The Riot Before - or rather, Brett Adams - have inspired me to blog again. I don't have much about myself to say; still in college, I work for an events company getting paid to go to concerts (wahay!) and I can't wait for Christmas to have some time at home with my parents and back in the good old places with familiar faces, drinking so much I can't see (is that a Springsteen song? It should be!). I kinda feel like I need something to break up the monotony that is college-work-sleep-repeat. At least I'm not broke anymore. My lowest point was having 36c to my name and not even being able to get a bus to see my best friend. Whoa.
I'm here because I've been hooked on this band, The Riot Before, since the summer. Now, when I get hooked on a band, it's serious. It's like a new love that I can't stop texting and thinking about and and keep boring my friends by talking about them and can never understand why others don't see what I see. TRB were a recommendation to me and the words were "They're a mix of Against Me! and The Gaslight Anthem". Well I did not need to be told twice. This band are in no way a rip-off and cannot be accused of "jumping on the folk-punk/Springsteen bandwagon". Yeah, sure there are some guitar effects that you could call derivative and Brett may not have a flawless voice, but few bands I listen to could boast that (with the exception of Dan Andriano- his voice is perfect. Don't argue with me.). They're a four-piece from Richmond, Virginia, with the exception of Brett Adams, who hails from California complete with his classic American accent.
My introduction was the exquisite "Fists Buried in Pockets", their sophomore album whose title is reportedly a reference to a change in punk attitudes were maybe we are no longer raising our fists in the air, but burying them in our pockets (clever, eh?). It has this simultaneous air of melancholy, passion and energy about it that would pique anyone's interest, but what sold it to me were the lyrics. The stand-out track for me was Words Written Over Coffee (from where the title of this entry derives). The subject matter gave me this lightbulb moment where, yeah, I loved the song and listened to it for the harmonica parts, but I realised that it was about growing up and forming your own ideas, being raised by religious parents and realising that you no longer share their beliefs. this was something that I could identify with and with lyrics poignant as these, I was addicted:
"See I used to be a mustard seed shouting at the mountain
I used to hang my head when it stayed far from the ocean
I used to claim its failure and from the depths of depression
I cried to god but god did not respond
Like a barrel chested strongman I suspended disbelief
I held it high over my head though all the weight was staggering
But legs buckled and muscles burned, in came gravity
I dropped it all, faced what I'd been avoiding
For many years I walked that road, for many years I tried
So earnestly I sought the relationship advertised
But my empty hands, my empty heart, could no longer be denied
Yeah I quit, I forfeit eternal life"
I have fallen in love with the entire album and of course was made up to learn that they'd be releasing an acoustic EP with a selection of songs from it entitled "Fists.....Out Of Sockets" This EP is amazing. The tracklist was comprised of all of my favourite songs from "...Pockets". It took this EP in particular to show me the beauty of the lyrics, stripped-down, raw and vulnerable. "Capillaries" was always a song I thought was catchy but it was only in the acoustic version where I realised - wow, this is poetry :
Singing tongues over rhythm
Always searching for words
I'm alone in the backseat
In communion with chords
Tightened strings over fret boards
Transcend the distance of stars
But the light that's received is distant history
The present still lost in the dark
Of course, since I loved "Fists" so much, I had to get "Horsehoes and Handgrenades". This was made by a much younger band, and the difference is amazing. The sound is way more up-tempo and faster, and the lyrics are not as polished [as are the vocals], but you can hear the makings of a great band in there. The subject matter may be in the same vein but I think it took the extra growth to accomlish what they did with "Fists". Here's some of the stand out stuff:
"I was wise, went downwind
I hid all the evidence
but then I saw you walking slowly down the stairs with your friends
soon the dogs caught the smell and the detective found prints
so I kicked, and I fought
did all I could just to resist
my dirty face on the ground a heavy knee in my back
and I'm heading downtown with handcuffs tight around my wrists
I was home free, and headed south
I'd buy an island and relax
now I'm, locked up, and staring out
through metal bars at what I had
it was airplanes and dirty vans
and a confession to fog the air
now your, hooked up with an old friend
all I have this paper a pen and all these
really good reasons to swear"
If the difference was so vast between just two albums, then I'm unbelievably excited for the next effort which is in post-production right now. Please, please check these guys out so I have someone to gush about them over OK?
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