Music!
My music taste is a bit all over the place. I grew up listening to pop-punk and emo music. I also listened to a lot of rock & metal. There are a few hip-hop artists I like, and I'm a big fan of Johnny Cash. I like Kesha and ABBA too. Don't be pigeon-holed I guess!
Below you'll find a collection of nostalgic rambling dedicated to the artists that influenced me in some way.
In addition, here's an album wall of all the albums that I love.
Three Days Grace
Well before I started writing this page I knew the first artist was going to be Three Days Grace. I don't even know what to say about them, I just know they have to be first. I discovered this band when a friend sent me a link to some other band's music video, and in the suggestions there was a fan-made Harry Potter music video to "Animal I Have Become". I was in love. I watched all the Harry Potter/Three Days Grace videos and eventually pirated about five of their songs on Limewire - remember that!?
I played those five songs on repeat in Windows Media Player, watching the funky lights go bwomp bwomp, and was greatly annoying my dad who had spent the day renovating the bathroom across the hall. He liked them too, he just didn't like listening to the same five songs for hours. Weird right?
I'm a big fan of their self-titled album and One-X. To a lesser degree I like Life Starts Now. I actually remember when that album came out, I bought it on my iPod Touch and listened to the whole thing in the middle of the night, it was all very emo.
I fell off the Three Days Grace train after that album came out, and haven't been interested in most of their stuff since Adam Gontier left in 2013. By the way, if you were also a bigger fan of Three Days Grace when Gontier was singing I would recommend you check out Saint Asonia which is basically Three Days Grace if Adam stayed.
Kill Hannah
If Three Days Grace kicked off my love of alt-rock and metal Kill Hannah would be the emo equivalent. Skinny jeans, converse and emo fringes. Oh yes, Kill Hannah lit up my emo phase like a match in a fuel station.
Showing how much of a fake fan I am, it wasn't until I looked them up to write this did I realise that American Jet Set was not their first album. Take away my hair straighteners, I don't deserve an emo fringe. Technically "The Beauty in Sinking Ships" is their first, which was self-released in '96.
American Jet Set was their first that wasn't self-released though. It came out in '99 and fucking slaps. They didn't hit their emo stride until 2003 though when For Never & Ever released, and it was this album that I fell in love with.
"They Can't Save Us Now", "Kennedy", "10 More Minutes with You", "Boys & Girls", "Raining All the Time", if I kept listing the songs from this album I love I'd literally just be listing the album contents. It doesn't have a single bad song. It's ALL killer. Lyrics to these songs would be included in my MSN name, and later, posted as my Facebook status. I still listen to it when I'm feeling a little emo.
Unlike Three Days Grace there was never an album I didn't like. I have vidid memories of listening to Wake Up the Sleepers whilst I was playing World of Warcraft. I was in Stranglethorn Vale killing basilisks. If you were curious.
Sadly in 2015 the band stopped performing, and as of yet there's nothing to suggest they will reunite.
Alkaline Trio
Alkaline Trio ages like a fine wine. I liked this band when I was an angst-ridden teenager, but now that I'm 29 I have this new respect for their songs and experiences that elevates the sound. "Mercy Me" was probably the first song I had knowingly heard and I loved it. The actual first song I heard was "Armageddon" because it's included in the Tony Hawks' Underground soundtrack, but I wouldn't realise it was them until I was actually a fan.
Here's a fun trivia fact: "Good Mourning" was the first album I ever bought for myself. This was their fourth album and I remember buying it very clearly. I was on a camping holiday with my parents when I bought this and when we got back to the campsite the only speaker system we had capable of playing it was the car's so I listened to the entire album sitting in the front passenger seat, doing absolutely nothing except listen to this beautiful masterpiece.
When I was 15 years old Alkaline Trio came to play a gig in a large town nearby. I knew I would never be able to convince my parents to let me go and to be honest I think given the time & venue it was probably age restricted anyway. That's what I tell myself to ease the regret of not going. To my knowledge that's the first and last time they've ever been near to where I live.
They currently have 9 albums out there and all of them are bangers. "Is This Thing Cursed?" is the most recent and honestly I think it might be their best.
Matt Skiba replaced Tom Delonge in Blink-182 for a while so Alkaline Trio didn't put out much. Now that Tom's back in Blink and Matt's been ghosted I'm hoping we'll get another Alkaline Trio album.
Oh, and while we're on the subject - I'm a fan of Blink-182 with DeLonge but I think the band was better with Skiba. There, I said it.
Stay posted for more rambling about artists such as:
- Breaking Benjamin
- Fort Minor
- Sum 41
- Johnny Cash