POZ Gallery: Skate And Surf Festival
Features: Fall Out Boy, LIGHTS, A Day To Remember, Miss May I, Saves The Day, Bayside, Candy Hearts, Leathermouth, Wolves At The Gate
Location: Six Flags Great Adventure - Jackson, NJ
Photos By: Maysa Askar
POZ Gallery: Skate And Surf Festival
Features: Fall Out Boy, A Day To Remember, Leathermouth, Transit, Balance & Composure, Crown The Empire, Bayside, Tyler Carter, Glassjaw, Of Mice & Men
Location: Six Flags Great Adventure - Jackson, NJ
Photos By: Maysa Askar
Many of us reflect back on the early 2000’s as a true golden age for the music that we love the most - the term “emo” hadn’t yet been bastardized by the mainstream, Drive-Thru Records was putting out release after release of foundational pop-punk, and no one had really thought yet to dress up a metalcore breakdown in guyliner. The Skate And Surf Festival, an annual celebration of these acts and genres, leveraged its way into legend status after only three full years of activity by compiling lineups of the best and most important bands of the time, many of which were in their heyday.
Some of those bands have created longstanding and solid careers, and to see a few of the groups that helped to shape such a noteworthy festival of great lore slotted to appear at it’s return is a really cool thing. We’ve selected some of the returners and highlighted their careers in the context of the Skate And Surf Festival’s existence to celebrate the permanence of our scene and reflect with a bit of nostalgia on what exactly some of our favorite bands were doing 10+ years ago.
Related Stories:
POZ Skate And Surf Preview: Our Must-See Bands And Acts (Day 2)
POZ Skate And Surf Preview: Our Must-See Bands And Acts (Day 1)
Fall Out Boy, by Adrienne Fisher
2003: First appearance at Skate & Surf (April 25), release of Take This To Your Grave (Fueled by Ramen, May 6), finalize future signing to Island Records (mid-2003)
2004: Second appearance at Skate & Surf (April 18), release of My Heart Will Always Be the B-Side to My Tongue (Fueled by Ramen, May 18), first appearance on Warped Tour
2005-2008: Stupid amounts of commercial success, release of From Under the Cork Tree (Island Records, May 30, 2005), Infinity on High (Island Records, Feb 5, 2007), and Folie a Deux (Island Records, Dec 16, 2008)
2009-2013: Hiatus
2013: Prodigal return from hiatus, release of Save Rock and Roll (Island Records, April 16)
“Comeback of the year” is the catchphrase of FOB in 2013. Plenty has been spoken, ruminated, yelled, theorized, and waxed about the much-adored pop (punk) act’s return to the fold, and their prodigal return to a festival also making its prodigal return seems nothing short of harmonic. When FOB played Skate & Surf in 2003, Take This To Your Grave was still 2 weeks away from release and and their buzz was only beginning to increase in volume. By 2004, following a tour supporting Mest and Matchbook Romance, the band was still close enough to the underground to be flush with love from every kid involved in the scene, making the festival - once-exclusive to punk and emo - a perfect setting for them before their popularity began to expand outside the boundaries of those genres. Now, their appeal is as widespread as the lineup of this year’s Skate & Surf, making their headlining slot completely appropriate in both homage to the original festival and a salute to it’s current incarnation.
Bayside, by Adrienne Fisher
2001-2003: Formation, release of demos/split with Name Taken, sign to Victory Records (2003)
2004: Release of Sirens and Condolences (Victory Records, Jan 24), appearance at Skate & Surf (Apr 16)
2005: Appearance at Bamboozle (May 1), release of Bayside (Victory Records, Sep 1), passing of drummer John Holohan (October)
2006 - 2013: Release of many, many full-length records - The Walking Wounded (Victory Records, Feb 6, 2007), Shudder (Victory Records, Sept 20, 2008), Killing Time (Wind Up Records, Feb 22, 2011) - as well as splits, comps, Warped Tour stints, and a covers album
To state the obvious, Bayside’s been around for a long time by now. Hailing from Queens and siphoning off a little bit of that Long Island “scene” momentum, these New York natives were just starting to get their footing when Skate & Surf was operating back in the early 2000s. Their signing to Victory Records (which was totally not a bad thing back then) can probably be likened to their leg-up into the ranks of golden-era bands of the time, and their gradual entry into popularity fell very shortly after the heels of the old, golden-era bands. However, the momentum they began to create in 2004 with the release of their first full length hasn’t diminished in the last 10+ years - Bayside’s band trajectory is punctuated by consistent releases, frequent touring and oodles of high profile Warped Tour and festival appearances. They’ve created for themselves quite the legacy - and their slot at Skate & Surf can function as both a celebration of their beginnings as well as the continuation of a solid career.
Streetlight Manifesto, by Erik van Rheenen
2003: Everything Goes Numb is released, the band’s lineup changes start once their four song demo is recorded.
2004: Streetlight plays Skate & Surf with headliners Taking Back Sunday, Brand New, and Yellowcard.
2006: Catch-22’s Keasbey Nights (Victory Records) gets a Streetlight makeover, about which Kalnoky said, “We wanted to get it right for once.”
2007: Somewhere in the Between (Victory Records) comes out.
2010: Streetlight releases the first volume of their ambitious cover project, 99 Songs of Revolution (Victory Records). We’re still waiting on the next 88.
2013: Victory torpedoes Toh Kay’s The Hand That Thieves record, but Streetlight’s pre-hiatus swan song The Hands That Thieve sees daylight after label struggles kept it from coming out in 2012.
Bayside and Alkaline Trio have officially kicked off their spring US tour. Check out Bayside’s set list from the tour below!
We’ve been having more fun than ever with our PropertyOfZack Friday Discussions lately with The Best Album Openers and Closers, so we thought we’d throw one more rad category out there with The Best Cover Songs. Covers can be tough; Some fans like the covering band to spice up the original’s song in their own way, and some fans don’t. To each their own. We put a list of covers from bands in our scene that we love in an Rdio Playlist to listen to as you read the Discussion as well (though not all covers were present). Check out our list below and feel free to reblog with some of your favorite covers!
The Ataris - “The Boys of Summer (Don Henley)”
Okay: raise your hand if upon hearing The Ataris’ cover of “The Boys of Summer” back in 2003, you thought it was actually their own song. You can’t see me, but my hand is definitely up. In fact, I had no idea it was a cover for a whole two years, until one fine morning when I was in eighth grade and my mom made a comment about how much better it was than the original. Without question, it absolutely is.Everything from the sped-up tempo, to the progressive, much-improved instrumentals, to Kris Roe’s smooth-to-rough vocals, sounds like this is an Ataris original. Even though So Long, Astoria also boasted “In This Diary,” another mega-hit, this cover certainly did the album and band an entire world of good, receiving oodles of radio air-time and even making it to the top of the ever-infamous MTV music video countdown TRL (R.I.P. childhood). This song is a pop-punk classic, and by far outdoes its original not-so-pop-punk predecessor’s classic status. It’s hard to even think that someone before this band uttered, “My love for you will still be strong/after the boys of summer have gone” into a microphone. No offense, Don Henley, but this cover is so good that it pretty much puts the original out of existence. - Brittany Oblak
All Time Low - “Umbrella (Rihanna)”
It can be a little hard to remember nowadays, but there was a time when All Time Low brought the pop and the punk in equal measure, and they never did it better than on this cover of Rihanna’s mega-hit “Umbrella”. Marrying snarling guitars with sticky-sweet vocal harmonies that only soar bigger and brighter as the song progresses, “Umbrella” is such a natural fit for All Time Low’s strengths that you’d be forgiven for thinking Terius Nash helped pen it with the clown princes of pop-punk in mind. It’s a prime example of what can happen when a great song finds its way to a band at the peak of their creative powers. - Jesse RichmanBayside - “Be My Baby (The Ronettes)”
Bayside has always produced good covers – so good, in fact, that the songs are sometimes mistaken for originals by less knowledgeable fans (see: “Megan” by The Smoking Popes). With their first covers EP, the band stepped into new territory, choosing to cover songs they had grown up listening to, and perhaps introducing a whole new generation to the likes of The Ronettes, Elvis Costello, Del Shannon, Van Morrison, and Billy Joel.
Of the five tracks on the EP, “Be My Baby” by The Ronettes, is the only one originally performed by a female band. However, between Anthony Raneri’s distinctive vocals and Jack O’Shea’s gripping guitar solo, the transition into a Bayside song is all but impeccable. Though Bayside has never been particularly known for love songs, the harmonies and vocal overlays that give this track its old school, swoon-worthy feel suggest that maybe the band should try it more often. - Becky KovachThe Early November - “The Power Of Love (Huey Lewis & The News)”
I’m a sucker for cover versions that are truly transformative, and I’m not sure I can think of one that flips the script as radically as The Early November does on their cover of Huey Lewis & The News’ bombastic pop-cheese classic, “The Power Of Love.” By trading the skronking synths and pulsing drums of the original for laconic, hypnotically repetitive acoustic arpeggios and whisper-thin vocals, Ace Enders and company gingerly excavate the love that’s long been buried underneath all that power. I’ve written about it before, and I’m sure I’ll write about it again; it’s an obscure gem that deserves to be heard. - Jesse RichmanKevin Devine – “Holland, 1945 (Neutral Milk Hotel)”
“The only girl I’ve ever loved was born with roses in her eyes / But then they buried her alive.” If I didn’t know any better, the cinematic lyrics to “Holland, 1945” could have been written by Kevin Devine. It’s no surprise that Devine chose to cover this Neutral Milk Hotel song, but what is slightly surprising is how he could change so little about the arrangement and still offer a completely different spin on the tune. Devine has a knack for making woeful songs sound like a celebration, and this cover is far from being an exception. - Alyssa McKinley
Alkaline Trio and Bayside have added a date to their spring tour. Check out the updated routing below by clicking “Read More.”
Anthony Raneri will be releasing a new solo split. Check out a tweet from Raneri below by clicking “Read More.”
Alkaline Trio and Bayside have added a New York date to their spring tour. Check out the updated routing below by clicking “Read More.”
Record Store Day 2013 is taking place on April 20th. Check out a 200-deep list of releases taking place below by clicking “Read More!”
Alkaline Trio and Bayside have added Off With Their Heads to their spring tour. Check out the dates below by clicking “Read More.”
It’s time for The Weekly Tour Round-Up! There are a ton of great tours going on this winter and more are getting announced each week! Below you’ll find all the tours going on over the next few months, with newly announced tours listed above previously announced tours. So check out all the tours if you’ve missed any of them and make sure to mark them down on your calendars!
New Tours:
POZ Sponsored Shows
Forever Came Calling, Heart To Heart, Last Call [03/20-04/21]North America
Long Lost (Joe B Of Transit) [03/08-03/17]
Squid The Whale, Sleep City [03/23-04/02]
Alkaline Trio, Bayside [04/25-06/11]
The Postal Service [05/28-07/26]United Kingdom|Mainland Europe
Dave Hause [04/26-05/06]Latin America
Dashboard Confessional [03/08-03/10]
Pierce The Veil [07/04-07/12]
Previously Announced Tours:
The places where we are exposed to the music that shape us all can in many ways be just as important to us as the music itself. Festivals like Warped Tour, Lollapalooza, Coachella, and Bonnaroo are all significant to those who attend them year in and year out. Last year, however, we lost The Bamboozle Festival, a festival that has been integral to so many memories over the past ten years. There’s a story behind it’s downfall, and a man who has been waiting to explain it for over a year as he rebuilt a past love, Skate & Surf, and prepared to launch a new one, GameChanger World.
Today, PropertyOfZack is incredibly excited to be posting a tell-all interview with Bamboozle, Skate & Surf, and GameChanger founder, John D. The interview is long, but the information and conversation is valuable, informative, and at points shocking. Skate & Surf makes its return with an incredible lineup this May and GameChanger World will be launching this spring, so make sure to check out information on both following reading the tell-all interview below!
We’re at the GameChanger World launch today with you, John D. You’ve been teasing it for a good part of a year…
Almost a year, yeah.
The launch of GameChanger World coincides with Skate & Surf, which you’ve also been pushing for a year. Is this the perfect fresh start?
I think it is, because part of what went wrong in the Bamboozle world was the limitations on creativity. It’s like being in front of an offense that has so much power. Now, when you’re in a mobile space and in the live space, I believe that that’s what’s going to change it. I look at it like this: Raves are outselling concerts, badly. Like four to one. Why is that? Are the DJ’s better than the bands with their instruments? No, they’re not. But what is it? It’s the experience. So right now when you go to a show, you come in and the first band goes on. The first band’s on and it’s great, it’s great, then they’re off and the promoter plays bad music to get you go to the bar. Now you’re at the bar and the next band comes on and it’s like, “Oh, it’s great! It’s back up again!” Now that band’s off and the worst music in the world is coming on because the bars want you to spend the money.
The goal of a promoter is to take as much money off the table in those four hours of that show.
Now the headliner’s on and you’ve been on this roller coaster. Headliners last song… encore… “Wow! Great! Okay, go the fuck home.” So it’s like a roller coaster. But at a rave, when you go in, the music doesn’t stop, and it progressively goes up. So my goal in what I do is to try to bridge that gap; to let the kids have a better experience. And the only way to do that is to visually stimulate them. Right now, phones are taken and put above kids’ heads during the show. Distracting the band… but it’s good, it’s not bad. But we need to get the phones to be a tool. Not only a tool that the fans enjoy using, but at tool that helps add a revenue column, a much needed revenue column, to artists, especially the young ones. So being able to put a festival on and bring artists to their fans in a one-on-one gaming experience which is going on outside.
Today was the launch and it was the first day that we’re trying it. To see the reaction of the fans to come in and play Call Of Duty and to play against Buddy and to play against Anthony, that’s added value to it. That’s helping repair that roller coaster, so that experience isn’t just on and off. Fans aren’t a sponge. You can’t squeeze them for everything they have. I hope that what we do is to add more water.
Did GameChanger World come out of your leaving Bamboozle and Live Nation? Or was it something that you had wanted to do that you weren’t allowed to do?
Nothing ever comes out of anything. But GameChanger World… When we decided it was time to move on from Bamboozle, there was a rewards pot that we kind of built with BoozleTwist where fans were rewarded for their amount of time. It was kind of boring and BoozleTwist and CrowdTwist could only take it so far. So we had to find a better vehicle for our conduit to take the vision. What’s better than a mobile game? An app that can change, can update.
The biggest thing is that artists are struggling every day because the average CD, when I was a kid, I paid 18 dollars for. In today’s world, if I was paying 18 dollars for a CD, it should be 30 dollars right now because that was 13 or 14 years ago. But, the average kid spends four dollars because he either steals it, or only buys one song. The average person that buys a record is far and few between the kids that are stealing it or the kids that are just buying it single. The average price has been pushed down to four dollars. How do we (you and I) get the 26 dollars back? How do the artists get it back? How do the record labels get it back? They can’t. You can’t charge more for a concert ticket; you can’t charge more for merch. There are only so many times a band can come through a market without hurting their worth in the market. How do you do all that? You have to create a new space. And the best way to take something from a kid (because I have two) is to game them. I believe that if the artists believe in what we’re doing, and make the right games, I think you’ve seen one today, we’re going to release the best games out there. The artists are developing them. You can see it in the room right now. T. Mills is sitting in there with a developer going over his game.
These are all beta models that we’re showing today. But when they’re ready for game play, they’re going to be fine-tuned and artist approved. It’s not like I’m slapping on a label, I work with the artists. I spend a lot of time; I work with them in concept and recruitment. It’s hard to sell somebody a dream. It’s hard to say hey, I’m making mobile games, just sign away with me. So I set out to get 20 bands. We have sixty right now. It’s big. It’s not a fence, but we don’t want the big bands. I don’t want Green Day, I don’t want blink-182, I don’t want Lil Wayne… Well I would… I’d take all of them, but right now it’s the bands that need it the most because they’re the ones that are going to tour the 200 days a year. They’re the ones that are going to be actively working. It’s like, nobody knows the name of the character in Call Of Duty, nobody knows the guy in Mortal Combat, nobody knows Angry Bird. You know Travis Mills. You know Anthony Raneri. You know Buddy Nielsen.
Is this something you’d like to continue with new bands over time?
Every day. Yeah. Every day I wake up and I’m like, “We’ve got to get this band today.” One of the best games that we have coming out isn’t even a game. Here’s how I explain GameChanger World: GameChanger World is a boardwalk. The artists are the ride. The gaming company that we’re building, the labs, is the electricty. So, the kids are going to come to the boardwalk to go on rides. It’s going to be a community. So the bands that are on the boardwalk with their rides, like Bayside, Senses Fail, T. Mills, they all want more bands to come because it’s more kids coming to the boardwalk to see their ride. Every time a kid pulls that lever, that’s a quarter going back to the band. Most bands don’t see a quarter in four record sales. So we’re trying to put the money back into the artists’ hands, but rewarding the fans. So every band that signs to GameChanger World, gives us 300 prizes. So if I have 20 bands right now, I’ve got six thousand prizes to give out to the kids. So it’s not like you’re mayor of GameChanger World. You aren’t mayor of anything, you actually get a T-shirt, you actually get a player card. We’re taking the gaming art and putting that as our rewards. You can’t buy it. My platform is dead the minute somebody sells something. And the games are free.
blink-182 Announce ‘Icon’ Release | New Found Glory Announce ‘Icon’ Release
Universal Music is putting out Icon releases for both blink-182 and New Found Glory on the same day in March. Don’t get too excited though. Neither release has songs that were not featured on each individual band’s greatest hits release and both bands most likely knew nothing of the reissue.
Blood On The Dance Floor Not Breaking Up Despite Rumors And Prayers
We’re all still really proud of this headline, so we’re going to post about it one more time right here.
The Postal Service Announce North American Reunion Tour
Just in case you don’t want to spend a dumb amount of money for Coachella, The Postal Service have announced a reunion summer tour. While the band is not hitting every market, it will certainly appease many more fans who never got the chance to see The Postal Service live.
Frank Turner Signs To Interscope Records; Switches From Indie To Major
A big move. There’s no reason not to shoot for the stars with this release on Turner’s end, but it will be interesting to see how it goes with Interscope, of all majors.
Alkaline Trio, Bayside Announce Tour
What a tour! Alkaline Trio will have a new record out this spring and Bayside will be an excellent supporting band for the spring tour. Some venues are underplays while some are notably large. It should be a fun spring.
The Devil Wears Prada Sign With Roadrunner Records; Releasing LP In 2013
A big move for The Devil Wears Prada as they step up from Ferret and try to make a larger name for themselves in the metal scene.
Bonnaroo Announces 2013 Festival Lineup
Does this look appealing to anyone here?
Alkaline Trio and Bayside have announced a tour together this spring. Check out the dates below by clicking “Read More!”
