STORM THE BAY @stormthebay-blog - Tumblr Blog

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Rochester! Don't think we forgot about you. We're playing our first local show of the new year with #thetraditional on February 26th. Their new record rips so don't be a fool and miss out. Tickets are available on ticketfly and through the band. Email Jordan if you'd like to meet up at some point to grab one, [email protected] #Rochestermusic #theentertainmentcollective #stormthebay #poppunk #rocknrolla

#theentertainmentcollective #rocknrolla #rochestermusic #poppunk #thetraditional #stormthebay

Our latest music video for a song off of our upcoming debut album. Directed and edited by the brilliant Cody Weissinger, we bring you RocknRolla.

We have officially released a new song off of our upcoming full length record, go check it out!

#Awesomeness

#awesomeness

I've grown up listening to and appreciating various styles of music but hardcore has always been one style I've felt a real true connection with. Bands such as Every Time I Die, Poison The Well, Terror, Bury Your Dead, Hatebreed, Comeback Kid, Norma Jean have made such a personal impact on myself. I love the community of hardcore. It's a subculture that doesn't give a fuck about what you are, it's more about who you are. Honestly, Loyalty, and Honor are what I take from Hardcore. Very important human characteristics that are often lost in today's world.

Trapped Under Ice's Big Kiss Goodnight could be a true testament for what is essentially hardcore to me. TUI found a certain groove to incorporate into a sort of throwback style of hardcore. I think that's what really strikes me the most about Big Kiss Goodnight. It's fast, it's heavy, and it's catchy. Songs like "Dead Inside" and "Time Waits" come to mind when I think of the groove factor for this record. Where as "Jail" and "Victimized" bring forth the aggression and power of what a good hardcore record should sound like, which brings me to another point as to why I love this album, the recording itself. I really dig how the drums sound, like they're playing in somewhat of a larger room (I'm a sucker for reverb, sorry). The snare sounds natural, not chopped and run through drumagog. I like big open sounds in recordings. I think it fills out space where it's needed at times and adds a new element to a record. Some may believe that there's no room for reverb in hardcore, I say if done right, it can really make the difference. Or maybe I'm just lame, but I digress...

Another factor which contributes to my love for this album are the lyrics. There's absolutely no bullshit about them. When Justice shouts "sink, swim, the choices are that, I've been to the bottom and I ain't going back", I know he means this shit. I think his words and the way he delivers them are impeccable and really set up the perfect mental image of the struggling, lower class outcasts in Baltimore. I can't really think of any other record at the moment that's as direct and in your face as much as BKG is.

The guitars really sold me on this album. Although the parts aren't really complex, they have this ora about them. This dark, ominous ora that complements the heart-filled, brash words spewing from Justice's mouth. As I said before, the groove in most of the riffs on the album are great. I usually find myself at work tapping out the rhythms to parts of "True Love" and "Pleased to Meet You often. The Cry Baby quotes make this album too, simply because I love that movie and more people need to know of its existence.

Overall, this album is just pure gold to me. It takes everything I feel sometimes and projects it in a manor that is fast, loud and pissed off. I'm a little saddened Trapped Under Ice has chosen to take a hiatus. I just want to hear more. I've been teased and my blue balls are the size of soccer balls now. Apparently the hiatus is so they don't want to have to force the writing process on new material, which as a song writer and musician, I can deeply respect. However, I can not wait to hear what these guys come back with. I'm sure it'll be fucking awesome. In the mean time, do yourself a favor and buy this album. I know your pissed, but TUI is more pissed, trust me.

-Jordan

Rufio is one of those bands I can constantly listen back to and reconnect with their music again. I can remember being around 13 years old and bothering all of my friends to pick up an album of theirs and to check them out. I, just like almost every kid who grew up in the 90's, absolutely loved what Blink-182 was doing at the time (i.e.vCheshire Cat/Dude Ranch timeframe) but I thought Rufio was bringing that style of Pop Punk to a different level. The combination of Sellers and Domae's onslaught of metal-like inspired riffs and the impeccable rhythm section carrying the backbone to their fast paced songs was nothing like I had ever heard before. It was as if Slayer and Blink had this haneously awesome punked out bastard child, and I was into it. MCMLXXXV (1985) was Rufio's landmark album in my opinion. It pretty much took their previous release "Perhaps , I Suppose" and shot it up into orbit. Now don't get me wrong, PIS had some fairly awesome material on it but MCMLXXXV was was their answer to the question that PIS left behind and that was "where can this band go from here"? The first 4 tracks on MCMLXXXV set the album up perfectly. COUNTDOWN hits hard and fast and then WHITE LIGHTS kind of calms you down for a bit with a little bit of a slower tempo, but with a flowing lead that sets the song up for what it truly is, a real grooved up Pop song. SCIENCE FICTION & WHY WAIT pick up where the ferocity of the opening track left off and the album pretty much carries those emotions down to the last track. I remember sitting in my room trying to learn the guitar parts for SCIENCE. FICTION and thinking" how the hell does he sing and play guitar like this" ? It just blew my mind. I always try to reference MCMLXXXV when I'm trying to write for Storm The Bay. Not in a way to try and emulate their sound but more so to challenge myself to try and get to that "MCMLXXXV" level. I know I may never get to that point but at least I know it's possible.

Throughout the next month or so I'm going to be posting some of the albums that have influenced and inspired me throughout the years. I wanted to share with you guys some the music that's taken me to where I am today in both my playing, writing, and my all around love for music.

The first record I'd thought I'd share with you is one of my favorites, Thrice's "The Artist In The Ambulance".

Now, I had first heard about these guys around 2002. One of my good friends had purchased a copy of "The Illusion of Safety" because his older brother had told him to check out the band beforehand. I remember sitting in his room blasting the whole album front to back with nothing but our faces left on the floor afterwards. Needless to say, I was blown away by their style and their aggression. I had never heard anything like that album, and I was pretty convinced that they wouldn't be able to top that one. I was wrong.

When "The Artist In The Ambulance" was released in 2003. I was at FYE on that Tuesday night, standing in line with all of my friends, anxious. The minute we got into my buddy's car we started playing the album. From the get go, the first track (Cold Cash and Colder Hearts) stuck out immediately. I'm a big fan of songs in a 6/8 time signature so that grabbed me right away. I also noticed that unlike their previous album (The Illusion of Safety), this album was a little more polished with their tones. Dustin Kensrue and Teppei Teranishi still went the two guitar approach for tracking the album just as they did on the previous record. Overdubbing guitars can be great for a band's sound and make it more full, but sometimes just laying down your parts as they are live gives your sound more room to breathe with less clutter. A tactic I think that still holds true today.

One of favorite tracks on the album is Silhouette. The straight heaviness of the opeing Rythmn is enough still to make me want to punch a whole in a wall. That song a lone was one of main reasons why Storm The Bay's older material was played in Drop C. I always liked the sound of that particular tuning, mostly because of this album.

Another track that's one of my favorites is Paper Tigers. If you play that song for a fan of Thrice who's only been introduced to their recent material, their minds would possibly melt. Kensrue's vocals are just mangy. The only singing in the song are the faded background vocals in the chorus. The rest of the song is Dustin just screaming his fucking ass off. The guitar riffs in this song are some of the best on the album in my opinion and the bass part in the 6/8 bridge is just plain nutty. Ten plus years later I still find myself randomly mumbling that swirly bass line in my head. Eddie Breckenridge killed it on the four string for this album, no doubt.

No don't get me wrong. I maintained a true Thrice fan with each release they put out since Artist, but for me, this album is their best. I feel they really discovered who they were at this certain point in their musical careers. I'm also glad they went with the direction they did after releasing Artist because I feel like an album like this can only be done once and if they had tried re-creating it they would have failed to live up to the legacy Artist In The Ambulance set up for them. Being in a band is about musical growth and trying to not necessarily outdo your last record, but to make it different to show that you're always evolving and learning new things.

For me, this album will always take me back to 9th grade, listening to it covertly with my headphones with my hood from my jacket covering them in Math class, instead of doing math class like things. I didn't give a shit about Algebra, all I cared about was going home riffing out to some Thrice.

-Jordan

Share and repost this and you can win our last small size of our Upstate Rock n Roll shirt. Be sure to tag us #stormthebay

#stormthebay

If you've ever wondered what it'd be like if you were a really tiny person sitting on my amp while we played a song...now you know.

Just finished up tracking all the instrumentation for the upcoming album. Over the next couple weeks, we'll be heading in and out of the studio to lay down the vocals for the record and hopefully finish up all the tracking by the end of the month. Have to say I'm really excited with what we've accomplished so far and I can't wait to hear how these songs grow with the vocals we add. Stay tuned in for more updates, blogs and videos of our adventures with our close friend Steve Sopchack and The Square Sudio.

-Jordan