Of The Bands I've Seen So Far . . .

I have that problem that you get when you like so many bands that you can't possibly remember them all, and this is bad enough with the big popular bands that I like - the amount of times I've forgotten to mention Fall Out Boy on lists of my favourite bands, and they're like in the top five (My Chemical Romance, Pierce The Veil, Fall Out Boy, Of Mice & Men, The Blackout).

But since I've started this blog, I've found a whole load of other, small bands that are just as awesome, and I really should listen to a lot more. Finding time is the problem. So here, I'm making time. I am in no way finished with looking at new bands (probably never will be), but of the bands I've seen so far, here is a list of my favourite song from each one - let this serve as a reminder for any of the rest of you who liked them but forgot to carry on listening as well . . . (coherency may vary as I've been living off a 95% chocolate diet for the past 48 hours)

Aspirations - Remember When
To be fair, there's not many songs to choose from for these guys at the moment, but this would probably still be my favourite song by them anyway. I like the screaming, it sounds like a mad person talking to themselves. I also thought that the line "no more hardship" was "no more horseshit".

Bring Home Ohio - The Way It Goes
Because of the awesome guitar at the start, obviously.

Cobalt And The Hired Guns -You Left Your Sweater
It's so happy and clappy, and heartwarming montage-y. It's so lovely, and let us hope it never gets ruined by being used in an iPod advert.

Liar Liar - High'N'Low
I really can't decide properly, because I am all over all of the songs on their He Said, She Said EP, but I'm picking this one because awesomeness and sing-a-long-ability.

Messenger Down - Die Sehnsucht
I don't know what my favourite MD song was before, but I love this one. It's all lonely and really shows off the singing.

Silver Story - My Empire
It's so quiet and chilled at the beginning, and then kicks in and it's all wow. I think I remember the last time I wrote about this one, and I said it sounds like the kind of song you'd use in a film for where they're being romantic in the rain.

Nobody Takes Vegas - Midnight In Nagoya
I like the beginning, how it builds up. It reminds me of those 20 minutes where I tried to play Mirror's Edge or whatever it's called, and I gave up cause I couldn't run across the tight rope fast enough.

Owls In The Attic - Big Fire
This one, yes. Yes yes yes. As usual, the contrast between clean vocals and screaming is really well done, and it sounds like a storm.

Look, A Band - Owls In The Attic

Part of me is intrigued to find out how on earth that band name was thought up, and part of me is a bit worried and wants to ring the RSPCA. However, before we get to that, I'll see if they're actually any good (because having good songs makes me very likely to excuse minor animal abuse).
Apparently mainly influenced by the great Ron Burgundy, they're off to a great start here. Owls In The Attic a 5-piece metalcore band from Nashville, Tennessee (isn't Hannah Montana from there?) consisting of Benny Mueller (vocals), Evan Jensen (drums/vocals), Mike D'Ancona (guitar), Phil Campbell (guitar), and Christopher Baldani (bass), and their collective interests range from romance to Jesus . . . . that's a pretty diverse mix of interests.

They've done a cover of Payphone by Maroon 5, which I'm going to leave till last because I don't want to have Adam Levine's face leering in my mind while I'm trying to form an opinion of the band.
Wow, the start of The Buffalo Song is awesome though, and they definitely know how to scream. There's got to be a lot of sore throats after this song though . . . it's so aggressive, I want to give them a throat lozenge. Let it not be said that they don't put effort in. I think No Dinner For Mike's probably my favourite though, it sounds like anime and being attacked by evil space aliens, in a good way.
This is good music to play when you want to tune everything out, I think. It's very good, very put together, and the kind of music I love listening to. I like the contrast between the screaming and the clean vocals - it sounds great when it's done properly, and Owls In The Attic are doing it properly, especially on Big Fire.
It's a bit like Of Mice & Men, a little bit like Sleeping With Sirens (less so, but I'm feeling it anyway), but still very definitely different. You could pick Owls In The Attic songs out of a line-up of metalcore bands, they're pretty distinguishable. I also love the song titles, like "Only On Tuesdays"; fascinating and a bit worrying, just like the band name.

Now, as a finishing touch, to have a look at their cover of Payphone. Oh wow, yep, yes, definitely yes. Well done, guys, you have done what at first seemed impossible, and you've redeemed a song  that I hated beyond belief. If they'd been playing this every five minutes that I was in Florida last summer, I don't think I would have been anywhere near as irritable. I commend you on your achievement here. I think this has actually replaced No Dinner For Mike as my favourite. This is more amazing than I could have hoped for.

So you should definitely have a look at them - they've managed to make Payphone not just listenable, but pretty awesome, so imagine what their original material's like (their debut EP Contender is already available for purchase). Wow, well done. Just wow.

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