Some good feedback

In response to my review of The New Nervous' album, Frantic Is The New Nervous, a couple members of the band have stated how much they liked it and appreciated it. Apparently so much so that they decided to feature it as a blog entry on their MySpace page.

The positive response from the band is excellent, more bands (especially local ones) could take a lesson from these guys. They're good fellows.

--Chad

The New Nervous gets frantic on debut EP

Local band's first album makes social issues listenable and danceable

The local music scene in Utah Valley is hit or miss most times. One of those times when a direct hit occurred was when The New Nervous formed in late 2005. Another direct hit was when The New Nervous released their debut EP, Frantic Is The New Nervous, earlier this year.

Frantic is a solid seven-song effort accompanied by a couple of bonus tracks (practically making it a full-length release). According to the band, the idea of the record stems from the fact that “In a world overwhelmed by sensationalism, being nervous is no longer enough.”

Being nervous may not be enough to get a point across, but Frantic gets its message across loud and clear. An album full of social commentary on hot issues and fresh takes on often abused thematic elements, Frantic is sure to strike a fancy with listeners from all walks of life.

Opening the album is the catchy, fast-paced “Hum.” This track appears to be chronicling the ups and downs in a relationship packaged in a symphonic vocabulary full of new catch phrases and one-liners that could easily grace an infinite number of MySpace profiles. “Hum” also hits some of those bumps and smooth spots in the music as well. As the song opens with a pounding introduction, it immediately slows down as it begins the first verse. Then it speeds up again and takes several twists and turns that weave a beautiful story, punctuated by phrases like “I hear my heart in the stereo, rhythmically repeating.”

Into the middle of the album, “Our Mission Statement” and “Collapse Your Lungs” stand out as tracks that make bold statements about social trends. “Our Mission Statement” feels like a social deconstruction on the entertainment industry's stranglehold on the American public at large ,and how the public sits back and soaks it all in (“Hollywood dictates, you take the notes, on the very paper designed to slit our throats”).

“Collapse Your Lungs” takes on the issue of obsessing over body images as they are portrayed in the media. This story of someone chasing a “perfect” body image is noted in phrases like “pain is pretty,” “your enchantment with enhancement leaves you inadequate” and a line from the title of the track, “collapse your lungs, not enough room in your body.”

Scott Shepard's (vocals, guitar) lyrics are so thought provoking and immediately relevant to today's society while maintaining a sort of timeless quality that gives it staying power. And he takes one last jab at a hot social issue in the last track (not counting the bonus tracks) of the EP with “Pharmacadia.” Most easily The New Nervous' most danceable song, “Pharmacadia” addresses the topic of a societal dependence on prescription medications, as the title implies.

The song sets up a scene where the town of Pharmacadia everyone “thrives on what the doctors prescribe.” But then the song turns to the chant of “let's burn this temple down” and “I've got this body full of chemicals and I want out,” which seems to reference a desire to escape the dependency of drugs and live life without that chemical attachment.

Rounding out the Frantic experience, The New Nervous toss listeners a couple bonus goodies starting with a bare-bones, guitar-and-piano version of “Hum,” which superbly showcases the actual talent that stands at the core of The New Nervous. The other bonus track, “Deathcare Industry” feels like it is deserving of only being a bonus feature on the album. The bass-heavy, Deftones-esque song feels very forced and cliché. It definitely doesn't fit with the rest of Frantic and doesn't really seem to fit in with what anyone would expect from these local dynamos.

No matter the spin you take on Shepard's points of view purveyed in his songwriting, Frantic is a unique and experience with each and every listen. Each song envelopes the overall idea of “being frantic” to attack social issues in a manner that makes people want to hear about them. It addresses what people often choose to overlook without shoving it in your face. Frantic Is The New Nervous is one of the most impressive and powerful debut releases I've ever encountered. It's highly recommended for anyone interested in or a fan of the local Utah Valley music scene.

Warped Tour 2007 Photo Journal

At Warped Tour this year I took some photos. Not all of them could fit with my review of Warped '07, so I have a few pictures (some good, some not so good) that I would like to share. Most of the pictures were taken by myself. The photos of The New Nervous were taken by Jake Wright (thanks to him and The New Nervous for their permission). With all of these pics, this post looks a bit of a mess. But that's what Warped Tour is anyway, an organized bit of a mess. So, without further delay, enjoy some snap shots of Warped Tour 2007 at Salt Lake City's State Fairgrounds:



Amber Pacific

Anberlin

The New Nervous

Coheed & Cambria

Boys Like Girls

The Starting Line

Yellowcard

New Found Glory

The Warped Tour 2007 rundown

Lucky sevens meet the lucky 13 at Utah's State Fairgrounds


Whether the “warped” in the name Vans Warped Tour refers to the warped music of the bands that join the tour each year, the warped individuals who attend the all-day, outdoor event or the speed at which the tour moves (large numbers of bands playing a large number of cities in a short amount of time), it definitely lived up to its name as it made it’s annual stop to the Utah State Fair Park last Saturday.
This year marks the “lucky” thirteenth anniversary for the tour, which, ironically, came to Salt Lake City on July 7, the day referred to by the superstitious as the “lucky sevens.” This year the luck of the two numbers must have been with tour, because this year it was fantastic.
Starting at 11 o’clock and not ending until later in the evening, everyone flooding the fairgrounds came prepared for a long, hot day of music, sun and free stuff.
I was one of those in attendance. Since the tour is too large to report on the entire event, I have chronicled my personal Warped Tour 2007 experience in order to give some insight on the spectacle:

Though not having extensive experience with the tour, I am not new to the Warped Tour experience either. In 2004 a number of excellent bands came with the tour to Utah, but the experience that year as a whole was severely bogged down by anti-Bush speeches that kept the actual music to a minimum. 2005, though stacked with excellent performers, lacked in quality of performances. It seemed everyone was either plowed or half asleep when they took the stage.
This year was different. Even though a lot of the bands I caught on the tour this year had come either in ’04 or ’05, the actual performances of those bands I saw were much more up to par than those of the previous two tours I had been to.
For starters, Yellowcard came in 2004, and though they put on an excellent show then, they killed the excitement of the performance with political banter. But they did get an excellent circle pit going. This year Yellowcard cut the political fat out of their performance and got down to the essentials – playing their music. The only difference is they had a larger grab bag of songs to pull from, and the circle pit was superior to that of three years ago.
The Starting Line came around this year, primarily in support of their new album, Direction, which hits shelves July 31. But their performance was light years better than two years ago when they came, again, in support of a new album, Based on a True Story. That performance was terrible. Riddled with bad timing and Kenny Vassoli not only singing bad but dancing bad as well, I didn’t expect much from The Starting Line this year. But I was pleasantly surprised as Vassoli and crew pulled of a magnificent showing of songs from every part of their discography and improved dance moves from Vassoli.
Also on the tour this year was New Found Glory, who have never failed to impress. This time was no exception. The set, even with a shift in weather creating a disturbance with equipment, was incredible, including a taste of what to expect from From the Screen to Your Stereo Part 2, a punked up version of Sixpence None the Richer’s movie hit, “Kiss Me.” The record is an excellent addition the summer of sequels syndrome at the box office. One band I was not super impressed with this year was Coheed & Cambria. Between the time it took them to set up all their fancy little banners and all of the technical difficulties they kept apologizing for between every song, they only got five songs in before they were done for the day. The set was lack luster and, given the massive crowd that gathered (one of the biggest on the day) I felt they were extremely anticlimactic this go-round.
Other bands that did an incredible job this year included Anberlin, Amber Pacific, Circa Survive and Boys Like Girls. Also doing a great job were the people handing out free stuff. My backpack was pretty full with stickers, magazines, posters and sampler CDs.
And not to be forgotten, Provo's very own The New Nervous was even in action at the tour this year, playing in the Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands stage. They were great, though I only caught the tail end of their set. Much better than the bands (My American Heart, Throwdown) I saw and heard follow them on that same stage.
There were other great bands at the show this year, but due to conflicting time schedules, walking from stage to stage, trying to see what was going on in the freak show tent in the middle of the park and having to leave early, I was not able to catch them all. But what I did see this year renewed my faith in the Vans Warped Tour. Whether it was because it was their lucky number 13, the lucky date or just a slew of talented bands actually trying to put on a good show this year, the end result was success.