| The Finer Things | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | October 8, 2013 | |||
| Recorded | April 9–May 9, 2013 The Panda Studios in Fremont, California | |||
| Genre | Pop punk | |||
| Length | 34:34 | |||
| Label | Pure Noise | |||
| Producer | Sam Pura, Steve Klein | |||
| State Champs chronology | ||||
| ||||
The Finer Things is the debut studio album by American pop punk band State Champs.
State Champs formed in Albany, New York in 2010. [1] The band consist of Derek Discanio on vocals, Tyler Szalkowski and Tony Diaz on guitar, William Goodermote on bass and Evan Ambrosio on drums. [1] The band released EP 2010 in August, [2] which was quickly followed up with the Apparently, I'm Nothing EP in January 2011. [3] In April 2012, interest in a demo of "Critical" helped the band gain a recording contract, a management company and a booking agency. [4] On April 19, it was announced that the band signed to Pure Noise. [5] In addition, it was mentioned that group would release another EP during summer, with their debut album expected for later in the year. [6] The band subsequently released the Overslept EP in September. [7]
On April 9, 2013, it was announced the band had started recording their debut album with producer Sam Pura and co-producer and former New Found Glory guitarist Steve Klein at The Panda Studios in Fremont, California in May 2013. [8] Exactly a month later, it was announced the band had finished recording. [9] All of the songs that were to feature on their debut album were written in Discanio's bedroom. [4] The album has been described as pop punk. [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
On July 31, 2013, The Finer Things was announced for release, with its track listing and artwork being revealed. [15] On August 20, a music video was released for "Elevated". [16] It was filmed at Warped Tour [17] and directed by Rob Soucy. [18] The band supported Hit the Lights on their tour of Australia in September. [19] In September and October, the group supported Bayside and Motion City Soundtrack on their co-headlining US tour. [20] On September 17, "Nothing's Wrong" was made available for streaming. [21] On September 26, "Easy Enough" was made available for streaming. [22] On September 29, a music video was released for "Hard to Please", [23] after premiering on MTVu. [24] On October 2, The Finer Things was made available for streaming, [25] and was released on October 8 through Pure Noise. [26]
In November, the band supported Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! [27] on The Truffle Shuffle Tour in the US. [28] Between February and April 2014, the band supported We Are the In Crowd; [29] the following month, the band supported The Wonder Years on their tour of the UK and Europe. [30] The band then went on the 2014 edition of Warped Tour. [31] In September, the group went on a co-headlining Australian tour with Neck Deep. They were supported by Sidelines. [32] In October, the band released The Acoustic Things EP through Pure Noise. [33] The EP features acoustic versions of several songs from The Finer Things. [34] In October and November, the band co-headlined the Pure Noise Records Tour [35] with Handguns. They were supported by Forever Came Calling, Front Porch Step, Heart To Heart and Brigades. [36] In November, the group supported New Found Glory on their Pop Punk's Not Dead tour in the UK. [37]
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 90/100 [38] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AbsolutePunk | 8/10 [10] |
| Alternative Press |   [11] |
| Punknews.org | [12] |
| Rock Sound | 9/10 [13] |
| Sputnikmusic | [39] |
The album charted at number 132 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart [40] and at number 2 on the Heatseekers Albums chart. [41] It has sold 24,000 copies in the United States as of September 2015. [42]
The Finer Things was included on Rock Sound 's "50 Best Albums of 2013" list at number 14. [14] Rock Sound also considered it one of the best pop punk albums of the 2010s decade. [14] The album was included at number 43 on Rock Sound's "The 51 Most Essential Pop Punk Albums of All Time" list. [43] Cleveland.com ranked "Elevated" at number 78 on their list of the top 100 pop-punk songs. [44] A Sputnikmusic reviewer referred to The Finer Things as "the greatest pop punk album of all time." [45]
| Chart (2013) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard 200 [46] | 132 |
| US Billboard Heatseekers Albums [41] | 2 |
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