Taking Back Sunday Biography
Summary
"Taking Back Sunday" is an American rock band from Amityville, Long Island, New York, formed in 1999. The current members are vocalist Adam Lazzara, guitarist and back-up vocalist Matthew Fazzi, guitarist Eddie Reyes, drummer Mark O'Connell, and bassist Matt Rubano. They have released three studio albums, with their most successful being 2006's "Louder Now" which has sold over 600,000 copies and peaked at #2 on the United States' Billboard 200, closely followed by "Where You Want to Be" which peaked at #3 in 2004. TBS have also had twelve singles, one extended play, one live album and a compilation album. 'MakeDamnSure' is their highest charting single to date, peaking at #8 on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart in 2006.
History
Early years
Taking Back Sunday originally formed in 1999 with Antonio Longo on lead vocals, Jesse Lacey (now lead singer/guitarist of Brand New) on bass and backing vocals, John Nolan (now lead singer/guitarist of Straylight Run) on guitar, Eddie Reyes on guitar, and Stevie D. on drums. Their first release was the Taking Back Sunday EP. However, in the middle of recording the EP, the band went through a lineup change. Lacey left the band to play for The Rookie Lot and was replaced by Adam Lazzara, and Mark O'Connell replaced Stevie D on drums. The five-song EP was finally released in February 2001; though distributed at shows, the EP never got noteworthy success.
By the time their first album was released, Taking Back Sunday would again go through a major lineup change. After Longo was forced to leave the band, Reyes moved Adam Lazzara to lead vocals and then recruited Shaun Cooper to play bass. The resulting lineup would remain in place for the first album, "Tell All Your Friends" in Spring of 2001.
Along with his other stage antics, Lazzara is most famous for swinging his microphone around by the cord on stage and in music videos. He learned this particular move and the infamous 'hand flailing' maneuver from famed Garden Weather member Bret Pollington. In the video for the song 'MakeDamnSure' from their album Louder Now, Lazzara exhibits this 'habit' to an extreme.
Independent success
The band released their first full album "Tell All Your Friends", on Victory Records in 2002. "Tell All Your Friends" gave the band a small taste of success in the alternative rock spotlight.
The album cover is a picture of an off-ramp, with an overlay of the album title and the numbers '152', signifying the exit where they met their friends. The number has appeared on every LP cover to date.
In 2003, Taking Back Sunday almost broke up when guitarist and back-up vocalist John Nolan and bassist Shaun Cooper left the band to form Straylight Run. The loss of John and Shaun put the already unstable band into a state of heightened tension.
The year 2004 proved to be successful for Taking Back Sunday, with the band opening Blink-182 and co-headlining the Vans Warped Tour. In addition, their second album, titled "Where You Want To Be", was released on July 27, 2004, on Victory Records. Although sounding slightly different from "Tell All Your Friends", the new album managed to do well commercially. Propelled by the single "A Decade Under The Influence", "Where You Want To Be" went on to debut at the #3 spot on the Billboard 200 albums chart, with around 163,000 copies sold.
Taking Back Sunday received even more mainstream exposure by appearing (on the day of "Where You Want to Be" s release) on late night talk shows "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" where Lazzara had the job of hosting "Loveline", as well as contributing the song "This Photograph Is Proof (I Know You Know)" to the soundtrack for "Spider-Man 2". They also contributed the song "Your Own Disaster" to the Elektra soundtrack, and "Error Operator"to both the "Fantastic 4" soundtrack and its video game tie-in, where it served as Mr. Fantastic's theme. An instrumental version is also used as background music in the game. In 2007, the band contributed the song "What's It Feel Like to Be a Ghost?" to the soundtrack for "Transformers", although the song did not appear in the movie. Also, the band was featured in the 'Tony Hawk's American Wasteland' soundtrack when they covered the Descendent's song "Suburban Home".
Major label debut
On April 25, 2006, Taking Back Sunday released their third album, entitled "Louder Now", on Warner Bros. Records. The band's comments on the album reflected the dramatic change the band had undergone in the two years since their last release. Lazzara stated that fans seemed to feel their live shows had more energy than their recordings, and that "Louder Now" brought more of that across.
Taking Back Sunday received mainstream exposure by appearing on the late night talk shows "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno", "Jimmy Kimmel Live!", and "Late Night with Conan O'Brien", as well as the teen drama "Degrassi: The Next Generation" in an episode entitled "What's It Feel Like To Be A Ghost?"
In December 2006, the band released its first CD/DVD documentary, "Louder Now: PartOne", featuring behind-the-scenes tour footage and four live concerts. Following months of touring to support "Louder Now", Taking Back Sunday appeared in the American leg of Live Earth on July 7, 2007. During the summer of 2007, Taking Back Sunday was also a part of Linkin Park's Projekt Revolution tour, along with My Chemical Romance, HIM, and many other bands.
On October 30, 2007, the band's former record label, Victory Records, released "Notes From The Past", which featured four songs from "Tell All Your Friends", six songs from "Where You Want To Be", and two B-sides: "The Ballad of Sal Villanueva" and "Your Own Disaster ('04 mix)". The band then released "Louder Now: PartTwo" on November 20, 2007, a DVD of unreleased live concert footage from their show at Long Beach Arena in Long Beach, California, as well as special features such as the video for 'Twenty-Twenty Surgery' that was made for Europe. The DVD was packaged with a companion CD featuring eight live tracks, two B-sides that were previously unreleased in America, and a special 'Twelve Days of Christmas' track.
Departure of Fred Mascherino
In October 2007, the band announced that the next studio album would be missing the vocals of Fred Mascherino, who will now be focusing exclusively on his solo career. On their website, the band said:
Mascherino stated he left over issues about how the band would concentrate more on learning how to cook rather than learning how to make music.
'There were just problems between the five of us about writing, who was going to do it and how we were going to do it,' Mascherino said. 'We weren't being very productive because we were fighting too much about that stuff.'
2008-present
In a blog on the band's official website, bassist Matt Rubano revealed that the band had 12 new songs written for their upcoming album. On September 10, 2008 it was announced that David Khan will produce the album and the band is in the studio.
On May 5, 2008, Taking Back Sunday officially revealed that its new member was Matt Fazzi (who will replace Fred Mascherino on lead guitar and backing vocals), previously of Facing New York. The band played its first show with Matt that day at The Crazy Donkey in Farmingdale, NY. The show was a surprise event and was announced through a blog on the band's MySpace page. That show gave them a chance to reveal the new guitarist before playing with My Chemical Romance at Madison Square Garden on May 9.
'Matt has brought new life to Taking Back Sunday, a theme ever-present in the material we have been working on for the past few months,? says vocalist Adam Lazzara. 'He continues to give us a new perspective on how we each write and listen to music, pushing both himself and us to cross new borders and venture into new territories with our music. He is the push we needed to break through some walls this time around.?
The band's forthcoming album is set to make 'breakthroughs in their sound,' says bassist Matt Rubano. He goes on to say, 'On this record, we challenged ourselves to write the best songs we possibly could while trying new things in an effort to push the envelope in terms of what it means to sound like Taking Back Sunday. I think this record has an honesty and an urgency that we haven't achieved before.'
On November 6, 2008 the band announced via MySpace and Facebook that their upcoming album will be called New Again.
In a video interview featured on RollingStone.com, Matt Fazzi and Adam Lazzara revealed that four of the new tracks would be called 'Winter Passing','Lonely Lonely', 'Catholic Knees', and 'Carpathia'. They stated that 'Winter Passing' was '...a slowdance like the last song at your 8th grade dance that moves more like an R&B tune than a rock and roll song', and that 'Carpathia' will include the first bass solos in any Taking Back Sunday song. They also comment that 'Catholic Knees' is ...'one of the heavier songs we've ever written', and that 'Lonely Lonely' is 'relentless - two and a half minutes of punching you in the face'. The band announced on their Myspace that on December 21st, their new song 'Carpathia' will be available to download for those who ordered a TBS Holiday Card Pack.
On Decemeber 12, 2008, Taking Back Sunday announced, at Club Oasis in Louisville, KY, that they are making a cover for a Tom Petty song for Warner Brothers.
Other Appearances
Adam Lazzara lends his vocals on New Found Glory's Album 'From Your Screen to Your Stereo Part Two' in the cover song, 'Love Fool.' Adam and former member Fred Mascherino also appear on the song 'Surgically Removing the Tracking Device' on Say Anything's 2007 album, "In Defense of the Genre".
Members
Adam Lazzara - Lead vocals (1999-present)
Matthew Fazzi - Lead guitar, vocals (2008-present)
Matt Rubano - Bass, backing vocals (2003-present)
Eddie Reyes - Rhythm guitar (1999-present)
Mark O'Connell - Drums, percussion (1999-present)
Influences on artists/bands
Acoustic/Emo band Demon King Needs Flesh stated that they are heavily influenced by TBS.
The band Cartel (band) has stated in interviews that Cute Without the 'E' (Cut from the Team)is a 'masterpiece'.
Discography
Studio albums
2002: "Tell All Your Friends"
2004: "Where You Want to Be"
2006: "Louder Now"
2009: "New Again"
External links
(Complete Discography of Taking Back Sunday)
(Official Taking Back Sunday website)
(Taking Back Sunday Ustream Channel)
Credit
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article about Taking Back Sunday.
