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| Tuesday, October 19, 2010 at Showbox SoDo |
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(click for full-page printable poster)
GENRES
Pop
Rock
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Say Anything
Motion City Soundtrack
Saves The Day
Valencia
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Showbox SoDo 206-628-3151
1700 1st Ave South, Seattle, WA (MapQuest)
6:30pm (doors open at 5:45pm). All Ages.
$18.99 advance tix from Ticketmaster.
$22.00 at the door.
ABOUT SAY ANYTHING--
Hello, my name is Max and this is the bio I had to write for my band. We are called Say Anything. We have existed since Coby started playing drums over the horrible songs I wrote about girls while attending high school in Los Angeles, California. Being the egomaniacal singer type, I proceeded to kick out and\or drive away pretty much anyone else who joined the band, so there were a ton of lineup changes, yet somehow Coby and I ended up selling a lot of our self released\recorded cd. Soon, all these strange children started to repeatedly attend our live shows and tell their friends until we garnered a motley crew of a fan base.
Being fresh faced teenagers, as well as the fact that we were playing with bands like the Promise Ring (and, like, Rooney) it wasn't a surprise that all these big scary labels saw us as a safe bet and tried to get us to sell our souls to them. They also told us we could be the next Blink182 if we gave them our first-born children and agreed to do whatever the wanted. That didn't sound so hot so we chose to be totally "underground" and sign to Doghouse Records. They've put out such obscure, borderline D.I.Y records as The All American Rejects. We were stoked at this point, but how we looked (goofy) and sounded (annoying) had us lumped in with a certain genre that was begging, begging for a backlash. I got really disillusioned and weird and went to college for a semester. Thus, I decided we needed to make "respectable" music.
During the lonely, depressing period of time when I dropped out of college to prepare for writing and recording our first record for Doghouse, I thought often about what the point of my life was. Was I doomed to remain yet another earnest, upper-middle class bred whine-rocker? After all, hidden deep in the recesses of my mind, I had hidden the notion that I could do something incredible and different, that I could be somebody like Warhol, or Jesus. I had to write an album that was revolutionary in its content and presentation. Finally, one night, it hit me. THAT was what my record had to be about: the artistic struggle, the fact that every creative person has this sick ambition to affect some sort of change in society with their art, to be more than just a guy in a band or a poet or a sculptor. I couldn't decide if this ambition was a good or bad thing but I decided to parody that overzealous drive in human beings by crafting a truly over the top musical about...myself. The songs were jam packed with fairly blatant nods to bands I dig (Queen, Saves the Day, Pavement, Faith No More, Fugazi, etc).
Together, the songs formed a narrative arc that we wrote an entire script around. The plot centered around a neurotic collegiate punk rocker (based on myself) who is imbued with a strange power that causes his inner thoughts to burst out of his mouth uncontrollably, backed by full instrumentation. He becomes the unwilling superhero of all things rock.. However, the process of playing all the instruments except for drums and singing all day turned into such an intense, draining process that I ended up wandering the streets of Brooklyn in a psychotic daze and getting thrown into the looney bin for two weeks. Needless to say, that sucked, so we parted with the idea of the "plot" portion of the
record and decided we could make a much more concise record if we focused on just the music; after all, the songs told the story themselves. So Tim O'Heir (produced Sebadoh, Dinosaur Jr., Superdrag) and Stephen Trask (wrote the songs for\produced Hedwig and the Angry Inch) helped me create a debut record (entitled Say Anything... is a Real Boy) that I am truly proud of.
It had been out for a while, slathered in scene hype (not so ironically the very thing the album parodies) and was doing quite fine on its own but we and J records decided to partner up to see just how many kids we could turn on to this self deprecating mess of an album. My main motivation was to further my idea that no mainstream music fan is worth less then somebody who reads about our band on buddyhead or some livejournal. I am prepared for the chants of "sell out sell out sell out" and more than willing to literally spit back in the face of anyone who would desert me because I signed to a major label. My music is not something to be owned by a core audience. It's made to be appreciated universally. So now it's us and J records, one of the biggest music companies ever, but I don't mind. After all, indies these days aren't much different except you can't afford to go on tour.
With money and support from our parents, we were able to go out on tour for the past two years, sharing the stage with bands I have loved for a long time, from Cave In to Dashboard Confessional, from the Bronx to Straylight Run. I know now that tour is so rewarding yet draining that it was worth all those bands writing three albums each about how hard it is. Our live performance is sweaty, silly, bloody, chaotic and when I sing, I sing both with and at the audience. I try to both embrace and rage against the ridiculous barrier between "the rock star" and "the kid." I try to show them we are one. With ease any one of them could be me because I rip off every artist I've ever seen perform and brew it all up in a big stew of rock.
So here I am, at "so far so good." It's a hard place to be but it is a blessing. There's so much hope for my future yet so much potential for me to become a) a coked up diva b) a bitter, penniless hack c) a cab driver. I don't really care either way because there is that small chance I'll get what I want; to be someone to relate to for anyone who is as alienated, awkward, spastic and passionate as me.
- Max Bemis of Say Anything
ABOUT MOTION CITY SOUNDTRACK--
Growing up is never easy--and if you're a pop band, it's nearly impossible. However, with their third full-length release Even If It Kills Me Motion City Soundtrack haven't expanded their sound as much as transcended it. Since the band are film buffs, let's use this analogy: If their debut I Am The Movie was an unexpected indie hit and the follow-up Commit This To Memory was their mainstream breakthrough, Even If It Kills Me is the album Motion City Soundtrack have always wanted to make.
ABOUT SAVES THE DAY--
Amidst a generation of fickle trend-followers and fast-rising star-chasers, Saves The Day earned admiration from their contemporaries and compassion from listeners of all stripes. For 10 years the musical integrity they have maintained through six full-length albums is an inspiration for many.
Saves The Day's music -- a compelling mix of melodic punk, unabashed pop instincts and driving anthemics -- has evolved relentlessly with each album. Its hallmarks -- Chris Conley's dark lyrical ruminations and the varied sonics surrounding them -- are impeccable. Undeniable. Saves The Day is that rare, boundless musical unit listeners can trust.
Even so, somewhere between 2003's ambitious, transcendent In Reverie and 2006's immediate Sound The Alarm, something unexpected happened. Saves The Day -- now vocalist/guitarist Chris Conley, guitarist David Soloway, returning bassist Manuel Ragoonanan Carrero and new drummer Durijah Lang (who both also play in the recently reunited band Glassjaw) -- stopped trusting themselves. And, for a time, almost ceased to exist at all.
"Essentially what happened was through the accumulated years of self-loathing and self-doubt, I had created this black cloud of negativity," explains Conley. "And I nearly destroyed every relationship I have. I nearly lost my friends. I nearly lost my band. I nearly lost my family. And I realized that it was all due to my shortcomings and inability to face the facts and grow and actively change my life. I realized I was either going to lose everybody that I loved or I had to completely change what I was."
Fortunately, change arrived in the form of Sound The Alarm, the first chapter in a trilogy of albums -- Under The Boards is the second installment -- Conley wrote while seeking catharsis for his personal struggles.
But dark clouds sometimes clear slowly. Before Soloway could commit to seeing the trilogy's second act through, he needed assurances from his friend of 15 years that the personal issues threatening Saves The Day's future would be addressed, rehabilitated and overcome. "I made a simple statement," remembers Soloway. "'Either there's no drama or there's no band.' And that was it. We made an agreement to focus on the music and not get wrapped up in anything that might drag us down. There's an element of drama that can exist in the world of bands which I don't think is necessary. We're all a little older and it's nice not to have that now."
On disc, Sound The Alarm let Saves The Day fans into the world Conley was drowning in. Its follow-up was conceived to stand as a sort of reconciliation record. "Sound The Alarm was facing the mirror and letting go," explains Conley. "Under The Boards is the repercussions of living a life of confusion and self-doubt; the story of the destruction of everything I cared about, by my own hands. And at the end of Under The Boards, it's me picking up the pieces and trying to be the man that I want to be."
And like every album they've created previously, Under The Boards is unequivocally the sound of the band Saves The Day wants to be. Rejuvenated by the challenge of composing enough material to capture his story in a three-piece anthology, Conley crafted some 90 songs before arranging the opus, ensuring that every sensation in his tale's complex emotional arc was properly reflected in the trilogy's musical narrative.
"It was very important for me to be able to vent my emotions," says Conley. "I was writing to keep myself going. This chapter is almost more difficult because it's the chapter where it all falls apart and I need to learn how to live with it, or I'm going in the ground. I'm writing from the truest parts of my soul. And it's so real that it's terrifying."
Beginning with the eulogistic title track -- itself one of the first songs Conley wrote after overcoming the writer's block that plagued him post-In Reverie -- Under The Boards explores sides of Saves The Day's soul that even the most uncompromising avenues of their catalogue hadn't dared to dig through. So whether it's the desperate stomp of 'Woe,' the anxious calls of 'Get Fucked Up,' or even the airy pop abandon of 'Bye Bye Baby,' this is today's Saves The Day, unrefined and, significantly, unafraid.
Produced by the band in tandem with their long-time live engineer Marc Jacob Hudson (Chiodos) and tour manger and engineer Eric Stenman, Under The Boards is as adept at channeling the band's most memorable qualities (the blissful melodic crunch of 'Can't Stay The Same') as blazing new paths (the slurry epitaph of "Turning Over In My Tomb') -- all while simultaneously providing a proper canvas for some of the most unflinching lyrical revelations Conley's ever confessed. In other words, it's a perfectly logical second chapter for this intensely personal work. One that, without question, leaves nothing sacred for the eventual conclusion.
"People talk about the evolving sound of Saves The Day," intimates Conley. "I wish I could take credit for it, but I'm just following my muse and trying to have fun. It's a big undertaking, but it's neat to work on something I can look back on and see the movements of my own personal journey. It's more vital to me. I'm singing about stuff that's currently in my veins."
ABOUT VALENCIA--
Philadelphia-based Valencia is taking the underground music scene by storm. I-Surrender Records label owner Rob Hitt discovered Valencia in his box of demos in late March 2005. Within 10 minutes of listening to their three-track offering, he knew there was something very special about Valencia, says Rob. "It was 3 AM, but I was so moved by their music that I called them and offered to release a full length without hesitation." says Hitt. A week later, Valencia became part of the I-Surrender Family.
Formed less than two year ago, this quintet creates an infectious blend of guitar-mangled, multi-layered, melodic rock reminiscent of early Saves the Day fused with Thrice, but with Valencia's own unique personality and character. Meet the band and it's clear what drives theis character. The ideas and personalities of the musicians in Valencia are anything but familiar in todays saturated scene. Perhaps this is a function of their checkered backgrounds. Shane (vocals) worked as a beer-man during Eagles games; JD (guitar) gave up a full soccer scholarship to play in the band; Brendan (guitar) was one of only 22 people in America to get sued by the RIAA for file sharing; Max (drums) builds his own instruments and immigrated from philippines via cargo ship; and George (bass) worked in an Alaskan fish cannery one summer. Whatever the case may be, this relatively young acts amazing musicianship, mature song writing ability, and professionalism are impressive; in fact, it's fair to say that Valencia, as a whole package is on par with or surpasses the skill of any of the scenes past or present favorite bands. These characteristics set Valencia apart from their peers.
Sharing the stage with modern day peers like Brand New, The Starting Line, Me Without You, Senses Fail, Mae, The Early November, Days Away, Hidden in Plain View and Owen, Valencia has played everwhere from Los Angeles to New Your City. The band will constantly be on tour for the next year in support of their debut album, This Could Be A Possibility. Check them out when they come to your hometown and you will not be disappointed.
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