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Belt by Say Anything
Another summer song. Most of …Is A Real Boy is a summer song, but none more than Belt the opening track. I was always amazed buy how a car full of sweaty dudes driving back from Chain Reaction can have a enough energy left to yell the finishing lines.
So what say you and all your friends meet all of my friends in the alley tonight?
Yeah, what say you and all your friends step up to my friends in the alley tonight?I think the only thing driving us on was the thought of In-N-Out at the end of the drive.
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If you got no plans tonight….
And you want to see/experience an amazing band, come see One For The Team perform at Chain Reaction in Anaheim. I’ll be there!
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3 Musical memories
1. The Pop Disaster Tour ft. Blink 182, Green Day and Jimmy Eat World
This was my first big concert I ever attended. My friend Jon went with me and my parents dropped us off at the amphitheater. Yes I know I was 17 but i didn’t get my license until i was 19…lay off. Anyway, what can I say, look at the line up! First Jimmy Eat World, amazing while i was still fresh to indie side of music and I only knew them from Bleed American they were amazing and put on such a high energy show. Next was Green Day, now i’ve been a Green day fan since Dookie. I bought the cassete (yes cassete remember those) and listened to it nonstop, well that and Sixteen Stone by Bush. This was before American Idiot so they hadn’t gotten huge, again. They played an amazing mix from all the albums, well Kerplunk on at least. This was my first religious like moment watching a band perform live. It was so surreal seeing this band that i listened to so much and shaped me as a person perform live, it’s hard to put into words. Finally Blink 182 came out and what can I say it was Blink 182, they just killed it with stage presence.
2. Brand New w/ Moneen, Senses Fail and The Beautiful Mistake
This concert ticket was my high school graduation gift from my parents. I asked for this. I was on the upward climb of my emo phase and nothing got me more hot an bothered than this concert. Senses Fail has been and will always be one of my favorite bands, and Brand New is well Brand New. Also this concert was all the way down in San Diego and since i still didn’t have my license at this time I rode down with my friends Danny, Chris and Jeff. Just three dudes crammed into a late 80’s Honda Accord nicknamed “Goldie” driving for 2.5 hours. Well fucking worth it. This was my first time seeing Senses Fail and my god was it great, it was also my first time losing my voice while singing/screaming along with a band playing live. It simply established all the other memories I would have of seeing Senses Fail live. Finally Brand New, this was the height of the Brand New vs. Taking Back Sunday rivalry. Deja Entendu had just come out along with their line of merch with the line “Mics are for singing not for swinging.” It was another religious moment, being smashed in the crowd yelling/singing with Jesse Lacey, feeling every note and lyric, it was transcendent. At the end of the night I sheepishly met Buddy and Dan from Senses Fail with a simple handshake and “Hey I really appreciate you guys and the music you make.” Which is my staple line for any musician I meet after a concert.
3. Name Taken (reunion show)
I got fired for going to this concert. It was a price well paid. Name Taken was the band that best represented our group of friends. We all went and we all sweated in the sauna that is Chain Reaction, this will forever be my best concert/music memory. If you’ve never heard Name Taken just search my blog and listen. If you live in Southern California and have never been to Chain Reaction, GO! Go now! It’s maybe the smallest venue i’ve ever been to and it holds the greatest memories for me. It’s hard to describe the concert because it’s all just a sweaty emotional blur. There are just bits that pop out, like my friend Ryan and I planing on rushing the front and the fear in the small asian kids eyes when the realized we were coming. Being so tightly squeezed between sweaty people that my feet left the ground. Even if the next day I got called into work to be fired, there was no way it could dampen the effects from the night before.
