.

Chicago's Spitalfield is calling it quits after their upcoming tour this fall. This is a major blow for Victory Records, whose remaining listenable bands have been paired down to Bayside, Darkest Hour, the Smoking Popes and The Forecast. Equally sad is that Spitalfield, once said to be the best and most promising of the neo-Chicago rock resurgence (which also includes The Academy Is, Plain White T's, and some band called Fall Out Boy), never got what they deserved: a fair shot at the spotlight.

So we'll have to weather an even shittier year of releases as another good band falls victim to the reality outside of the music world. Well at least they didn't use the whole "indefinite hiatus" to proclaim their status as an inactive band.

R.I.P.

Recommended Listening:
1. Cloak and Dagger Club EP (Sinister)
2. Stop Doing Bad Things (Victory)
3. Remember Right Now (Victory)

Come Widdit: Wise and Burn

It's been a little while since I did one of these. I originally thought it was going to be a weekly feature on this site, but whatever, I have a life outside of the Internets, y'know....

Wise and Burn
Location: Springfield, IL
Sounds Like: Random editions of the "Emo Diaries" compilations, but, y'know, good.

As much of a shitstorm as most writers give contemporary pop-punk/emo, you have to admit that from time to time you'll find a band that's raw and is actually able to emote, rather than sound so overproduced that you'll want to throw your Rites of Spring record against the wall in complete defiance of the genre.

Wise and Burn sounds like the early Taking Back Sunday demos from the mp3.com days, except there are no cheesy movie samples and lame MIDI keys. As derivative as Wise and Burn is, it's made up with raw talent and incredible catchy melodies. So yeah, be all cynical and shit about this band if you please, but I'm certain that given the right opportunities, they'll blow up and you'll be left thinking, "Damn, I should've listened to that Ryan guy, but I was too busy eating vegan cupcakes and trying to get on the Cobrasnake site."

[Related Links]
Wise and Burn's Myspace

some more ol' bullshit i'll probably like by year's end

I remember listening to what would be Recover's final album, "This is the Year I Disappear," thinking that it was one of the worst records I'd heard in quite some time. Let's rewind for those who aren't down with the pop-punk:

Back in the day, around 2001 or so, there was this band from Texas called Recover who tacked onto the "screamo" genre earlier than any other band west of Ohio. What set this band apart from any other Atticus-sponsored crapfest is that they actually wrote pretty good songs. Singer Dan Keyes had this ridiculously melodic voice and they had some pretty crazy riffage in their songs.

By the time their third record (and first for a major label) came out, they'd pretty much taken out all the hardcore aspects out of their band and turned into a bona fide pop rock band. Blah.

Or so I thought.

As months passed, I found myself enjoying the record a lot more and though I believe that it'll never a hold a candle to their debut, "Rodeo and Picasso," it's still worthy of a spin from time to time.

Some time last year, demos for Keyes' new band (a.k.a. himself), Young Love, started showing up on the Internets and I simply wrote them off as another former pop-punk dude getting in touch with his inner hipster (see also: Gabe Saporta, Darryl Palumbo, Fall Out Boy) by making really, really horrid dance music.

Young Love's debut "Too Young To Fight It" came across my desk this morning and I must say that while it's not my cup of tea, I can see why people would buy this record. It's insanely catchy and groovy (not in that Shaggy sort of way). Surprisingly, former Elektra honcho and notable hip-hop producer, Dante Ross, produces two tracks on this album. They also happen to be the best songs on the record. Coincidence? Probably not.

Anyway, as I'm listening to the lead single "Find a New Way," I'm still resisting myself from enjoying this album. I don't know how long that'll last, though.

Redux: My Chemical Romance

In the spirit of being lazy and trying to track down some of my old musings from long dormant websites, I found an ancient interview with My Chemical Romance. This Q&A was done in their van in the fall of 2002 while they were touring with Piebald and Minus the Bear. They were the opening act and were booed off the stage. Oh, how they've brought themselves up from the BS.

Chemical Imbalance
By Ryan Pangilinan

Dante: You hate people.
Randal: But I love gatherings, isn’t that ironic?

People are stupid. Plain and simple, people are fucking morons. Which why there is an audience for bands and singers like Simple Plan and Avril Lavigne – two artists who thrive on sulatio (that’s my new word for “sucking” and “felatio”).

But dear music fans do not fret or worry. The music industry cannot be overrun by New Found Glory knock-offs forever, especially with New York’s My Chemical Romance hanging around.

MCR – made up of brothers Gerard (singer) and Mikey (bass) Way, guitarists Ray Toro and Frank Iero, and drummer Matt Pelissier – is part of the new school of punk rock kids who are showing that substance and style does not begin and end at your local Hot Topic.

Their album, “I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love” (Eyeball), is a sonic shower of heartbreaking tales (“Demolition Lovers”) and straight up horror (“The Vampires Will Never Hurt You”).

When the world is full of sappy teen sex romps and fake xhardcorex (Evanescence), the strange mix of Alkaline Trio’s imagery and Gravediggaz bouts of suicide and love is a welcomed one.

During their first international tour (Canada counts) with Piebald, four of the five Romancers stopped to kick a little knowledge for the Halftimers.

How did you guys get together?

Gerard: Well basically what happened is I had a song called “Skylines and Turnstiles,” and I was really unhappy with my life. I basically wanted to change the direction of it and connect with people. I called Matt, the drummer, and we got together, played the song and he was feeling it. He called up Ray because he was the best guitar player we knew, then the band came together real quick after that.

Right before we made the record, Frankie was in a band we all really liked called Pensie Prep and they helped start us. But unfortunately that band dissolved, so we asked to join because we knew he was awesome.

Frank: They basically started so they could talk to me.

And get girls, right? So where do you get the motivation to right your lyrics because they’re pretty off-beat as compared to everything else that’s out there.

Gerard: The main thing I wanna do, personally with lyrics I write is that these guys are cool to let me write whatever the fuck I want and back it and they all feel it. If they didn’t I would change the lyrics.

Basically, they’re off-beat because I personally think we have to connect with people on an abstract level, instead of coming out and saying “Aww, my girlfriend dumped me,” and “I met you at a mall in New Jersey.” I’m not about that – we’re all not about that, so I wanted to be way more artistic, way more poetic, really connect with people. It works far better because people get more out of the songs. And I’m a big fan of indie movies like (director) Terry Gilliam and stuff like that.

So you guys got to work with Geoff Rickly from Thursday on the album, how was that?

Gerard: It was amazing. Picture hanging out with your best friend for two weeks straight that you never get to see. Your best friend that you never get to see, and you just sit there and he gives you awesome ideas on how to make a record. That’s really what it was, just the best ideas possible.

Ray: Tucker helped out, too.

Gerard: Yeah, Tucker was there, too. He helped out a lot. He was really good for moral support.

Do you feel any pressure for matching “I Brought You My Bullets…”?

Gerard: The thing about the next thing we do is that we know it’s gonna blow away what we’ve done in the past. Not that we don’t respect what we’ve done, but we’ve grown as a band. From just being on tour, we know that we’re just that much better and we know that our songwriting is that much better.

Frank: It’s a lot of pressure and stuff, but we basically say “fuck it.” We decided not to care about it. We wanna fucking write stuff that we like and challenge ourselves. We know what we wanna come out with and we know the direction that we wanna go in and if people don’t get it or think it lives up to what we’ve done in the past, then fuck them.

Matt: Not to mention that when me, [Gerard], and Ray first got together, the first thing we said is “We’re gonna make music, we don’t give a crap if people like it or not.”

Gerard: The fact that people like us amazes us, which is why we appreciate it even more. When we first started the band it was all about not giving a fuck what people thought. And from the first show, people accepted us and we were kinda like “What’s that all about?” We love it.

So much so that you have that weird video for “Vampires Will Never Hurt You.”

Gerard: We wanted to make something more abstract, instead of all of us in a white room rocking the fuck out.

Ray: So it’s us in a black and white room rocking the fuck out.

Matt: Everyone’s first video is a basement with 30 kids.

Gerard: Did Mikey tell you his idea for a video? It can’t be on the record, people steal that shit. Like that Weezer/Saves the Day shit (for “Keep Fishin’” and “Freakish” respectively). Turn it off and we’ll tell you.

(At this point, the recorder was turned off, but their idea for a second video was bad-ass, and not at all sulatio.)

So that sounded pretty Andrew WK-ish. You guys have a lot of energy for a young band, would you say that you could match the energy of the WK and dance just as crazy?

Gerard: Wow.

Ray: I don’t know if that’s possible.

Frank: I don’t know if we have enough coke in the trailer.

Matt: That guy’s sick.

Gerard: That guy’s amazing. I heard the record, I was like “What the fuck is this?” Then I saw him live and I was believer after that. I was like “Holy shit, this guy is the real thing!” The stuff he does, I don’t even know how he does it. Must be all those protein shakes.

Frank: He takes like one chug and moves across the room. He doesn’t give a fuck.

What’s your ideal super tour now?

Gerard: Alkaline Trio, Thursday, Glassjaw, the Damned and Iron Maiden.

Matt: The Descendents.

Gerard: Our super tour would be an Iron Maiden world tour. That would be the best in the world.

Ray: But someone else got it.

Gerard: Sum-41 is touring with Iron Maiden.

Frank: How sick is that? If you’re reading this (Sum-41) kill yourselves.

Gerard: They have no right to be on-stage with them.

They’re too pussy, right?

Frank: They’re just too fucking –

All in unison: FAKE!

Ray: They’re not even metal. Well, they’re not even a real band, let’s face it.

I heard that their label wants them to act like that, just when there’s a camera around.

Gerard: I’m sure. It’s a joke, I think that kids today are smarter than that and they get it.

Frank: They’re being played.

What are you guys listening to right now, for this super long tour?

Frank: Good job man, that’s a good question. No one ever asks us that.

Gerard: I wanna say thank you to everyone who burned me a copy of “Lose Yourself” by Eminem, as well as “8 Mile.”

Frank: I wanna thank them too because I got the extra copies.

Gerard: We put it up on site, three hours later, we had a copy. It was amazing. We listen to a lot of old metal like Iron Maiden, At the Gates, Helloween and Glassjaw.

Frank: Bouncing Souls, Black Flag, Sleep Station.

Ray: I’ve been listening to Jimmy Eat World, American Nightmare –

Frank and Gerard: -- Bane!

Matt: We’ve been listening to Face to Face a lot, too.

Gerard: And Tom Waits, I’ve been listening to a lot of Tom Waits.

Matt: And Coldplay.

Gerard: And Flaming Lips.

So what are your plans for the next six months to a year?

Ray: We’re gonna take six months off, play video games….

Gerard: No, we’re gonna tour forever. We don’t know when we’re gonna stop. Probably next October, we’ve been on tour since October, so that’s a straight year. We’re gonna have March off, but we’re still gonna work – write new material, work on the set.

We’ve been playing the set that we’ve been playing when we were still doing halls. That’s how fast it moved. Went from halls to playing with Jimmy Eat World and other bands. We have to work on our set, make it more diverse, play songs people wanna hear instead of a cover like [Morrissey’s] Jack the Ripper. We gotta take that out.

I heard this rumor that you guys are gonna tour with Taking Back Sunday in the spring.

Gerard: I don’t know if it’s a rumor. In the spring, we had kind of an offer – I know Thursday really wants to take us on tour. That would be our dream. Also in the spring, we got an offer to tour with Taking Back Sunday and From Autumn to Ashes and Recover.

Matt: And after that, at the end of April, it’s gonna be The Used and Thrice.

Gerard: We’re psyched about touring with From Autumn to Ashes, Taking Back Sunday, Recover. Those guys came up before us, but around the same time I met Dan from Recover – they’re good guys, hard working.

What would you say to the readers of our zine as a parting shot?

Gerard: I would say to the readers of this zine, keep reading the zine, supporting the zine because without stuff like that people can’t keep finding out about new bands and happenings in music and new movements.

Ray: Work your fucking ass off and you get what you deserve.

Frank: Anything can happen if you work your ass off and you want it bad enough. Don’t let anybody tell you you’re not good enough. Fuck everybody. Kill everybody.

Gerard: Don’t ever have less respect for your band, or a band your opening for because we’re in this together. When you get up there, it’s your fucking time. Check out Little Joe Gould, Sleep Station, all the Eyeball bands. And don’t get into this for the wrong reasons, because if you do, you won’t last anyway.

Frank: And if you do, we’ll fucking find you.

Ray: And we need to go on tour with Iron Maiden.

Frank: Sum-41, watch the fuck out.

At this point, Frank began giving his address away, but due to legal concerns, that part will be omitted. You can get updates on MCR’s touring schedule and other cool stuff on their website, www.mychemicalromance.com, and the video for “Vampires Will Never Hurt You,” can be seen on the Eyeball Records site.

2006 Rewind: When the Eems Started Dancing

The trend of all the emo/pop-punk/hardcore/screamo/stupid subgenre kids starting up nu-wave dance bands still continued to rage throughout the '06, which kind of makes you wonder when will these kids realize they've made a bad decision? I guess it's sort of like that girlfriend that you get all nostalgic about, even though you find all her little idiosyncracies so damn annoying and you can't wait to dump her. Ugh.

While last year brought us Head Automatica, The Killers and Panic at the Disco, 2006 shot us in our collective eardrums with Young Love (featuring Recover's Dan Keyes), Rock Kills Kid (who released a Jimmy Eat World-lite EP back in 2003), Plus 44, Shiny Toy Guns and many other disposable bands.

While I realize that the synthpop hits of The Killers and Postal Service reignited keyboard sales the last two years, there comes a time when we have to say enuff z'nuff. The Faint has been at this new wave revival for years and you know what? They're about a million times better than most of these bands. I'm writing this not to ride on the Saddle Creek coattails, but because it's merely a fact. "Danse Macabre" holds water not only as a pop record, but also as a socio-political album. I mean, if you're going to have a medium to speak your mind, you might as well say something meaningful, right?

I'm hoping that many of these dance bands will die out in 2007. Glassjaw (which is fronted by Head Automatica singer Daryl Palumbo) is taking another crack at hardcore for the new year and Good Charolette is releasing a dance/rap/rock record, which should pretty much murder the nu-wave movement all together. Here's to wishful thinking.