Taking Back Sunday, a band out of Amityville NY, formed back in November of 1999. The band's first release, a 5-song demo was released in February of 2001. In December 2001, Victory Records signed the band. They immediately headed into New Jersey's Big Blue Meanie Recording Studios with producer Sal Villanueva and engineer Tim Gilles (Thursday's 'Full Collapse') to begin work on this debut full-length "Tell All Your Friends". The album is set for a March 26th release.
This band seems to be getting a pretty big push by Victory. The interesting thing is that I pretty much had their sound figured out before I even received the CD. I assumed it would be along the same lines as Saves the Day, and Further Seems Forever just based on the pictures I saw of the band and the amount of attention the label was giving them. Taking Back Sunday is Victory Records "Vagrant" band. In that they have just as good of a chance to make it in the MTV2 world as Saves the Day, Thursday and Dashboard had. Why not make the big push with them?
Probably one of the strongest comparisons I can make to some of the other current bands in the present scene is Further Seems Forever. Basically due to the fact that at least one of the singers sounds a lot like Chris Carrabba ala his Further Seems Forever days. Plus musically they are a few steps above some of the other bands playing a similar style. But luckily they have enough going on musically and vocally to help set them apart a bit. They do a lot of trading off of vocal duties throughout the band, which lends to some pretty interesting harmonies and even screams.
The band has that point your finger in the air type melodic/aggressive rock sound. I can see it now. Hundreds of kids singing along at their shows...all with their fingers pointed in the air. Can you get the picture of how this band sounds yet? Driving guitars, moving bass lines, aggressive mostly sung (but also screamed from time to time) vocals. This band is definitely a few steps above a majority of the bands currently out there in this genre. Unfortunately we have maybe just a few too many bands that sound like this now, so they may not get the attention they deserve. Don't get me wrong. The CD sounds great, the production is right on, the band is tight and the vocals sound really good. The thing is the scene may already be overfilled with too many bands that are going for a similar sound.
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Other coverage for this album
Decapolis March 2002Reviewed by Luke HarlowTaking Back Sunday is the latest in a long line of bands playing the melodic punk/indie style. The band is tight, the songs are catchy, they are full of hooks, and proves an enjoyable listen. This is definitely a quality recording, a solid effort, but there is very little new ground covered here. Vocally, things are done well, but it is the same style that so dominates this genre today: a guy…Decapolis March 2002Reviewed by Nate BaileyTaking Back Sunday's "Tell All Your Friends" is in the same ballpark as Saves The Day, The Stryder etc. Another attempt to add passion and emotion to the energy of punk that is popular these days and stretches its roots back to the days of the late great Lifetime. The vocal style was the first thing that caught my attention. It's very similar to Saves The Day and in that respect leads you to make…Similar sounding releases
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