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Taking Back Sunday - Biography
| 07-07-2006 20:34 | 2 reaction(s) | add reply |
In the late 90s Eddie Reyes started Taking Back Sunday in Long Island, NY. Even early on the band went through frequent line up changes including Brand New front man Jesse Lacey playing bass for a brief time in the band. Eventually they recorded a 6 song EP with current singer, Adam Lazzara, on bass and Antonio Longo on vocals. The EP, which was self titled, was released on General Records and sold at their shows across Long Island and New Jersey.
In December 2000 the line up changed again. Longo left the band to pursue other interests and then bassist, Lazzara, stepped up as vocalist leaving the bassist position vacant, which Shaun Cooper was called upon to fill. With what was thought to be the final, stable line-up the band recorded a 5 song demo, yet again self titled. The demo was shopped around to several labels, with a lot of interest swarming it. The final decision was to sign with Victory Records, so in December 2001 they signed with the label and soon found themselves in the studio with producer Sal Villanueva (Thursday) putting together 10 tracks for their debut release Tell All Your Friends.
The album was released on March 26, 2002 and quickly became one of Victory Record’s best sellers. The band continued to tour in support of their release with such bands as Midtown, Recover, New Found Glory, Jimmy Eat World, H2O, and The Used among others.
Just after their first headlining tour in spring 2003 they planned to tour Europe and spend the summer as a main stage act on Warped Tour, but instead they suddenly took a hiatus after John Nolan and Shaun Cooper left the band for their own individual and private reasons. Rumors circulated of the band’s demise, but they didn’t stay away for too long. They returned with two new members, Fred Mascherino on guitar and vocals and Matt Rubano on bass, just in time to play the last few dates of Warped Tour 2003.
For the sophomore album, Taking Back Sunday enlisted veteran producer Lou Giordano (Sugar, Goo Goo Dolls, Sunny Day Real Estate) to come in and take five valid musical opinions and craft them into one cohesive album. "The songs really are written by all five of us. They may start with a part or an idea but it's the five of us that make it the song it ends up being," states Fred. 'It's fantastic," recalls Lou "because they've grown so much and added such great musicianship, yet it's still very much Taking Back Sunday. I was honored to be a part of this record."
Recorded during most of March and April of 2004, the 11-song album, titled WHERE YOU WANT TO BE, was released on July 27 th , 2004 on Victory Records. Filled with their trademark dual vocals and hook-filled, guitar driven songs of love, hate, blame, greed and non-apologetic calling out, this album connected with their audience much in the same way as their debut which has already scanned over 500,000 copies. "We didn't quite know what we were going to come out of the studio with," remembered Adam. "The second we all heard it finished, I just can't describe the look on everyone's face...I can only explain it as shock; it was exactly what we wanted. I personally could not be happier to be a part of this record."
The tracks range from solid opener "Set Phasers To Stun," an urgent Police-like tune, to the hardcore finger-pointing song "The Union." Acoustic string-laden "New American Classic" showcases the level of songwriting capabilities combined with the softer singing voices of the two vocalists while "One-Eighty By Summer" showcases much of their vocal range and repeats the unanswerable question we all pose "Why can't you just be happy?" The albums' first single was chosen immediately by the band, which sees it as a song that reflects all sides of Taking Back Sunday, musically and lyrically. Aptly titled "A Decade Under The Influence," it's a biting number that starts out soft while telling an opposite tale, eventually confidently whispering and repeating the anthem "to hell with you and all your friends." Add in a few more expertly crafted pop sounding songs and the album is complete with the trademark Taking Back Sunday curves that sometimes come back around and sometimes leave you off a different road. “It would be next to impossible to play anyone half of the album and still get a sense of the entire thing. We all have different favorite songs, it's a great problem to have," recalls Mark. "There's a depth to this record that you always hope for when you start. Now that it's finished I hear more every time I listen “adds Fred.
With the often agonizing sophomore album complete and out of their hands, Adam, Matt, Eddie, Mark and Fred did not have much time to ponder its impact. "In 2004 we were not home at all, and that's exactly what I wanted," states Adam. The band finished mixing the tracks just in time to start a month of North American dates with Blink 182, finding time to make a stop at the HFStival in Washington, DC. Then they headed out for their first trip overseas to play the Donington Download festival (with headliners Metallica) and then headline their own sold out shows including their virgin London gig in the legendary 2,000 capacity Astoria.
They returned from that to play KROCK-NY's Dysfunctional Family Picnic with the Beastie Boys, The Strokes and a bunch of others in the band's hometown backyard amphitheater, Jones Beach. "We're in surreal pretend land," exclaims Matt. With no rest in sight, they immediately flew to Texas to begin their entire summer run as one of the headliners on the 2004 Vans Warped Tour, and then back to the UK for a main stage stint on the infamous Reading and Leeds Carling weekend.
Prior to the albums' release, Taking Back Sunday released an album track titled "This Photograph is Proof (I Know You Know)" on the hugely successful Spider-man 2 Soundtrack. August 2004 found them on another Alternative Press cover, Rolling Stone's 'Hot Band' and Launch's Emerging Artist just as their video for "A Decade Under The Influence" was declared Buzzworthy on MTV and M2.
On August 2, 2004 WHERE YOU WANT TO BE debuted in the #3 spot on the Billboard Top 200 Chart with 163,000 units in sales for the first week, making them the highest selling rock band in the United States for the week. It's hard not to imagine that this is exactly where they WOULD want to be. Matt put it best; "the band has focused all of its energy on the present and future...we're ready for anything."
The band continued to tour, selling out their entire Fall Headlining run. 50 shows sold out in advance in larger venues than they had ever anticipated playing, let alone headlining. Selling out three solid nights at the Starland Ballroom in NJ during a holiday time where most shows were slow was one example of why promoters across the US's confidence in the band continues to grow. "We could have put three more on sale, the tickets would have just kept selling" says Stan Levinstone, Starland's promoter. Their insane touring schedule for 2004 didn't end there. A few weeks of radio shows with bands like Franz Ferdinand, Muse, The Killers, My Chemical Romance and Modest Mouse followed as Taking Back Sunday prepared to release "This Photograph is Proof (I Know You Know)" as their second single from WHERE YOU WANT TO BE in January of 2005. The video was directed by Tom DeLonge of Blink-182 fame and really showcases the bands' energetic live performance. MTV2 began airing a "Makes A Video" half hour special just before the New Year.
"It's hard to believe that we've scanned over 600,000 copies of this album in less than a year," remarks Reyes. "As a matter of fact it's really hard to imagine that we've scanned over a million records between the two albums. We know we are so lucky. Most bands don't get that lucky, and we appreciate it every day." WHERE YOU WANT TO BE did in fact remain on the Billboard Chart for 24 weeks straight and was the #3 Independent Album of 2004. FUSE and MAXIM Magazine declared Taking Back Sunday 2004's #1 Rising Star. Year end accomplishments like "Band of the Year" and "Artist of the Year" from the College Music Awards and Alternative Press's Readers Poll respectively and inclusion in numerous Year End countdowns including Rolling Stone's Top 50 albums of 2004 and FUSE TV's year end Top 10 Rock Countdown still take the band by surprise. "Someone called me and woke me up because we had the #1 song on 89X Detroit's year end countdown," remembers Reyes. "It's still pretty unreal."
As they headed to Europe in January of 2005 for their third UK run, selling out 5,000 tickets at the legendary Brixton Academy in advance, the past year seems like a blur. A Spring 2005 run of colleges and arenas co-headlining with a band they have admired for a long time, Jimmy Eat World, and two sold out shows at the legendary Milton Keynes Bowl outside of London with Green Day in June 2005 capped off an amazing touring cycle. "I've accomplished more than my wildest dreams," adds Adam. "If I wasn't doing this, I have no idea what I would be doing. I want to do this for the rest of my life." |
| Showing posts 1-2 of 2 | Page 1 of 1 |
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17-08-2006 12:02 Sugardragon | 
10 posts
| Someone that knows where Adam Lazzara lives now? Wich state /city? Does he have a girlfriend? I really want to know because i can't find any information.[b] | | 01-01-2007 07:45 chucky_D |
2 posts
| maybe we could get this more up to date, maybe with the inclusion of Louder Now? |
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