NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

  First appearing in 2001,   Lovedrug   released their   eponymous EP   in 2002 and their    Rocknroll   EP in 2004 before releasing their debut record,   Pretend You're Alive ,  in June 2004. Selling over 20,000 records soon after the record was released, the band was signed to   Columbia Records ,   and their song " Spiders " was intended to be marketed as a radio hit. But rock star grandeur was never really in Lovedrug's reach, as the label dropped the band in the middle of restructuring. Lovedrug was a hard-working band, touring with acts such as   The Killers ,   Robert Plant ,   Sam Phillips ,   Switchfoot , and   Copeland . They would enjoy some success with their follow-up record,   Everything Starts Where It Ends ,  but would continue making music until 2020, although they are probably best remembered for their first two records.   SEARCHING ON A WIRE FOR A WIRE .  The Militia Group  was a record label founded by former  Tooth & Nail Records  employee  Ch

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 of Life fall unnoticed from

  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. Roberts worked

Pinkerton is a foundational album in the emo genre. Weeze r’s second record was a commercial failure at the time of its release, especially following their massive debut record. Many successful bands look back at the album almost as a kind of bible of guitar tones and lyrical content. Pinkerton produced three singles, including “ Pink Triangle ,” a song in which the speaker, a boy in college, falls for a lesbian who doesn’t return his affection. The song explores the complexities surrounding sexual identity, which seems progressive for the time but a little cringy today. And it’s that cringe that seeps into Watashi Wa ’s 2022 People Like People , an album I’ve talked about before, but today I wanted to look into why a self-identifying “ministry band” quoted Weezer to “say it ‘ Like You Mean It .’” SO HERE COMES THE SON TO REMIND YOU OF YOUR OWN BELIEFS.   Watashi Wa started as a punk band when Seth Roberts and the original band were in middle school. Inspired heavily by early Tooth

Coming to the end of the year, it's time to remember some of the musical highlights of 2022. I listened to a lot of music this year and maybe more new music than last year. But there certainly were albums that slipped under the radar. I had every intention of digging into  The Weeknd 's  Dawn FM   ,  but somehow I was never in that dark of a mood to resonate with the characteristics of that record. Today, I'm going to reveal my controversial list. Enjoy! #10 .  The Loneliest Time  by  Carly Rae Jepsen . The latest from the " Call Me Maybe " singer is a record that isn't immediately catchy and could easily fall between the cracks because of all the big releases of this year. The diverse singles showed different camera angles of a maturing pop singer who has solidified her status in music nerd-dom and gay music listeners alike. And with her first explicit labeled song, Jepsen is distancing herself from former tween-friendly aesthetic. I'm sure next year I

  Waking Ashland was a band signed first to Tooth & Nail Records then Immortal Records . The band release two records, Composure in 2005 and The Well in 2007 before disbanding. Lead singer Jonathan Jones went on to form the band We Shot the Moon with two members from Sherwood , Dan Koch and Joe Greenetz , who also played in Waking Ashland. As for Waking Ashland, Composure was a sleeper hit on Tooth & Nail Records similar to Watashi Wa 's music. The two bands both relied on calmer, often organic sounds that failed to garner the audience to compete with the harder bands the label steered toward in the mid-'00s.  TO PROVE WE'RE SOMETHING, BUT WE'RE STARVING. Another comparison between Waking Ashland and Watashi Wa is that both bands went on to form other bands, moving from Tooth & Nail Records to the now defunct, often calmer emo label The Militia Group . In Watashi Wa's case, the band formed first Eager Seas and then Lakes . Interestingly Tooth &am

  Coming to the end of the year, it's time to remember some of the musical highlights of 2022. I listened to a lot of music this year and maybe more new music than last year. But there certainly were albums that slipped under the radar. I had every intention of digging into  The Weeknd 's  Dawn FM   , but somehow I was never in that dark of a mood to resonate with the characteristics of that record. Today, I'm going to reveal my controversial list. Enjoy! #10 . The Loneliest Time  by Carly Rae Jepsen . The latest from the " Call Me Maybe " singer is a record that isn't immediately catchy and could easily fall between the cracks of all the big releases of this year. The diverse singles showed different camera angles of a maturing pop singer who has solidified her status in music nerd-dom and gay music listeners alike. And with her first explicit labeled song, Jepsen is distancing herself from former tween-friendly aesthetic. I'm sure next year I'll be d