Special: A Decade In Review: Best Songs of the 2010's: 40 - 31

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40. Good Charlotte ft. Kellin Quinn (Sleeping With Sirens) - Keep Swingin'


39. Set Your Goals ft. John Gula (Turmoil) - Gaia Bleeds (Make Way For Man)


38. Real Friends - Mess


37. Courage My Love - Kerosene


36. Patent Pending - Hey Mario


35. Run The Jewels - ...Legend Has It


34. Seaway - London


33. Issues - Never Lose Your Flames


32. Set It Off - Why Worry?


31. Pierce The Veil Ft. Kellin Quinn (Sleeping With Sirens) - King For A Day


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Special: Emo Meme Review #4

What's up folks? We're back with another Emo Meme Review but this time I'm morphing this into my own Personal Top 10 Opening Bands. This was inspired by the following tweet:

Now I've been to a lot of shows and discovered a lot of bands this way so as I stated I'm doing a top 10 out of it. The rules are as follows: I may have heard of the band but I could never have previously listened to them before the show and I'm ranking the bands by how much I enjoy them, not how much success they've had. So onto the list:

10. Forever Came Calling

My first experience with FCC was technically on Warped Tour while they were working the line. My friend bought a CD but I didn't actually listen to it. The first time seeing them for real was opening up a State Champs/Handguns co-headliner put on by their record label Pure Noise Records and FCC was the main support for the two headliners. They put on a good show but my now fiancee actually got me in to them because she wanted a shirt of them which had Jennifer Lawrence flipping off the camera. Luckily they were giving away a CD with any shirt purchase and I got their last full length "What Matters Most" and fell in love with it which made me pick up their debut Contender as well which has just as many jams.

9. The Artist Life

So this is an interesting one. The Artist Life and The Swellers (who also got strong consideration for this list) were on a co-headlining tour and the St. Catharines stop coincided with my friends band's CD release party so they technically headlined so it counts. The Artist Life put out 2 EP's and a full length, all of which I'd highly recommend. They are unfortunately no longer active but they were the best of the small Canadian bands I discovered at local shows.

8. A Rocket To The Moon

Nick Santino's original band A Rocket To The Moon landed the opening spot on an old Alternative Press tour that had 3OH!3 and The Maine headlining with support from Family Force 5 and Hit The Lights but it was Nick with an acoustic guitar that stood out (not really, HTL killed it!) I went to the merch booth and bought his debut EP and I still listen to it regularly. Their full length On Your Side followed and is still an absolute favourite of mine before they faded off a little bit with their last release before disbanding and Nick started doing solo stuff before going back and doing band work but no longer under the ARTTM moniker.

7. Sugarcult

This is a fun story only because it happened at the first live band concert I've ever been to. It was Green Day's American Idiot tour in 2004 that had my favourite band, New Found Glory opening for them but opening the show was Sugarcult. A band I never heard of before even though they talked about Memory and Bouncing Off The Walls playing on radio I had never heard it but a few weeks later they performed Memory on one of the late night talk shows and I was officially hooked. They're no longer active but hte members are keeping busy writing and producing for other bands but nothing can take away from the excellence of their first full 2 full lengths and even their third was fine.

6. Valencia

Valencia opened up probably the best concert lineup I ever went to, Tourzilla in 2007 with the Audition, All Time Low and Boys Like Girls. I had never seen them and they were good but didn't stand out due to their lack of stage presence. I didn't realize at the time that it was their first tour back after the death of lead singer Shane Henderson's girlfriend. A few months later they released the single from their upcoming album Holiday and it was around the time I was looking for bands to check out on Warped 2008 and I got hooked on it alone with their previous songs and became a fan and consider myself lucky to be able to check them out one last time at Warped 2019 in Atlantic City.

5. The Story So Far

The Story So Far was on the Glamour Kills tour in 2011 with the Wonder Years, Polar Bear Club, Transit and A Loss For Words. Surprisingly they opened the show back then. I hadn't given them a shot but I loved TWY and got into transit a little bit before. PBC and AL4W took up most of my time getting ready for the concert only to discover AL4W weren't playing my date. TSSF moved around a lot more than they did now but I was still underwhelmed by their performance given how heavy their music was but I decided to pick up their debut album anyways and fell in love. I've continued to be a fan until this day of their music it's a shame their live show leaves a lot to be desired however.

4. Knuckle Puck

Unlike some bands on this list I had never even heard of Knuckle Puck as they were still a local band from Chicago when they went out on tour with Man Overboard, Transit and Forever Came Calling. I enjoyed them but I don't have any vivid memories other than lead singer Joe wearing a tie-dye long sleeve... I hated tie-dye then and I still do. A month or two after the show the video for "No Good" got released and popped up on YouTube. I decided to watch it since I remember liking the music and I fell in love and they've been one of my favourite modern pop punk bands ever since.

3. Set Your Goals

Here we have a first and only on this list folks. Set Your Goals I seen twice before I got into them. They opened a spring tour with New Found Glory and Bayside and then in the fall they opened for Paramore and The Starting Line. The following spring I heard a few tracks off "This Will Be The Death Of Us" and I officially liked them. Now it was hard putting them up this high since I seen them twice and left unimpressed though I still to this day don't love "Mutiny!" as much as most do but loved their next 2 albums before going on hiatus. I'm also excited to be able to say I seen them one last time at Warped 2019 to get some closure.

2. Four Year Strong

So I know earlier I said The Artist Life was the best band I discovered at a local gig but technically I first heard Four Year Strong at a local show as an opener for Bayside (I think they were third of five on the bill). I had heard of them and the people that throwdown at their shows, I had never experienced that yet as this was early in Easycore so I was excited to see that but the music also spoke to me. I left the concert and dove into FYS more eventually grabbing Rise Or Die Trying and following all their releases to this day and their live show is still just as strong years later.

1. State Champs

Yes, I saw arguably the biggest modern day pop punk band back before they released their debut full length in December 2012. They opened up for Hit The Lights, an inspiration to them as they played a one off show in Toronto to prep for a full upcoming tour the bands were doing. I remember hearing Remedy for the first time that night and the opening melody stayed ingrained in my mind. A few months later while deciding to start a weekly countdown I discovered they made a music video for a song called Elevated. I heard it once and I was hooked. When The Finer Things came out months later I streamed it a bunch before grabbing a physical copy a few months later and I've been seeing them live and buying up all their music ever since.

Special: Warped Tour Atlantic City Review

What's up everyone? I was fortunate enough to attend the Warped Tour 25th Anniversary in Atlantic City late last month so I figured I'd do a write-up on the bands I seen/heard and end it with my overall impressions of the event. Since this was a two day event I'll break down my schedule for each day, conflicts and my thoughts on each band and I'll wrap it up with my general feelings on the festival at the end.

Saturday June 29th:

I got through the gates at about 12:45 and the first band I wanted to see was Less Than Jake on the main stage at 1:30 so I opted to head over to the main stage and caught most of Save Ferris' set who was on before LTJ. They were fun enough, I hadn't really listened to them before and although the 40+ year old singer about sleeping with half of LA was awkward banter I wasn't for but overall it was okay.

Less Than Jake came on next and they sounded as good as they usually with the perfect amount of entertaining banter making it an enjoyable set while roasting in the heat without water. After their set we decided to stand in the long line to get water and was able to hear most of Travie McCoy's set on the main stage from afar... I forgot how many hits he had but I couldn't tell how he drew since I was basically watching from a screen. Eventually the line moved closer to the Monster stage than the main stage and I listened to Can't Swim. They sounded great from what I heard but I haven't really listened to them so I plan on rectifying that soon but they didn't have a huge turnout especially since they are a Jersey band.

Once we got our water we took advantage of some shade we found and sat down for a bit and finished the Can't Swim set before heading out to check out the merch. We got back to the main stage around 4 and got to see the end of Andrew W.K.'s set and let me tell you, Keanu Reeves gets a lot of attention for not aging... Dude's got nothing on Andrew. He looks the exact same with the same amount of energy he had when Party Hard was first released in 2001. He killed it, I wished I saw his whole set even though I wasn't terribly familiar with his back catolgue.

Simple Plan was the next artist at 4:30 on the main stage and they played well but it was a little disappointing they played the exact same set as they did at Warped last year with the addition of Shut Up given the extra 10 minutes they got. They instead used it to talk during I'm Just A Kid and bring up Travis from We The Kings to perform the rest of the song with them. All that being said they have an extremely fun show and I highly recommend anyone going to see them.

The next band we planned on checking out was Good Charlotte at 6 and as we were ducking in the shade waiting they announced they were clearing the beach due to thunderstorms at about 5:30 and let us back in at 6:30ish with music restarting at 7:15 and under the new schedule GC was going on at 7:35 now partially interfering with Valencia's set at 8. Our plan was to check out Good Charlotte's first 15-20 minutes and then head over to Valencia since they were the priority since they no longer tour. Unfortunately GC had technical difficulties which pushed their start time an extra 5-10 minutes and when they started Joel had mic issues and had to keep switching mics and shutting them off and on. We saw 2 songs and listened to a 3rd while walking to Valencia. It was disappointing going from no conflicts to this one but we did just see GC do a headline set last fall so it wasn't the end of the world.

Valencia played the Blackcraft stage and that was going to be our only trip to that stage (which was at the opposite end of the main stage) but it was worthwhile. They played a pretty typical set though I was dissapointed we didn't get Dancing With A Ghost I was okay with the choices overall and they played well despite the singer Shane just getting out of the hospital with pneumonia a day or two prior. Overall I'm at peace with the fact that I'll likely never see them live again.

Bad Religion was playing on the main stage when Valencia wrapped up and we opted to watch that from a distance while waiting for Set Your Goals to perform on the Monster Stage at 8:55. The only problem was that Wage War just started playing at 8:45. We had overheard Varials was having some technical issues after the rain delay and it appeared to delay the whole stage and made Varials miss their set entirely, though they did get to close that stage the following day.

As a result we could've watched We The Kings who closed out the Blackcraft stage at 9 but we didn't even think of it as we wrote it off as a conflict when we got the adjusted schedule so instead we watched Wage War and they were energetic and had the crowd going but their music isn't for me despite my best efforts to get into them. At around 9:30 Set Your Goals finally went on and I was able to catch their set which was very heavy on Mutiny songs much to my chagrin but I'm glad I got to see them once more and like Valencia, get the closure I needed knowing I'll never see them again.

After that we had to leave to catch our train and could only hear/see a few A Day To Remember songs as we left the venue and headed down the boardwalk to ensure we don't miss the last train. I was disappointed at the time but when the next morning came and everyone talked about staying for ADTR and missing the train and needing to ride buses back to the hotel only to get back at 2am I felt better about our decision to skip ADTR who still tour regularly and we've seen as recently as August 2016.

Sunday:

On Sunday we got through gates a little earlier, maybe 12:20ish and although we were missing Atreyu who went on right at noon on the main stage I mostly expected it and they were a low priority so it wasn't the end of the world but we did hear most of the songs on the boardwalk and in line. We also caught the last 2 at the main stage since we were heading there for Anti-Flag at 12:40. They sounded great but the crowd was very small given the time they played. A-F also had a small crowd but they riled everyone up like they normally do and played an excellent set stretching all eras while getting political like you'd expect and what was needed given the state of the US currently.

We basically stayed parked at the main stage since Man Overboard was on at 1:20 and then The Story So Far at 2:00. Man Overboard played a great set full of favourites, no banter to get to more music which I was okay with since I made peace knowing that it would be the last time seeing them. They played great and haven't missed a beat despite not playing together for a while. TSSF played a good set with a mix of songs though mostly new but as usual the band itself is not energetic but the crowd makes up for a portion of it but I will say instrumentally and vocally the band is leaps and bounds better than the last time I saw them.

We had a mini break at this point waiting for Four Year Strong on the Monster Stage at 3:20 so we found some shade near the beach and heard Hyro The Hero's set from the Blackcraft stage. It sounded great and the band had a lot of energy. Highly recommending checking them out if they're near you even if you don't know the music. Four Year Strong played their usual Warped Tour set of favourites and although I used to say it'll never get old, it might but not yet. They added Stuck In The Middle with the extra 5 minutes which I was happy about and they are super energetic so they always get you pumped up even if we couldn't get anywhere near the stage which is surprising given it's a side stage.

At the same time FYS was on Big D was on the Full Sail stage but since we wanted to see Set It Off at the Monster Stage next we decided to basically stay put other than looking for some Icee's to munch on and we checked out The Menzingers on the main stage from afar. Once Set It Off started we knew we could only watch half their set to get to the main stage in time for The Starting Line and as always SIO put on a great show, if you ever get a chance you should check them out. We've been fortunate to see them a bunch of times and it never disappoints.

The Starting Line on main stage was next and they are much better live then I remember. They don't go on long tours anymore so I don't really expect to ever see them live again so this was nice closure for me even if I will never hear them perform Say It Like You Mean It front to back. Once they finished we had just enough time to get to the Monster stage to see Sleeping With Sirens. Their crowd was massive so we weren't going to get close on that smaller stage but that suited me well since we only had a couple minutes once they finished to get to the main stage for The Used. They played all their hits and the new song seemed to go over well, we'll just have to see if their fanbase is still interested in new music still once the new album comes out.

I had only seen The Used once before and it was at Warped Tour... Maybe 2015? I don't really recall but they didn't sound great but there was nothing else going on so it made sense to do. I gotta say they killed this live show. I'm not sure if the band is just in a better place now or not but they sounded great and had a nice greatest hits set. It's obvious they are going full nostalgia band but as someone who's never really seen them before I was fine with it. U/nfortunetly with Neck Deep playing the Blackcraft stage on the other side of the beach we missed the last few songs to catch all of their set.

By the time we made it to the stage Neck Deep was playing at, it was complete madness. Between their fans, fans trying to get a spot for Bowling for Soup on the next stage over and the Reel Big Fish fans that were getting ready for them to close off the Blackcraft stage after Neck Deep there was no room to move anywhere. We still enjoyed the set and got some nice surprise songs thrown in for a short Warped set. I'm still yet to see them outside a Warped setting but I'm definitely going to prioritize it on their upcoming album cycle.

Next was the toughest decision, out of all the bands on the card the only one I never seen was Taking Back Sunday who played the main stage from 7-7:45. Neck deep ate up the first half of their set but I could've ran down to the main stage and caught the end of it and be there already for The Offspring at 7:55 but I hadn't gotten a chance to get some water from the refill stands (we still had some water but it was hot at this point in the day) nor did I do any merch shopping. We decided to enjoy Bowling For Soup's set and do the water and merch since it was right near that stage since I had also never seen them even if they weren't as big of a priority but hydration was important at that point. BFS were great and their stage banter was topnotch as even in their late 40's they have not matured.

We left Bowling For Soup's set a song early (sorry 1985!) to make our way to the main stage for The Offspring. We stopped and grabbed food on our way. Since they were on the main stage we can hear them from virtually anywhere as long as we weren't near another stage so we were able to grab food while still hearing the band. They were solid and played all their hits including Pretty Fly and You're Gonna Go Far, Kid which I didn't get to see at Warped 2005 because the latter wasn't out yet and the former was too corny for a 30 minute punk set I guess? They didn't move around as much but that's not surprising considering their older but their banter was still good, despite some creepy uncle type moments.

After the Offspring there was only 1 band left to play. blink-182 closed out Warped Tour in Atlantic City and killed it. They played Enema of the State front to back first and then played a series of greatest hits afterwards. Unfortunately we had to miss the last few songs to beat the crowd and catch our bus but Enema was the priority and we got that. The band sounded great even if I am still getting used to Skiba singing the Tom parts. The banter and production was top notch with a highlight being Mark moving his mic over to the side of the stage and announce that he'll be playing the next song to the port-o-potties.

Well that's it folks. Thanks for taking a stroll down memory lane. I don't know when the next time I'll be able to do a Warped Review for you but hopefully it's not too long.

September 17, 2013 song of the day

September 17, 2013 song of the day:

Set Your Goals Ft. Hayley Williams (Paramore) - The Few That Remain

From the album "This Will Be The Death Of Us" out now

iTunes Link: https://itunes.apple.com/album/the-few-that-remain/id322839554?i=322839619&ign-mpt=uo%3D5