taking back sunday

2008-09-15T11:22:00.000-07:00

Taking Back Sunday is a band from Amityville, New York, Long Island, New York. 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.^[3] 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.^[4]

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 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.^[5]

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.

[edit] Independent success

The band released their first full album Tell All Your Friends, on Victory Records in 2001. 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 another soundtrack, and the original version of 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 American Wasteland when they covered the Descendent's song Suburban Home.

[edit] 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 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.

TAKING BACK SUNDAY

taking back sunday

[edit] Independent success

[edit] Major label debut