NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

  Lock the doors Tooth & Nail Records  had a partnership with Christian bookstores for many years, and most of the label’s signed bands appeared on the shelves of a Christian bookstore with an Alternative or Hard Rock section. Even if a band was sold in a Christian bookstore didn’t guarantee that the band or members of the band were even Christians or if they were Christians that they aligned with the conservative values that the store represented.    From time to time, this caused tension between artists and the stores with some of the albums being pulled from shelves due to questionable lyrics or album art or statements from the band. Sometimes, bands asked not to be distributed through the Christian bookstores, which became financial viable when EMI bought 50% of the label in 2002. However, in the late 2010s the two biggest Christian retailers,  Family Christian Bookstore  and  Lifeway Christian Bookstore  closed their brick-and-mortar s...

  Musically,   Underoath ’s most recent record   Voyeurist   pays homage to different points in their 25-year career. On the band’s breakthrough album,   They’re Only Chasing Safety , Underoath experimented with elements not always heard in Metal. One example was including a church choir on the song “ It’s Dangerous Business Walking out Your Front Door .” According to   Tim McTague   on the episode of   Labeled Deep Dives   about today’s song “ Hallelujah ,” the Underoath guitarist said he made up a story about how the 2004 single had religious significance in order to record a youth choir in a church basement. Eighteen years later, the second song on Voyeurist prominently features a choir, this time in the chorus. But unlike “Dangerous,” Underoath had distanced themselves from the Christian music scene.  In an interview with   Loudwire , Tim says that “Hallelujah” is about “struggles with everything – faith, life and so on.”  ...

In 2006 a new band released a brutal metalcore album called  Plagues .  That band so happened to have the name of a much less metal PG-13 movie starring  Anne Hatheway ,  Meryl Streep , and  Stanley Tucci .  The movie  was actually directly based on the 2003  book  of the same name. The band, however, chose the name as a protest against materialism. The band  The Devil Wears Prada  has become a staple in Hard Christian Rock and scene hardcore metal. In 2019, they released the album  The Act   which expanded their sound to include more singing on ballads such as " Please Say No " and " Chemical ." Clean vocalist Jeremy DePoyster had always had duties Prada songs, in a sense, rewarding listers with melodic choruses; however, "Chemical" is a radio-ready hit. WAKE UP TO NO MEANING, I STARE AT THE CEILING.  According to the band's episode of the  Labeled  Podcast, Jeremy DePoyster said that unclean vocalist Mike...

On April 8th, people from around the world crowded the path of a rare total solar eclipse that spanned from central Mexico to Newfoundland. The celestial event lasted at most 4 minutes and 28 seconds. In the eclipse's direct path, businesses charged excessive rates for tourists to stay, dine, and enjoy themselves before and after the short main event. Many recall the 2017 total eclipse when then-President Trump looked directly at the sun without protective glasses, leaving experts aghast. As the 2017 and 2024 total solar eclipses were less than seven years apart, why the hype and international travel? While the two solar eclipses happened only seven years apart, the last total eclipse before 2017 in the contiguous fifty states was on March 7, 1970, and the next total solar eclipse after 2024 is not until 2044, but only be visible in the north-midwestern states around sunset. I SEE THE NIGHT SLIPPING OVER. The cosmic phenomenon of the sun being blocked by the sun’s light being block...

Watashi Wa   was a band signed to Tooth & Nail Records in the early '00s. The band was formed in 2000 when the members were still in high school. After releasing two albums on Bettie Rocket , a small label, the band signed to Tooth & Nail in 2002. The next year, they released their LP  The Love of Life .  The band broke up two years later and singer  Seth Roberts  went on to form the band  Eager Seas . Roberts negotiated with the label to fulfill Watashi Wa's contract with his new band; however, Eager Sea's debut record undersold the label's expectations. The label decided to re-release the record as Watashi Wa's final album titled  Eager Seas ,  including the band's most recognized song " All of Me " on the record. Roberts went on to form the band  Lakes  and signed to The Militia Group.    IT WAS WRITTEN IN A LETTER TO ME.  Maybe it was an abundance of incredible releases in 2003 that made Watashi Wa's The Love o...

  The pandemic was a mixed blessing for music. On one hand, bands were unable to tour, which cut off the lifeblood of the music industry. Album sales, which used to drive the industry, were decimated by the end of the ‘10s as music shifted to digital sales. But even digital sales slowed, and streaming became the industry standard. Even when albums were selling, bands needed to tour, often relentlessly, to make a living. When the pandemic hit and forced touring bands to stay home, several bands found a way to distribute the experiences of a live show via Internet livestream. With the public stuck at home, many of the old bands decided to get back together. It turned out that millennials now had money to spend on the band that they loved in their youth.  HE CALLED BACK HOME, BUT THEY JUST MISSED IT. Seth Roberts took 2020 as an opportunity to reform his old band, Watashi Wa . Roberts had several bands before the Watashi Wa reunion, but Watashi Wa was Roberts’ first band. Rober...

I don’t know anyone who can’t understand if not relate to the title of today’s song, “ Oh, No ” (Regarding Panic Attacks, 2016-2021).  I’ve talked about several of the tracks from Tyson Motsenbocker ’s Milk Teeth , and I’ve yet to exhaust inspiration talking about the album. A lot of the source material I’m talking about comes from interviews cited in my posts for “ Carlo Rossi ” (Love In the Face of Great Danger,”“ Wendy Darling ,” and “ Hide From the World .” Those pieces were based on two interviews, The Black Sheep Podcast “ Tyson Motsenbocker ” and Labeled Podcast ’ s “ Oh, No. ” These interviews give context for Milk Teeth, which feels esoteric at times. Motsenbocker explains in the Labeled interview that he included concrete images to balance the deeply personal stories behind the songs. THREE IN THE MORNING. Furthermore parentheses explain songs that are especially vague. “Carlo Rossi”‘isn’t just about a bottle of cheap wine, but about falling in love at a volatile time. “...