Let’s Call it a Hiatus

Many of the bands that dominate the music world are bands that have come back from a hiatus. Bands that needed a break for whatever reason and then came booming back with incredible work. And like these musicians, their blogging counterparts sometimes find themselves in need of a break. I mean, I’m sure these artists don’t use their breaks for schoolwork, crying, Netflix, and the like but let’s call it a hiatus anyways.

There’s something kind of special that happens when a band gets back together. It’s as unexpected as their break up but it’s almost as if you’re finding this band for the first time. Sometimes they reemerge with a new sound, a new look, a new feeling. You get to fall in love with your favorites all over again.

So, here are a few of the bands that broke your heart when they broke up and then mended it with their reunion music.

Fall Out Boy:

At the top of the list is, obviously, Fall Out Boy. Their comeback was insane. The band announced their break in 2009 almost directly following the release of their greatest hits album Believers Never Die. The members used those few years to explore solo careers and other opportunities. In October of 2012, whisperings of new music from Fall Out Boy began and a few months later, in February of 2013, we had Save Rock and Roll and it was great. The boys also filmed videos for each of the songs on that album, creating The Young Blood Chronicles. They have since released another album, American Beauty/American Psycho, and have been the soundtrack to almost every NFL commercial currently airing.

Blink-182:

I feel like Blink has been on more breaks than I take while I’m “studying”, their main break being from 2005 until 2009. Each of the band members has taken time to do their own thing (+44, Angels and Airwaves, and even an MTV reality series) but none of those projects will ever compare to the magic they can produce together. This band is iconic, this band is important, this band is everything. Unfortunately, guitarist and vocalist, Tom DeLonge is no longer part of the trio and their most recent release was an EP called Dogs Eating Dogs in 2012. Long time members Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker along with DeLonge’s replacement, Matt Skiba still have plans of creating and releasing music and though it will be different, I’m sure it will still encompass everything Blink-182 has come to mean.

Metro Station:

This break-up was a tough one for me. I actually remember texting Nicole as soon as I heard about it which is honestly kind of sad. Their debut album was released in 2007 and it rocked the worlds of scene kids everywhere. There was just something about those ten tracks that perfectly summarized those awkward, fundamental years that shaped the kids who weren’t exactly into Teardrops on My Guitar. A few years after their break, singer Mason Musso reformed the band without Trace Cyrus and released an EP called Middle of the Night and then in 2014, Cyrus returned to the band. The duo released their album Savior this year and performed their new music on the road with Warped Tour.

 

This short list fails to include some of the hugely important bands that also took breaks from their music before making a comeback; Blondie and Fleetwood Mac to name a few. This list does, however, include bands that influenced many of the people my age and I can clearly recall their reunions and how it felt to know they were making music again. And that was a really great feeling.

Let’s consider this the end of my hiatus. Stay tuned for more sporadic postings.

 

-K

Blogging While In College, a.k.a. Sorry It’s Been So Long

So… long time no see? I’m just going to go ahead and apologize for the next few months, because I think I can speak for both Kelci and I when I say that this semester is turning out to be a little crazier than the last (hence why there hasn’t been any posts in almost a month). We’re still going to be blogging, but the posts will probably be more sporadic than usual, because we both have school as our first priority!

Being in college has caused me to listen to even more music than I did when I was in high school. I never leave my room without grabbing a pair of earbuds first, so I thought that I would let you guys in on what I’ve been listening to while walking to class during my first two weeks back at school. I haven’t had much time recently to go searching for new music, so I’ve just been putting my saved songs on Spotify on shuffle and seeing what comes up. It’s always interesting for me to rediscover songs that I had completely forgotten about, and it lets me see how much my taste in music has changed (and what has stayed the same)!

Thanks again for sticking around!

-N

Fall Out Boy will be around for “Centuries”

We have to talk about that new Fall Out Boy song. Roughly a year and a half after their post-hiatus album, “Save Rock and Roll”, came out, FOB announced a new single titled “Centuries”. The reveal was ultra-mysterious, and included them blacking out their social media accounts and releasing a short video in which the title of the single was spelt out in Morse code. All of this lead up to yesterday, in which their new single was finally released, along with the cool video that is handily embedded in this post.

Since Kelci and I are both huge Fall Out Boy fans (she went to the concert, I didn’t, it’s cool though… I was there in spirit), we thought this would be a good time to do something we’ve never done on the blog before: instead of writing two separate posts about the video (and probably publishing it two weeks too late), we decided that we would each watch the video and combine our thoughts on it into one big, opinion-filled post. So click play on that video, enjoy the awesomeness that is Fall Out Boy, and then read below to see what we thought of the song!

Nicole: I’m just going to start by saying that I’m pretty sure that I’ll like whatever FOB comes out with. With that being said, I do miss their earlier stuff. Less electronic sound effects, more just them playing some great pop punk. Patrick’s voice is so amazing that I feel like all the extra effects start to detract from it. I do like this song though. It reminds me of the sound they had on their last album, especially on “My Songs Know What You Did In the Dark (Light ‘Em Up)”. I’m really interested to see what the official video will look like, because of the way they used all their music videos for Save Rock and Roll to tell The Youngblood Chronicles (a really strange story, but a story nonetheless). It’s catchy, fun to sing along to, and well put together. I have a feeling this next album is going to be just as good as the previous ones, because Fall Out Boy never disappoints!

Kelci: Like Nicole said, FOB can do no wrong. We’ve both been fans since the early days and it’s so cool to hear their sound evolve so much. Although there are definitely elements from their last album incorporated into “Centuries”, there’s also something new that sets it apart. Fall Out Boy has done an incredible job of pushing their style limits and trying something different with each song/album they put out. This track has been added to my monthly playlist and will more than likely be stuck in my head for the next few…centuries. I can’t wait to hear the rest of what they’ve been working on. And the best part is that a new album means another tour.

 

-N & K

Thanks for the Memories BECAUSE THEY WERE SO GREAT | Monumentour 2014

On August the 2^nd, 2014, with a full bladder and a happy heart I arrived at the Austin360 amphitheater to live out a dream – See Fall Out Boy perform live.

After a brief visit to a way-too-hot Port O Potty and a little loss of dignity, that dream was well on its way to becoming true.

I’m sad to say that I missed the opening band (New Politics). I’m going to go ahead and put the blame for that one on my mom. She’s perpetually late to everything. And yes, that’s right ladies and gents, I do indeed go to concerts with my mom. She can hang 10x better than most people I know and we have virtually the same taste in music.

Anyways, after finding our seats (because this was a seated venue which, *annoyed sigh*, we’ll get into another time) it was time for the second band to take the stage. And let me tell you, they made themselves known by firing confetti guns that nearly gave me a heart attack. FOUR TIMES. FOUR MINI HEART ATTACKS. I suppose I should probably tell you that the confetti firing band was Paramore. Maybe you’ve heard of them? Oh, who am I kidding? Everyone knows Paramore, and for good reason. They’re music is totally energetic and now I can vouch that their performances are too. From the synchronized head banging during Misery Business to the cheesy “we’re all a family” speech, there wasn’t one boring moment during their set. They played both older and newer songs, keeping up the energy and excitement the whole time. Hayley and the boys are so cute when they interact. I have this fantasy that they eat pizza rolls and watch The Simpsons together when they’re not touring. Also, my crush on bassist, Jeremy Davis, only increased when I saw his dance moves. AND THE TATTOOS. MY GOODNESS.

Next up was a music video interlude which I am totally all for.

Then, we all went home.

JUST KIDDING.

After the music videos, the stage lights were dimmed, a creepy voice started talking about fears, and from the center of the platform, four glorious human beings arose. Fall Out Boy started their performance by playing The Phoenix and from there played incredible song after incredible song (because that’s the only kind of song they write). They even did a Queen cover at one point and that is always okay in my book. I have a lot of feelings about this band. I’ve been a fan since the days of guyliner (ehem, Pete) and novels-for-song titles. On one hand, they make me feel totally hardcore because of their bangin music but on the other hand, I feel like a gigantic puddle of fangirl because they’re all really adorable. I mean, at a certain angle, Joe looks like Patrick Dempsey circa Can’t Buy Me Love, and then you’ve got the precious teddy bear on drums. Andy wore a stoic, almost grumpy, face of concentration for most of the show only to smile and melt my heart at the end. Next you have the ball of cheese that is Pete. He did most of the talking throughout the performance and the lil’ cutie spewed cliché after cliché about following your dreams and “choosing your own f*cking happiness” and it was glorious. Do I even need to explain Patrick’s preciousness? I swear, he and Johnny Depp are the only two people in the world who can work a fedora. I just want to hug him and cuddle him and kiss him gently on the forehead AND THEN HE HAD TO GO AND DO A THING LIKE BREAK OUT HIS DRUM SKILLS. Hot damn. He and Andy did an incredible drum sesh/ mash up thing with Jay Z’s 99 Problems. Super cool. Overall, Fall Out Boy performed so well. I’m just sad I hadn’t seen them perform live sooner. They seem like amazing people and they deserve every single fan that filled up the crowd.

CONCERT RATINGS:

VENUE: 2/10

PERFORMERS: 10/10

SETLIST: 10/10

ANNOYING PEOPLE IN THE CROWD: 3/10

TOUR T SHIRT QUALITY: 10/10

CUTE BOYS ON STAGE: 12/10

WOULD ATTEND AGAIN: 10/10

-K