basically, i suck at blogging.

last night was a flashback to my childhood with my favorite favorites, bayside.
at this point, i've kind of lost track as to how many times i've seen them, but it's somewhere around 18 times i think. could be more, could be less, but hell, i don't feel like tracing back the last 4 years and counting how many bayside shows i've been to.
anyways, it was one of the better bayside lineups in a while, including envy on the coast and i am the avalanche. to say the least, i was pretty stoked. i got to irving around 4:45, only to find a million other people already lined up, but thankfully, i had a friend who had gotten there like an hour before, so i got onto the line with her.

even with getting there so early, i ended up on the very edge of the front row on the barricade. and of course, by the end of the show, i was in front of that barricade, enjoying the good life next to a security guard because that's how i roll.

the first band, bridge and tunnel was alright. nothing i'd listen to regularly, but i'm sure a lot of people like them. the crowd seemed less than enthused though. probably saving all of their energy for i am the avalanche, who may i just say, killed it.
vinnie caruana is just a really charming, badass dude. they're a lot of fun live, and the energy they have just radiates through the whole audience, whether you like them or not. i could've done without the guy butt raping me throughout their entire set.

next up was envy on the coast. i always forget how much i love them because i just neglect listening to them often. they were really quite lovely, and their cover of "empire state of mind" that ran into "the gift of paralysis" basically made my month. it was beautiful, and i always love seeing the entire crowd singing the line "throwing punches at ocean waves" while pumping fists in unison. it's beautiful.



the long anticipated, bayside came on shortly after. i hadn't seen them play a legitimate show (not including bamboozle and warped tour) since last november, so this was quite a treat. their setlist doesn't really change much from show to show, but i was glad that they played a lot from their self-titled rather than filling up the set with songs from shudder. i expected at least a few songs from sirens, but sadly, all we got was "masterpiece." i'm not complaining though, the set was met my standards and left me satisfied.



they closed the show with "hello shitty" and "devotion and desire" as usual, and i grabbed the setlist, this time only getting yelled at a little bit by the security guard. he didn't drag me off of the stage this time. thank goodness.
i wandered around, caught up with mr. and mrs. ghanbarian and headed home, smiling.






honestly, i don't even know what it is about bayside that makes me so happy.
they never fail to amaze me.

any band that...

makes jumping under a sheet seem like the most fun thing ever is fucking brilliant.
this is why i love the mae shi.
they know all the secrets to making people happy.
giving us a rainbow parachute to dance under is one of those secrets.

they played at silent barn last night ... there were maybe 50 people there at most.

their set was epic as usual.
nothing ever beats the amazingness of "i get almost everything" and group hugs and dancing til your stomach hurts.
ugh, i wish i was seeing them tonight with anamanaguchi at dba.



oh, and snakes say hisss! were so good. how have i never heard of them before??
no really, like....i can't stop listening to them right now.
it's like if best fwends, the mae shi and starfucker had some love babies and the kids were babysat by thedeathset.

"i like stars and i like unicorns, i like things that make me feel free"
seriously?? any band that sings about unicorns is good in my book.

GO CHECK THEM OUT RIGHT NOW!



and to the mae shi ... i'm glad you're alive.


btw, before last night, it had been almost a month since i had been to a show.
i think that was the longest gap between shows i had all year.
well, whatevz...i survived right?
of montreal on tuesday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

this is r-e-a-l-i-t-y

so my boys in bayside are releasing their fourth full-length album entitled shudder on september 30th, and i told myself i was gonna just wait until it came out to listen to it, but i couldn't help but download the leak. don't kill me, jack!
of course i'll still buy it. hell, if i had the money, i'd buy 100 copies, but times are tough my friend.
i'm a student, and i don't have a job, and i spend all my money on tickets, so therefore, i don't have enough money to buy 100 copies.
but i figured, that now that i've listened to it about a million times that i might as well tell you a little about it.



it opens with the catchy track entitled "boy" ... not a far stretch from anything else they've come out with. the chorus is what really got me excited. before i heard the album, these lyrics were circulating the interwebs, and i was just so excited what it would sound like "now is your chance boy just ignore the dreadful things they say, go on give up you’ll never win no crying now, they're watching him, his blood will boil and the kids will sing, learn to drown before learn to swim"

this then flows into the next track "the ghost of st. valentine," which is overall a pretty upbeat track.
in fact, the whole album is a little more on the upbeat side. it's different for them, but they still manage to stay true to their sound.
they've added a lot of pop elements though. i closed my eyes while listening to "no one understands" and swore i was listening to motion city soundtrack for a minute.

the next track "what and whatnot" might be some kind of "montauk" throw back.
a lot of us were confused with the slight lyric change, but obviously it must have SOMETHING to do with "montauk."
i mean going from "sweetness can you believe this?" to "sweetness did you believe in this?"
tell me "what and whatnot" isn't like montauk pt. 2 or something. haha.

anyways, the album continues with some more upbeat tracks ... it all just gets you in a good mood.
the guitar is strong, the lyrics aren't a far stray from what i'm used to. a little less violent, but it's all just really enjoyable.
in my opinion, the walking wounded, while it grew on me eventually, was a little disappointing, whereas shudder hooked me pretty fast, like with their self titled and sirens. ok, maybe not as mind blowingly amazing as sirens or bayside, but still very very good overall.

i'm happy for them. they should definitely be proud of this album.

must listen tracks: "demons" and "moceanu"
a quick note about "moceanu" ... definitely the most memorable track. but it requires a few listens to absorb everything.


a friend of mine declared that she doesn't like the album because it's "too happy."
and my response to her was "i'm sorry, what?"

go buy it this week.
you won't be disappointed.