Black Lines | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | October 9, 2015 | |||
Recorded | March–May 2015 | |||
Studio | Dreamland Recording Studios Woodstock, New York | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 44:06 | |||
Label | Fearless | |||
Producer | Mike Sapone | |||
Mayday Parade chronology | ||||
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Singles from Black Lines | ||||
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Black Lines is the fifth studio album by American rock band Mayday Parade. Recording was done between March and May 2015 with producer Mike Sapone in New York. "Keep in Mind, Transmogrification Is a New Technology" was released as a single in July. "Letting Go" was released as a single in October with the album, released through Fearless, following shortly after. The album charted at number 21 in the United States. This is the last album the band released on Fearless Records.
Mayday Parade released their fourth album, Monsters in the Closet in October 2013. [1] While touring in support of that release, vocalist Derek Sanders thought the group was "beginning to become too predictable", [2] and in an interview with Kerrang! , he claimed that Monsters in the Closest sounded "very similar" to their past material. [2] This view was also expressed by the band's guitarist, Alex Garcia. [3] For the follow-up album, Sanders "really wanted [it] to feel like something different." [2] A turning point for the band came when they recorded a cover of the Bush song "Comedown" for the Punk Goes 90s Vol. 2 (2014) compilation album. [2] The band tackled the song differently from their other recordings, recording it live-in-the-studio. [2] Sanders thought this was "a much rawer way of recording" that the band haven't previously done. [2]
While the group, according to Garcia, "experiment[ed] with co-writers" in the past, they wanted to "become more internal", [3] writing all of the songs on Black Lines by themselves. [4] Kerrang! writer Paul Travers noted that while the band's past works were collections of pop rock songs, Black Lines had "a rawer, grittier sound with a more dynamic approach" to song structures. [2] The album's sound has been described as emo, [5] emo pop, [6] pop punk [7] and rock. [8] "One of Them Will Destroy the Other" features guest vocals from Real Friends' vocalist Dan Lambton. [9] "Letting Go" is about "self pity and not having the strength to get over a bad relationship. It's about that weird spot when someone breaks you down even though you know they're toxic." [10]
In March 2015, the band started recording [11] at Dreamland Recording Studios near Woodstock, New York with producer Mike Sapone. [4] The studio was in fact a converted church. [3] Guitarist Brooks Betts used his Fender Telecaster guitar, which has been used on all of the band's albums, while Garcia used his Gibson Les Paul and Fender Stratocaster guitars. [3] The pair used a Marshall JCM800 amplifier. [3] The pair used a number of effects pedals and frequently "switch[ed] them out", according to Garcia. [3] One of two specific pedals they used was the Supermoon Reverb, which Garica "absolute love[d]". [3] The other being the Kilobyte, which was used to create a lot of the ambient sounds heard on "One of Them Will Destroy the Other" and "Hollow". [3] Despite this, they wanted to "avoid cluttering the sound" as much as possible. [3]
Lambton recorded his vocals for "One of Them Will Destroy the Other" while Real Friends had an off-day from touring. [12] The initial plan for the song was to have Lambton and Sanders do call and response vocals throughout it. [12] On May 21, it was announced the band had finished recording. [13] All of the songs were mixed by Vince Ratti, except for "Look Up and See Infinity, Look Down and See Nothing", which was mixed by Sapone. [4] Claudius Mittendorfer and Sapone engineered the proceedings, with assistance from Zachary Casper and Bella Blasks. [4] Stephen Marcussen mastered the album. [4]
On July 17, 2015, Black Lines was announced for release, with the track listing and cover art revealed. [14] The artwork was done by Wolfstache with art direction from Florian Mihr. [4] On July 30, [15] "Keep in Mind, Transmogrification Is a New Technology" was made available for streaming. [16] A video for the song features an artist re-creating the album's cover art. [17] A day later, it was released as a single. [18] On August 28, a music video was released for "One of Them Will Destroy the Other", [19] directed by Caleb Mallery. [20] On October 1, "Letting Go" was made available for streaming, [21] and was released as single a day later. [22] Black Lines was released on October 9 through Fearless. [23] [nb 1] In October and November, the band is set to headline the 2015 edition of the Alternative Press tour, [17] with support from Real Friends, As It Is, and This Wild Life. [25]
In January and February 2016, the band went on a tour of Europe and the UK, [26] with support from the Maine, Have Mercy and Beautiful Bodies. [27] In March and April, the band went on a co-headlining US tour with the Maine with support from Better Off [28] and the Technicolours. On March 29, a music video was released for "Letting Go". In May, the group performed at Slam Dunk Festival in the UK. [29] Before embarking on the 2016 Warped Tour, [30] a music video was released for "Let's Be Honest" on June 24, directed by Dan Fusselman. [31] In July, the group appeared at the Alternative Press Music Awards. [32]
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AbsolutePunk | 8.5/10 [33] |
Alternative Addiction | [8] |
Alternative Press | Favorable [34] |
Contactmusic | 3.5/5 [35] |
idobi | 7/10 [36] |
theMusic | [5] |
Ultimate Guitar Archive | 7.3/10 [7] |
The album charted at number 21 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart [37] and at number 32 in Australia. [38] Sam Law of Kerrang! wrote the album highlighted the band's "absolute best bits", specifically mentioning "Hollow", "Underneath the Tide" and "All on Me". [39] Law pondered about "hit singles" before concluding the group does not need "them when your record's as good as this throughout." [39] Writing for Rock Sound , Mischa Pearlman wrote the band showed off "their versatility [...] to varying degrees of success." [6] In some songs, such as "One of Them Will Destroy the Other" and "Keep in Mind, Transmogrification Is a New Technology", the group "cruise[d] comfortably [...] in full-on emo-pop mode." [6] In others, namely "Hollow" and "All on Me", the band are "far more interesting and exciting." [6] Overall, Pearlman closed with mention this "all makes for an ultimately uneven and unfocused journey, but one still worth investigating". [6]
All songs written by Mayday Parade. [4]
Personnel per back panel. [4]
Mayday Parade
Additional musicians
| Production
|
Chart (2015) | Peak position |
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Australian Albums (ARIA) [40] | 32 |
UK Albums (OCC) [41] | 107 |
UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC) [42] | 9 |
US Billboard 200 [37] | 21 |
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard) [43] | 1 |
Mike Sapone is an American record producer, composer, audio engineer, and mixer whose credits include producing records for bands such as Brand New, Taking Back Sunday, Boston Manor, The Front Bottoms, Mayday Parade, Grouplove, Anxious, Sincere Engineer, Sorority Noise, An Horse, Oso Oso, O'Brother, Cymbals Eat Guitars, and Public Enemy.
All Time Low is an American rock band from Towson, Maryland, formed in 2003. Consisting of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Alex Gaskarth, lead guitarist Jack Barakat, bassist/backing vocalist Zack Merrick, and drummer Rian Dawson, the band took its name from lyrics in the song "Head on Collision" by New Found Glory. The band has consistently done year-long tours, headlined numerous tours, and has appeared at music festivals including Warped Tour, Reading and Leeds, and Soundwave.
Mayday Parade is an American rock band from Tallahassee, Florida. Formed in 2005, the band was a result of a merger between two local Tallahassee bands, Kid Named Chicago and Defining Moment. Their debut EP Tales Told by Dead Friends, was released in 2006, and sold over 50,000 copies without any label support. In July 2007, Mayday Parade released their debut album A Lesson in Romantics. Having been signed to Fearless Records since 2006, the band also signed onto a major label with Atlantic Records in 2009. Their second studio album, Anywhere but Here was released in October 2009 and their third album, entitled Mayday Parade, was released in October 2011. Mayday Parade's fourth album, titled Monsters in the Closet, was released in October 2013. Their fifth album, titled Black Lines, was released October 2015. In April 2018, the band signed to Rise Records and released their sixth studio album Sunnyland on June 15, 2018. Their seventh studio album, What It Means to Fall Apart, was released on November 19, 2021.
Tales Told by Dead Friends is the debut EP by American rock band Mayday Parade, released on June 13, 2006. The group resulted from the merger of local acts Kid Named Chicago and Defining Moment. With their line-up solidified, the first two songs they wrote together were "When I Get Home, You're So Dead" and "Three Cheers for Five Years". Soon afterwards, they recorded an EP, Tales Told by Dead Friends, with Lee Dyess. The group followed Warped Tour and sold copies to people in line. By the end of summer, the band had sold 10,000 copies of the EP. This attracted the attention of Fearless Records, who would sign the band in late August. The group went on tour from September to November, before the EP was reissued by Fearless.
A Lesson in Romantics is the debut studio album by American rock band Mayday Parade. The band resulted from a merger of two separate bands, Kid Named Chicago and Defining Moment. The band released an EP, Tales Told by Dead Friends, in June 2006, which they sold to people by following the 2006 edition of Warped Tour and offering copies; it eventually sold 10,000 copies. The band signed to Fearless Records in August. A Lesson in Romantics was recorded in early 2007 with producers Zack Odom and Kenneth Mount. Vocalist/guitarist Jason Lancaster left the band in March 2007 citing a lack of writing credit on the band's releases. Prior to the release of A Lesson in Romantics, "Black Cat", "When I Get Home, You're So Dead", and "Jamie All Over" were made available for streaming. After the album's release, the band participated in the 2007 edition of Warped Tour.
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Better Off is an American rock band from Nashville, Tennessee, formed in 2011 under the name Friends. They changed their name in early 2013 to Better Off due to another group sharing the Friends name. They have released two albums, (I Think) I'm Leaving (2013) and Milk (2015), the latter of which charted on the Heatseekers Albums and Independent Albums charts. In March 2016, while on tour with Mayday Parade and The Maine, it was announced that the group would be dropping off tour and "going silent for a while" following sexual assault and abuse allegations against the bands former touring bassist, David Hobbs. During the bands hiatus and dissolvement of all relations with the former member, Better Off apologized to those involved with the situation and continued to quietly create and release their single "Bad Habit" on April 25, 2018.
Footnotes
Citations
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