etnies

Taking Back Sunday started with Eddie Reyes, punk rock for life, who was calling Long Island home in 1999. A fertile area for some of today's most (insert synonym for "promising" here) advantageous, bright, favorable, felicitous, fortunate, golden, halcyon, happy, hopeful, lucky, opportune, propitious, prosperous, rosy, timely, well-timed young artists, Eddie quickly found three friends nearby with a shared musical vision and recruited one, their current vocalist, from a little further away.

Adam Lazzara originally moved to NYC from High Point, North Carolina to play bass. After their initial demo circulated (insert first line-up change here), Victory Records quickly signed the band and put them in the studio with Sal Villanueva of Thursday fame running drills.

Their debut album, Tell All Your Friends, was released in March 2002, and the band continued to tour, winning fans over with their (insert synonym for "exciting" here) agitative, animating, appealing, arousing, arresting, astonishing, bracing, breathtaking, commoving, dangerous, dramatic, electrifying, exhilarant, eye-popping, far-out, fine, flashy, groovy, hair-raising, heady, hectic, impelling, impressive, interesting, intoxicating, intriguing, lively, melodramatic, mind-blowing, moving, neat, overpowering, overwhelming, provocative, racy, rip-roaring, rousing, sensational, showy, spine-tingling, stimulating, stirring, thrilling, titillating, wild and zestful live shows.

By the Summer of that same year, only a few short months later, shows were selling out in advance and word of mouth continued to spread. Sharing the stage with Boxcar Racer, The Used, Jimmy Eat World, New Found Glory quickly followed, and the band saw less and less of home and more and more of fans dedicated to the catchy yet meaningful songwriting layered over a unique blend of rock's best attributes.

Lyrics such as, "Why can't I feel anything from anyone other than you," taken from "Cute Without the 'E'" (Cut From The Team) and "You could slit my throat, and with my one last gasping breath I'd apologize, for bleeding on your shirt," taken from their upcoming single, "You're So Last Summer", became anthemic sing-alongs with audiences quickly overpowering stage wattage output at tour stops from coast to coast. Believe it or not, the entire band writes, as well. All of them play guitar and write melodies. No fact checking necessary. Even drummer Mark O'Connell is very involved in the writing process.

Fast forward to spring of 2003: Taking Back Sunday embarked on the Takeover Tour, their first national headlining tour. Playing to (insert synonym for "sold out" here) awash, brimful, brimming, busy, chock-full, clean, close, compact, crammed, cramped, crushed, dense, full, full house, full-up, huddled, jam-packed, jammed, loaded, lousy with, massed, mob scene, mobbed, overflowing, packed, populous, sardined, stiff with, stuffed, swarming, teeming, thick, thickset, thronged, tight, topped-off and wall-to-wall crowds in most of the U.S. and Canada (including 2,200 fans in Toronto, even though the band had never stepped foot over the Eastern border) helped the press take notice, and features in Rolling Stone, Spin, Alternative Press (cover) and Revolver quickly followed.

By now, Tell All Your Friends had surpassed 200,000 records sold. The band had plans to travel to Europe and then return to the U.S. to spend the Summer as one of the main stage bands on the 2003 Warped Tour (insert second line-up change here). Instead, they welcomed Fred Mascherino and Matt Rubano to the mix. Mascherino comes to Taking Back Sunday from one of their favorite bands, Breaking Pangaea, best known for significant college radio airplay and critical raves. Fred's strong backing vocals, guitar virtuosity and insightful lyrics bring an added dimension to the Taking Back Sunday sound. New Bassist Matt Rubano is a native of Baldwin, New York and a life-long friend of Mark's, so the chemistry between the two is unmistakable. Matt has recorded and toured with a variety of artists from all genres of music, but is best known for his work on Lauryn Hill's grammy winning debut, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.

Debuting the new line-up at the last three Warped shows in Philly, New York and New Jersey respectively allowed the band to dispel the rumors of an (insert synonym for "break-up" here) adjourn, disassemble, disband, dismantle, disperse, disrupt, dissolve, divide, divorce, end, halt, part, scatter, separate, sever, split, stop, sunder, suspend, take apart and termination, and allowed Taking Back Sunday to blast through songs from the record and introduce some new ones, which received a more than favorable review from fans and press alike. Their third video, for "You're So Last Summer", will feature a guest appearance by Public Enemy's Flavor Flav. Why, you ask? "Why not," would be their reply. There are no rules.

In late Summer, the band will play some scattered festivals and radio shows, play a benefit with Blink-182 for cancer-striken pro-surfer Jason Bogle in a 1,500 capacity club in San Diego, make their network television debut on Jimmy Kimmel Live, then head back out across the nation with Saves the Day in the Fall. The fans have waiting patiently. They will not be (insert synonym for "disappointed" here) aghast, balked, beaten, blue funk, cast down, chapfallen, complaining, defeated, depressed, despondent, disconcerted, discontented, discouraged, disenchanted, disgruntled, disillusioned, dissatisfied, distressed, down, downhearted, foiled, frustrated, hopeless, let down, objecting, shot down, taken down, thwarted, unhappy, unsatisfied, upset, vanquished or worsted.