9 Times Out of Ten I'll Be Thinking of You

 Was having a supremely hard day working through my thesis yesterday. Both now and in my MA I've found that the further you get into a self-directed research project like this, the more of a toll that it takes on your mental health. It sucks.

During this I started listening to the tracks that Bad Time Records has released from the forthcoming compilation The Shape of Ska-Punk to Come Vol. II. Included on this was a new Jeff Rosenstock song that made me start to tear up while listening and these are the reasons I can think of:

1. Rosenstock returning to ska and making a song that sounds like the early days of Bomb the Music Industry! that I love and connect to so much.

2. Rosenstock caring about ska as a genre enough that he still makes ska songs and wanted to contribute to this comp by an emerging label to give new bands the rub.

3. Me getting emotional while struggling with school reminding me of the bad old days of my undergraduate degree when it felt like Jeff Rosenstock was the only person in the world who understood me.

Unloading Our Minds

Apologies if you're tired of me speaking about my experience moving to Montreal, but I don't really have much else going on these days.

It might just be my Ontario education bias, but I feel like the conflicting cultures of Ontario and Québec make up a huge part of Canadian history and identity. The differences between living in Ontario and in Québec are basically the only thing you learn about in elementary school history classes, so it's something I've thought a lot about since moving here.

There are obvious big differences that go without saying, like the language and not turning right on red lights, so we can skip over those. The biggest cultural difference, as far as I can tell, is that Ontarians deeply love rules and precautions and rarely deviate from them, whereas the Québécois tend to just do whatever and hope it works and ignore rules that they don't feel like following. Both tendencies have their advantages and drawbacks and I'm a little torn between the two as a bilingual anglo who lives in Hochelaga.

The weirdest thing about living here now is that differencing coming out in small ways too. I'm being hyperbolic, but the thing that sums up Québec the best to me is that at the grocery store everyone just leaves the carts unchained and doesn't link them up so that you need a quarter to use them. The lock is still there on the cart, but nobody ever uses it. In Ontario everyone is so anal about people breaking the rules that I've seen people link carts together even it's not theirs, but here everyone just says "No, I refuse this.'

Alright, time for a classic IMU swerve in the middle of a post to another subject. We're po-mo baby.

One of the weirdest things continues to be that the ska-punk band I was obsessed with in early high school turned into one of the biggest and most influential figures in punk over the last decade. I was reminded of this when I searched for Jeff Rosenstock guitar tabs on good old UltimateGuitar.com the other day and found multiple pages of options. Not even Bomb the Music Industry!, just solo Jeff! That in turn reminded me of writing bass tabs of Arrogant Sons of Bitches songs in high school and my submissions making up the majority of the content on their page. They're still there!

Anyways, Jeff Rosenstock put out an EP (I guess?) this year and I find it to be much better than his last couple of albums. It was initially four songs, but he's since added two more and it seems like it will be a collection of songs that grows bigger throughout the year. He's also kept it off of streaming services, so the only way to listen is to use Bandcamp or, as always, download it as a .zip file for free from his website. I think that him purposefully recreating the experience of me downloading Goodbye Cool World and then reading the lyrics in my bedroom is a big contributing factor to me liking it, but I also find that the songs feel more like "classic Jeff" to me, even though I can't really place why.

This is my favourite song on the release, and looking up a bass tab to it was why I ran into the above thoughts in the first place. There wasn't one yet, obviously, and I couldn't learn it by ear because I'm tone-deaf. Such is life.

Regardless, Thanks A Lot

Last night, on the last night of my Christmas break, I got to see Jeff Rosenstock play an intimate solo show at D-Beatstro. It was wonderful and I feel confident saying it was one of the best nights of my life.

The night before, Jeff took to Twitter asking if there was anywhere in Toronto that he could play a house show while he was passing through the city. Though I'll always associate Jeff with his early ultra-DIY Bomb the Music Industry! days, where playing a small house show was the norm for him, his star has grown considerably since then, so playing a show this small was unexpected and exciting.

I also felt weird when I saw him tweet that. In my younger days, I would have jumped all over the chance to have Jeff play at either Fuck Mountain, The Dude Hole, The P'Zone, or The Fortress of Solid Dudes (my friends and I are so creative), so my immediate reaction was "Should I put on the show?" Music scenes are exactly what you make them. The prospect of a Jeff Rosenstock house show is amazing, but for it to be amazing, someone needs to put on the show. I salivated at the thought of Jeff playing my apartment. But I quickly realized that having the amount of people Jeff would draw in that small of space that also has a cat and a dog in it is not a good idea. It sort of felt like a chapter in my life had closed and it was the first time that I had acknowledged that the house I was living in is not a punk house.

But the show got put together without me, which I knew would happen anyways. And at an actual venue, no less! I used to live across the street from the venue, know D-Beatstro's owner Jess, have seen a ton of great shows there, and have played there myself, so I was happy to see the spot get such a big pull. D-Beatstro puts on at least two shows a week. Places for all ages shows in Toronto are scarce, so a venue like D-Beatstro existing, regardless of if I like every show that happens, is important.

The place was so full that I couldn't see the performers from my vantage point (no stages, no managers), but it didn't really matter. Junior Battles could play "Basements" on a fucking accordion and it would still fill me with equal measures of pride, happiness, and nostalgia.

Something that I'm constantly trying to fight against is my tendency to feel a sense of ownership of "Jeff Rosenstock". I was the first person I knew to listen to him and for long time he was "my thing" that I enjoyed and not many around me did. Now it seems strange to see so much press about him and see him play bigger venues and bills. But fuck that. That's stupid. I know it's stupid. but the feeling also comes out without my thinking of it. I suppose it's up to me to consciously try to not be a pompous dick about it.

It's also weird to me that so many fans of his music seem so into his SideOneDummy output, while seeming to ignore all of the early stuff that had such a huge impact on me. I was thinking this yesterday when cuts from Worry, which is a wonderful record, don't get me wrong, were getting really big pops while I was thinking to myself "Imagine if he played 'RSTLNE'!" But then he played "Saddr Weidr", the only Bomb the Music Industry! cut of the night and it got the biggest pop of the night. Everybody is there for the same reason and stupid jaded attitudes like mine aren't helping anything.

And even if there were a bunch of people who aren't familiar with Jeff's music there, isn't that a good thing? I bet there's a few who had never heard Bomb the Music Industry! and are checking them out now because he played a song from Scrambles and I bet there's even more who had never been to D-Beatstro before and will now come back for stuff. That's important. That's how you build a scene.

The show was amazing and I'll remember it forever and it was the type of event that reminds exactly why DIY and punk matters in the first place. The show reminded me of three things that Jeff taught me while I was in high school listening to a constant rotation of Three Cheers for Disappointment, Album Minus Band, To Leave or Die in Long Island, and Goodbye Cool World that I have carried with me since then and try to apply to everything I do:

1. Don't be so jaded. It can be hard not to be and sometimes it feels natural, but fight against it. Resisting that tendency leads to immediate good.

2. What you are doing is important. It doesn't matter what it is or on what scale. If you are putting yourself into, it is important and you can let other people convince you that it's not. Don't stop!

3. DIY IS THE BEST. DIY IS EVERYTHING. DO IT YOUR FUCKING SELF AND NOBODY CAN STOP YOU.

Such a Guarded Guy

A definitive ranking of all albums where Jeff Rosenstock is the primary vocalist and songwriter, written by a true connoisseur and 12-year listener of his music:

1. Bomb the Music Industry!- Vacation

2. The Arrogant Sons of Bitches- Three Cheers for Disappointment 

3. Bomb the Music Industry!- To Leave or Die in Long Island

4. Jeff Rosenstock- I Look Like Shit

5. Bomb the Music Industry!- Goodbye Cool World

6. The Arrogant Sons of Bitches- All the Little Ones Are Rotting

7. Bomb the Music Industry!- Album Minus Band

8. Bomb the Music Industry!- Get Warmer

9. Bomb the Music Industry!- Others! Others!

10. Bomb the Music Industry!- Scrambles

11. Jeff Rosenstock- We Cool?

12. Bomb the Music Industry!- Adults!!!...Smart!!! Shithammered!!! And Excited by Nothing!!!

13. Jeff Rosenstock- Worry

14. Bomb the Music Industry!/Laura Stevenson- Split

15. Kudrow- Lando

16. The Arrogant Sons of Bitches- Pornocracy

17. Bomb the Music Industry/O Pioneers!!!- Split

Because how else would you follow up a call to arms than with a list?

You are Wonderful

You are reading the preface to this blog post

Jeff Rosenstock put out a new album last week. In keeping with IMU tradition, I will write about that album here. As per usual, the album is available as a donation-download on his "record label"'s website here. I would recommend that you download it because I think it is good music.

You are now reading the main body of this blog post

I have a long and interesting relationship with Jeff Rosenstock. His music that is. I've only met him one time, but he was very nice to me that one time. As a result of that relationship, his music is by far, in my mind, the most written-about thing on this blog.

I started listening to him fairly early in my own musical life, but also his, discovering the Arrogant Sons of Bitches a little after they released All the Little Ones are Rotting when I was in 10th grade. Originally, I liked them because I liked ska and would listen to more or less anything that remotely resembled ska. I also liked them because they were very, very fast and had cool basslines and I thought the chorus to "So Let's Go Nowhere!" was just about the coolest thing ever. A little after that, my tender high school heart was broken for the first time and then I noticed that most of their songs dealt with that and I was "OOHHHH!"Three Cheers for Disappointment then came out and it took me forever to find it and I listened to it almost exclusively because I was a very, very emotional 16 year-old who was bad at expressing and speaking, but very good at attaching myself to music.

When I first discovered the music of ASOB and Bomb the Music Industry!, it seemed like I was the only person in Ontario who listened to those bands. I wore my ordered-online ASOB shirt at shows and it seemed like nobody knew who they were and I wore that with pride. I had friends on MySpace from the North-East United States because they listened to ASOB and BTMI! and that seemed cool to me.

Gradually BTMI! became more and more popular with punk fans, starting, in my mind at least, with 2007's Get Warmer. I got more people into the band and more people in general got into the band, to the point that they became downright popular.

I noticed with the last BTMI! shows, and also with the pre-release of tracks from We Cool?, that the crowd at shows seemed a little different from the feelings and experience that I shared with Jeff's music. I started to get a little (look how) jaded (I can be, when I turn 16)* and I started to think that I had maybe grown up and grown past Jeff's music.

But then I listened to We Cool? when it was streaming last week and I read along with the lyrics during my first listen, which is my own little personal tradition, and I was instantly reminded of why I love him and his music and it hit me in the chest and I can already tell there are many songs which resonate with me.

Never act like you are above things you like, just because other people like them too. Don't get too cool for your own life. Figure out what you need and stay near those things. Find things that move you and use those things.

*C'mon son.

Go Out With A Bang, Or Until They All Know Your Name

Something that will surprise absolutely no one at all is that I am super into the new Antartigo Vespucci EP. It's the brainchild of Jeff Rosenstock (My fav since I heard "Nowhere"*, also Bomb The Music Industry!) and Chris Farren (Fake Problems, who I haven't listened to nearly enough lately and put out a shitload of great music), so it's pretty much right up my alley. In terms of the actual music, it's in the same vein as the poppier numbers from the end of BtMI!, like "Vocal Coach" or "Can't Complain". Chris Farren does essentially all of the singing, save for one brief appearance by Jeff on lead. Both of them wrote the stuff, though it does seem to lean more towards Jeff's style. Hey, Benny Horowitz from the Gaslight Anthem played drums too!

The whole thing is pretty ace, is perfect for summer and will certainly be one of my favourite things released this year. Poppy bangers like "I'm Giving Up On U2" are what will draw you in (dat chorus doe), but the ending line of "All I wanna do is fade out with you" on "Bang!" is what sealed the deal for me.

This is my favourite song off of it, I think:



As per usual YOU DOWNLOAD THE WHOLE FO' PHREE. DO IT.

*Hey Matt, since I know you're one of two people actually read this, look for John Ryan in that video. I assure you that he is there. My Long Island ska knowledge runs deep.

Vacation Was Better Than Any Album That Came Out This Year

Well, it's that time of year again. I'm sure all of you are clamoring over each other to try to get to my blog and be the first to read my "Year-End" music bullshit. Once again I decided to forgo ranking each album because, like I said last year, I found it to be an exercise in futility trying to decide where albums that I loved more or less equally should be ranked near the top of the list. So fuck it! A lot of rambling and then I decide what number 1 should be because let's get real, that's the only that matters.

The Sidekicks- Awkward Breeds

The Sidekicks are another one of those bands I should have gotten into a long time ago. I knew that Punknews had named them the "album of the year" a few years ago but, as is usually the case, I just never got around to checking them out. Then I saw them open for Bomb The Music Industry! in 2011 and was absolutely floored by their performance. Seriously, they are easily one of the five best live bands on the planet, no question and no room for discussion. Weight of Air was really my jam, so while I was really stoked for them to put out new material, I was also apprehensive as I was almost positive that it wouldn't live up to their previous release. But of course I was being a jackass and forgot this vital piece of information: THE SIDEKICKS ARE ONE OF THE BEST BANDS IN THE WORLD. This album is fucking great. It's rockier and little less groovy than Weight of Air (in my opinion), but I like that the band is moving towards a little more of a power-pop direction (in the Weezer sense of the term "power-pop"). The vocals are amazing because Steve is uncannily good at singing, there's some great guitar stuff, the basslines aren't over-the-top but fit the songs great and their drummer just pounds the shit out of his kit. Great job all around on this release, it really shows on of the most interesting, nicest and talented bands around at the top of their game. Let's smoke weed together one day guys.

Cheap Girls- Giant Orange
Some of my friends weren't as into this release as My Roaring 20's because this album didn't vary tracks enough and they thought it kind of ran together. I wholeheartedly disagree. While it's obvious there isn't as much change between tracks, I really like that the album is just front-to-back poppy alt-rock songs that get stuck in your head for days. The album totally has a bunch of Cheap Girls' best tracks, because if you deny the awesomeness of "Mercy Go-Round", "Gone All Summer" or "Ruby", then you wrong son.

Gaslight Anthem- Handwritten
I like Gaslight Anthem, but not as much as most people like Gaslight Anthem. I always thought they would be amazing as a rough, punky rock-pop band, which is I guess what they did on this album. Sounds great to me. "45" is the best Gaslight song, shouts out to my haters.

Title Fight- Floral Green
For some reason a lot of people I know lump in Title Fight with Four Year Strong/Story So Far/etc even though they sound absolutely nothing like that. I also think that are a victim of the hype machine and people really want to not like them only because of how excited people get about their music. They are all dummys because Title Fight is basically the best 90's emo band right now. Shed was a huge step forward for them and Floral Green is an even bigger one. I was skeptical about them putting out another album so fast (as usual) but that skepticism was entirely unwarranted (as usual). The band is getting way better at writing cohesive songs and is gettin' real good at melody. Get sad fuckers.

Mindset- Leave No Doubt.i.
I guess it's kind of weird considering how often I indulge in things, but straightedge Youth Crew hardcore is my favourite type of hardcore. While I appreciate when bands really try to expand their boundaries and add new elements to a genre that can became real stale real quick when not done right, there's still nothing that gets me going like some fast, simple, pseudo-metaly riffs and shouts. Gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme SHELTER.
PUMP IT.

Less Than Jake- Greetings and Salutations

The thing about Less Than Jake is that they are my favourite band, so it's hard for me to not like anything they do. I mean, I even listen to In With The Crowd with some regularity for Christ's sake. So even when they are compiling two EPS, adding two songs and calling it an album and the songs all kind of sound like the most generic LTJ material and the album as a whole is pretty close to the bottom of my Less Than Jake discography, I still have to love it because there's nothing I can do about it. Holy fuck do I love me some Less Than Jake bruh.

And honestly, there's no band that brings a smile to my face as often as LTJ does. That's why I lub 'em so much. They'll be my faves foreva!

Hostage Calm- Please Remain Calm
Like I said for the Mindset album, Youth Crew worship (or just Youth Crew in general) is my favourite type of hardcore, so I obvi loved Lens a whole lot. And while I loved gettin' mah breakdown on their old stuff, I really liked how crazy and innovative and fresh their self-titled album was. Since they went in such a different direction for their second record, I was eager to see how they would change for this one. The description the gave for the record was a coming-of-age, our-love-against-the-world type story set in our time, I got really excited because I love John Hughes movies and to me, that sounded  like Hostage Calm was trying to write their version of an 80's John Hughes movie. So that was the attitude I went into the album with . Worked for me. I think it's a really great sounding pop record and the choruses are way too catchy to care about anything.
Stream. It's also only 5 bones.

Such Gold- Misadventures
Such Gold are another band who I think gets lumped in with the wrong crowd. While the first EP was for sure a pop-punk/hardcoreish effort, I thought the second one sounded like a poppier/more melodic Snapcase in the best way (RIFFS). I was really stoked for this one because of how much I jammed Pedestals and was pretty satisfied. It's a lot faster and shreddier than their previous album and I'm cool with that. They're a great band who tours a lot and works hard and deserves everything they get.

The Nix86- Evil Empurr
The thing about the 90's most people don't realize is that along with the amazingly shitty parts of the ska explosion in the 90's (Sublime, pretty much all No Doubt, Save Ferris) a lot of really good independent bands were around but didn't get noticed, like The Hippos or The Impossibles. An area that was especially rich with these types of bands was Long Island. That scene has carried on for a long time (I was astonished at how awesome the crowd was when I saw a ska show in New York last year) and produced a lot of awesome bands who would always blow me away when they toured to Canada. They were always older and cooler and played better-written songs than pretty much every Toronto band (At least we had the Makeshift Heroes). The Nix86 is comprised of members from those bands and sounds like those bands. For people who feel nostalgia towards poppy ska-punk and are far above their h8erz to still listen to it, this album is a must. Easily one of the best ska bands making music right now.
Stream dat. Also only 5 bux.

Municipal Waste- The Fatal Feast

By this point you know what you are getting from the Waste as they're a crossover band that's put out five records. That's not to say this is a bad thing though, as The Fatal Feast is probably the best that the band has ever sounded. They moved away a little from hardcore/thrash crossover and a lot more towards straight-up 80's style thrash metal, but they do the style extremely well so there's nothing wrong with that. There's plenty of A+ Megadeth-style chug riffs and much more shredding than previous albums. Basically, it sounds like each member sat down and practiced playing Peace Sells... songs a whole bunch. Less songs about drinking and smoking weed, more about eating each other while in space. They're the best thrash band around right now. Into it bruh.

John K. Sampson- Provincial
If you are in a band you need to have a level of self-confidence in order to play your songs and show them to people. You need to think your songs are good enough that people who you don't know will enjoy them. You need to have enough self-confidence to record your ideas when you come up with them. Keeping all this in mind, if you are in a band and write songs, you also need to know that you are not better at writing songs than John K Samson. He's kind of the bench mark. I could say something about this record, but if you really have no idea what it could sound like you are either stupid or extremely stupid for not listening to The Weakerthans. A whole whack of heartfelt stories about life in The Prairies. Getcha cry on dawg.
Feel all the feels.

Ma Jolie- ...Compared To Giants
Ma Jolie is kind of rough, but also poppy in the same way that Iron Chic or Samiam are. They are real good and I think going to be the next big thing on the ol' 'org. Great album, "Era and the Metric System" is especially my jam.

FREE TUNES.

3. Classics of Love- Classics Of Love
When I was first getting into punk, one of the first bands I got into was Rancid. While I was listening to Rancid my brother said I should listen to their older band Operation Ivy and showed me a few songs. I instantly realized how much better Op Ivy were than Rancid and how awesome the band was and they immediately entered regular rotation in my discman and haven't left since. They really are one of my favourite bands. Keeping this in mind, think about how happy a record of Jesse Michaels singing fast 80's hardcore (WITH TWO SKA SONGS) would make me. That is exactly how I feel. I lagged a little bit on getting into this (like a week bruh), but as soon as I heard the first track my jaw dropped. The sound of Jesse yelping socio-political lyrics over blisteringly fast hardcore-punk makes me feel more fuzzy than you can imagine. I can tell that this one is going to be something that I'll be going back to a bunch for years.

2. The Menzingers- On The Impossible Past

I'll admit that I was a little late to the party on The Menzingers. Most of my punk friends were head over heels for them after the release of Chamberlain Waits, but I held off on listening to that because I am dumb and sometimes it takes me forever to get around to things. Then I saw them live and they absolutely slayed and that made me listen to their tunes with a fresh perspective and I began to love them. I was pretty eager to hear On The Impossible Past after "The Obituaries" and "Gates" were released to hype it up. The worst thing that can happen with an album is that the best few songs off of it get released as teasers and then the rest of it seems drab. However that's not a problem here as the entire thing is amazing. The Menzingers are really maturing in their sound and starting incorporate more pop/rock elements, which I am totally for. The quality of the songwriting has also been dramatically stepped up on this effort, with both Greg and Tom hitting it out of the park on every song. While I wouldn't call this a concept album, there's enough of a central idea that it helps to make it more cohesive and adds to the experience of listening to it. The whole thing is sad in the best way and makes me want to yell along to every word. This probably would have been my album of the year if it wasn't for...

1. Jeff Rosenstock- I Look Like Shit
Pretty much as soon as I heard that a new Jeff Rosenstock album came out I knew that it would be my album of the year before I even heard it. I guessed right! I've touched on this album already, so no need to review. Get on Jeff's level, world.
IT'S FREE TOO

EPs

Shook Ones- Merriweather Post Pavillion
Shook Ones are a band that need to come back to playing full-time more than pretty much anyone else. They're really good. So while I can't see them live or anything, I guess that this EP is a decent substitute for the time being. They haven't missed a beat. I think the title track might be the song of the year.
M'ÉCOUTEZ S'IL VOUS PLAIT.

Topanga- Oceans
Let's get this out of the way real quick: Yes, their name is a great reference to a great TV show. That's for sure going to be the first thing most people remark about them, but they also have the tunes to keep you there after coming for their name. Topanga play poppy indie rock music and play it real well. It's way to catchy to hate it. I always bounce around while listening to this.
FREEFREEFREE

Snake Charmer- Demo
Think about what the heaviest band you know is. They are not as heavy as Snake Charmer. Not even close.

RAGEWITME

I Look Like Shit (Again)

What the fuck is up!

You should be able to tell I'm going to make a half-assed effort to keep up this blog (Yes, again. Ugh. I know.) because not only have I put a new picture at the top (MAXIMUM EFFORT YOU GUYS.) but I also added another contributer who happens to also be me, just with a new email.

More importantly, Jeff Rosenstock has put out a new album and I feel compelled to write about and we all know this is a fucking haven for music news right?

Right.

So yeah, last week Jeff Rosenstock released a solo album without having mentioned the release date or built up any hype whatsoever. Just completely out of the blue. He's done this on the last few Bomb The Music Industry! releases and I have to say I'm fan of it. Rather than trying to drum up praise or excitement, he just lets the music speak for itself and in his case it works because the music is extremely good.

GET THIS ALBUM RIGHT HERE. IT IS FREE. YOU ARE A CLASS-A JABRONI IF YOU DON'T.

One can immediately recognize that Senor Rosenstock is behind the music not only from his distinctive voice, but also because the music more less follows the style that BtMI! has established over the course of their last few albums (makes sense as several of the tracks were originally intended to make up a Bomb EP that was never finished). Since a bunch of the songs are demos, they're a little more stripped down than what he put out in the past, though there are more than enough drum machines and clear (but awesome) signs of home production to satisfy fans of Bomb's early work.

One thing I've really noticed is how much work the guy puts in vocals nowadays. He's gone from yelling as many words as he can per song (which I loved) during the Arrogant Sons of Bitches to writing less words but putting way more melody into his vocals (which I also love) as was the case on Vacation, all while dramatically increasing his range along the way.

Along with this what is definitely his most interesting choice of cover, and maybe even his best cover, as he chose to do the pop-punk tune "I Don't Wanna Die" (Ai Don Wana Dai?) by the extremely rowdy and awesomely weird Ging Nang Boyz. Jeff has a habit of making the second or third last song a longer/darker number and then following it up with the most epic ender one can imagine that just makes you feel amazing and posi and fuzzy and happy to be alive. In this case "Amen" fills the role of the former, while "I Don't Wanna Die" takes care of the the latter.

I guess it could just be me, but I've spent the last week yelling "The Internet Is Everywhere" and "Bonus Oceans" and it feels PRETTY DAMN GOOD MAN.

To put it shortly, if you love Bomb the Music Industry! then you will love this album. If you don't love Bomb the Music Industry!, then get yer head outta yer ass and download this album. The guy's a genius and this is probably more accessible to you than anything else he's put out.

Album of the year?

Probs.

I Love Jeff

I sat along the rocks and watch the cold Maine water rush away.
The sun and my guitar and I knew what you were doing yesterday.
You broke those promises but I’ll get over it.
‘Cause as long as I’m breathing fresh air I don’t really give a shit
So I’ll complain for the next ten years, but remember that sometimes things are great.

I didn’t have directions and I hadn’t eaten anything all day.
We sucked a fat one and wasted a hundred dollars just to play.
I ate a bag of peanuts right before the windy road.
And I couldn’t drink a thing all night ‘cause of the vomit in the back my throat.
Then you gave me your number and your sweatshirt so I didn’t give a shit.
So I’ll complain for the next eleven years, but remember that sometimes things are great.

You don’t own me! You don't own me!

I worked my ass of my entire life to accomplish one dream.
It started happening and everything was bastardized my greed.
I said “pull this shit over and let me out
I swear to fucking God I’m fucking giving up right now”
And now I’ve got a brand new start, I remember that something are great.

Scream it in apartment halls -
Scream it loud in shopping malls -
Take a ball point pen and paint the inside’s of your eyelids with the constant reminder:
You don’t own me. You don’t own me.

Then I was underground without food or sunlight or encouragement.
Depression set in ‘cause I was a product of my environment.
Then the other day, I got in my car.
Pick Glenn Tillbrook up from the hotel, drive him to the bar.
He wore a t-shirt just like me and wasn’t on his phone
and for fifteen minutes I had a conversation with a hero.
So I’ll complain for the next ten years...
And after that we’ll go drink beers until the bar runs out of beers
prepare for the next twenty-three years.

‘Cause if I wasn’t a fat kid in high school, I would have never listened to punk rock.
And if I knew how to throw a football, I would have never played any music.
And if never got my heart broken, I would sing “blah blah fucking nothing.”
And if you didn’t fuck my ex-girlfriend, I would still owe you three-thousand dollars.
And if I never lived in that van I wouldn’t have met Chris or Steve or James, Alex or Middagh.
And if I never worked in a basement I would have never moved out of my house.
And if I had a big emo band or dropped out of college, I would have never met you, man.

"It was all written in Long Island and it is very expressive of my hope to go around the country playing stupid songs for people who will forget me again."

You fucking changed my life Jeff, I won't forget who you are for the rest of my life.

Everything Is Always Falling Apart

It’s actually pretty scary how much I relate and depend on the music of Jeff Rosenstock. Whether it be the music of The Arrogant Sons of Bitches (ASOB for convenience) or Bomb The Music Industry! (BTMI! for the same reason), his words and chords have been a cornerstone of my existence since I heard each band.

I first heard ASOB through word of mouth on the internet. It was right before the put out “Three Cheers For Disappointment”. I thought “So Let’s Go! Nowhere” was pretty awesome, mainly because it is. I loved the way that their new songs sounded on their MySpace, mostly because they were super fast. I wanted the CD super bad, but my lack of credit card, as I was 16 at the time, and my not living in the North-Eastern United States prevented me from having it. So I just listened to the three songs that I got for free on their purevolume, “So Let’s Go! Nowhere”, “Pornocracy” and “RSTLNE” on repeat. Randomly on a message-board a guy linked to a site where someone had put up a whole bunch of ska albums for download. Low and behold “Three Cheers...” was up there and I didn’t hesitate to get that masterpiece.

When I got it the soundcard on my computer was broken, so I plugged my Discman into my computer speakers (ghetto!) and proceeded to listen to album 8 times in a row with no breaks in between from  8 pm to about 1:30 am (funny how you remember that kind of stuff). Then I listened to it another 5 times in a row the next day on the bus. This album was exactly was I was looking for at the time, but this isn’t even when it had its largest impact.

So that summer I liked a girl a lot, yadda, yadda, yadda, no one wants to hear all the details. I was head over heels and she broke my heart for the first time, it happens to everyone. I had leant her the CD telling her it was the greatest thing ever (she ended up not liking it). Anyways, she came over to give the CD back, some stuff happened that lead to aforementioned heartbreak. Needless to say, the next morning I was pretty bummed. At this point I didn’t look extremely heavily into lyrics (at least nowhere near as much as I do now, which is probably more than anyone I know), so I liked ASOB a whole lot, but didn’t really get them. To make matters worse that morning I had a full day of work ahead of me. I still had a Discman then, so I would only listen to one CD all day. Naturally I grabbed “Three Cheers...” as it was one of my favourites and I had just gotten it back.

I must have been about twenty steps out of my house when I realized that I had made the exact right choice in CDs for that day. I was flabbergasted at how I hadn’t noticed the lyrics in “The Last Bell I Will Ever Hear” before. Three Cheers grabbed me and I couldn’t listen to anything else. I was really bummed for a while, between that situation and the ever shitty scene at my high school and the main thing helping me through it was “Three Cheers For Disappointment”.

It’s still my favourite album to this day.

So, before I even got their last album, ASOB broke up. So I never got to see them. I bought a ticket to the reunion show, but didn’t end up going because I couldn’t afford going to New York. But after they broke up the singer/songwriter Jeff made a new “band”. Basically he didn’t like the idea of being in a band anymore so he just wrote songs, recorded them in his bedroom, played all the instruments and put it all out for free. I’m going to emphasize this. He put out the music completely free. Way before Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails. He spray paints shirts for free at shows. When he started he only asked for enough money to cover the cost of gas to get to the show. If you do not think he is doing it for the music by now, I have no idea how to convince you. These aren’t shitty bedroom recordings either. To date BTMI! has put out 5 albums, 1 rarities compilation and a split ep. Each of these albums is incredible and I would say there isn’t a piece of filler on any of them. Each is also an interesting progression from the last, changing and adding new elements to the sound of the band without being too alienating.

Oh yea and all of that is since 2005.

So yea I first got into the band when their third album “Goodbye Cool World” came out. I had never thought that playing too fast+ska+synth+singing too fast so you can’t understand all of the lyrics+fake drums+corny keyboard effects would=great album, but hey all of us make mistakes. After seeing how great that album was I went back and got all the other ones. They kept being the most interesting and innovating in punk and I kept loving them. “Get Warmer” came out and more people began to take notice, that album was the first big departure in their sound; it’s a really good collection of songs. They came to Toronto twice I missed them both time for being too poor and not being 19 at the time. But anyways they came again and I most certainly did not miss them that time. They put on an awesome set (with an iPod as their drummer!) and as soon as they broke into “Congratulations John! On joining Every Time I Die” I was climbing over 15 year-olds to scream the lyrics as loud as I could. The show was an extreme catharsis of energy and emotion. It ruled. More importantly, I was hoping that I would be able to meet Jeff at the show, figuring he would be walking around the show, since that’s the type of guy he is. I was right.

First though, third verse of “Syke! Life is Awesome!”:

“Then one day, he said “Jeff get in your car and pick Glenn Tillbrook up at the hotel and drive him to the bar”. He wore a t-shirt just like me and wasn’t on his phone. For fifteen fucking minutes I had a conversation with my hero”

I saw him walking by and said “Hey Jeff, I just wanted to say Three Cheers For Disappointment has gotten me through a lot of shit. Thanks for writing it man.” Most musicians would say “Hey, thanks. That means a lot” and run off to whatever they had to do. Jeff stopped said “Wow, man that’s cool. I’m glad that you like it so much. That means a lot” and then gave me a giant bear hug. Him being so cool and humble while being an extremely talented songwriter and pretty much a musical genius the way he’s put together such individual and interesting music the way he does is pretty cool. Oh yea, he also had on the same hoodie and vans as I did. It’s pretty funny how similar my experience was to his.

Both his bands have been extremely large parts of my life since the first second I heard them. I have no clue what type of person or what I would be doing if it wasn’t for The Arrogant Sons of Bitches and Bomb The Music Industry! Jeff is hands down my favourite songwriter. He avoids trying to come up with clever wordplay and favours spilling as much emotion as he possibly can into each song. When I think girls suck, I listen to “Three Cheers For Disappointment”, when I thought my high school sucked I listened to “To Leave or Die In Long Island”, when I think that moving on in life sucks I listen to “Get Warmer”, when I worry about growing up I listen to “Scrambles” and when I start to feel better about all of that I listen to “Goodbye Cool World”.

All of Bomb The Music Industry!’s music and The Arrogant Sons of Bitches last album are available free of charge at www.quoteunquoterecords.com.

Also, when listening to this music, please read the lyrics on the website while listening. They are the high-point and most important part of all the albums.

I was going to put a quote from a song at the end, but I would just end up putting all of either "Syke! Life is awesome" or "King of Minneapolis Parts III & IV" or "So Let's Go! Nowhere!" or "Kill The President" or "1800-ALARM-ME" down, so I refrained.