Clarity came out my Senior year in HS. I listened to that album a lot that Spring. Bleed American was solid as well. Both still hold up. I always thought the songs Bleed American would be a good song to come up to bat to.
I did dig Futures. Produced by the same guy who produced Recovering the Satellites by Counting Crows which I love and a few of the Pixies albums.
I honestly don't know much of anything after Futures though. I should catch up. One of my best friends is a huge fan. Saw them a couple weeks ago.
"My balls feels like they're in a French press." ~ bodysnatcher
Lament wrote:From Clarity through Futures, this band was great. They're still as enjoyable live as nearly anyone out there.
Am I wrong to lump this band in with others such as Good Charlotte, Fallout Boy, Panic at the Disco, My Chemical Romance, etc.?
You're somewhat off, if in the ballpark. I think historically they have been bundled together with aesthetically distant but only marginally less shitty emo bands like Saves the Day and The Get Up Kids, however unfairly.
I was really into this band right up to Futures (can't believe it's been 10 years since it was released) but then fell off pretty hard. I actually found Damage to be pretty good, it got me to revisit a lot of their stuff. I still think Static Prevails and Clarity are top notch. I really wish Tom would sing more songs, I always preferred him.
I saw them a few times back on the Bleed American tour, and saw them once last year, and they are a pretty solid live band.
The show was awesome and the boys sounded great. Most importantly, the crowd was good, which is always the sketchy part at PHX shows.
Unfortunately, our youngest came down with a respiratory infection Thursday morning (she had whopping cough as a baby and we spent one Christmas in ICU) and it was iffy on whether we would go. We went, but ended up leaving about 10:30. It was a drag to have to leave, but, you know, priorities and shit.
Jim sometimes does a local Christmas solo show, which I'll be hoping to catch.
I went to Milano Music to get some sheet music for my daughter today and Jim Adkins was giving kids free guitar lessons. I talked to the manager dude who was working the section I was in and he said Jim is always doing stuff like that. Apparently he's also a top-notch guitar tech and will often do tough repairs for them, then comp the customer.
Back in 2001 one of the message boards I was on had a guy who started talking about the Bleed American demos and was really excited about the new album. It leaked - as everything did back then - and I burned a CD. Wow, what an album. I barely listened to anything else. It just fit where I was at the time, literally and figuratively, as we had moved to Yuma, AZ in 2000. God, what a cesspool. The armpit of AZ. Anyway. The album was great. I bought it when it came out and it was constantly in my changer that summer for drives. I even remember taking the disc to my broadcasting class and playing two songs from it an hour (all I could get away with because my teacher was listening). Such a great album.
I picked up Clarity and Static Prevails but neither of them hit me the same way. Futures was almost as good but still not quite the same "wholeness" of Bleed American. They're all really good albums but Bleed American was something else.
I feel like I could really like this band. The only album I know at all is Bleed American. I've tried listening to Clarity a couple times, but haven't gotten past the 4th or 5th song without finding myself deciding to change it to something else. Where I should go in their catalog if I dig Bleed American?
