Our PropertyOfZack the Decade feature has been incredibly fun for us to launch over the past few months to celebrate ten year anniversaries of some of our favorite albums. Today’s feature is going to be a little different though. Anti-Flag are not celebrating a ten year album anniversary this year, but they are celebrating a 20 year anniversary as a band. We’re helping them do that today.

We have commentary from Anti-Flag themselves, Man Overboard, Code Orange Kids, Pentimento, Skinny Lister, The Braces, The Architects, Blacklist Royals, and Modern Baseball on multiple aspects of AF’s career over the past 20 years, and we think it’s pretty special.

SideOneDummy Records is also being incredibly rad and offering POZ viewers 20% off on their entire webstore until Thursday, May 16th with the code “POZ.” So check out the webstore here, AF’s 20 year anniversary tour dates here, and the whole Decade feature below!

Skinny Lister on Anti-Flag’s influence
Anti-Flag has a way of inspiring not just their fans, but their friends as well. I fell in love with Anti-Flag in high school and for years they were the anthem of my youth. Later while playing in The A.K.A.s, I got to meet them and tour with them and was happy to learn that the quality of people in the band ran just as deep as the quality of their music. Anti-Flag will always be a band for the people, and I am honored to call them friends. - Michael Camino (@skinnylister)
 
Code Orange Kids on A New Kind of Army
The first punk CD I ever owned was Anti-Flag’s A New Kind of Army. One of the first shows I went to was getting to see Anti-Flag in Pittsburgh. Both of these experiences shaped my musical palette as a lil’ guy. I read up on social issues and got in the push pit. It was tight. – Jami Morgan (@codeorangekids)

If there is one thing you wanted people to know about AF that they do not already know, what would it be?
Chris #2: We have fun. A lot of fun! We believe that being in a band should be fun. Not everything is about the politics of the band. That’s why we chose music. Because we are humans, we enjoy life, we want others to as well. In conjunction with that we believe that having a social conscience is important and making a statement is necessary to create change in the world. The truth is that people can have great lives and reach success without fucking over each other and the planet. 
 
Modern Baseball on Chris #2’s bass riffs
My first exposure to Anti-Flag was when I was about 12 or 13 and I first discovered Fat Wreck’s Rock Against Bush comps with the band’s “School For Assassins” on it. After hearing that track, they quickly became one of my favorite bands because they were playing cool punk rock and singing about stuff they were super passionate about, which is a trait that was somewhat lacking in punk bands at the time. It’s crazy to think that I’ve been listening to Die For Your Government and The Terror State for about eight years now and even crazier to think they had been a band for twelve years before that. Not too many bands have it in them to put out records with such energy for so long. When I first started playing bass, Chris #2 was one of my favorite bassists and hell - he still is. Dude rips awesome bass lines left and right in a way that no one else can, which totally sets Anti-Flag from other punk bands like them. I mean, just listen to “Turncoat.” That last chorus is like insane bass riffage. I wish I was that good. Anyway, my point is I love that band and I’m super stoked that they’ve been around this long and I’m even more stoked to see them again at Bled Fest this year. – Ian Farmer (@modernbaseball)

If you could change one thing about your career what would you alter?
Chris #2: That’s interesting. I don’t like to really entertain scenarios like this because no matter what you’ve done, unless its harm someone physically, most of what happens in a music career is based on creative instinct and what is right for you at the time. So, it’s easy to have hindsight, but the butterfly effect of that change could alter everything else. One thing that nags us is that we should have trimmed the fat on some early songs. Some are way too long! 

What do you feel is your biggest accomplishment over the last 20 years?

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Today PropertyOfZack is launching our sixth Decade feature in honor Fall Out Boy’s Take This To Your Grave, which will be celebrating its ten year anniversary next week. Though the band has confirmed that we will not be getting a ten year tour for their debut full-length album, there’s no reason we can’t look back on the record together. We have commentary on the album via team members Deanna Chapman, Michael Sheffey, Adrienne Fisher, and Brittany Oblak. Enjoy and reblog to let us know your thoughts on Take This To Your Grave ten years later! 

How did Take This To Your Grave change FOB’s future
Take This To Your Grave was the first full-length album Fall Out Boy recorded in the studio. This album created a significant fan base for them and then they began to tour, playing in small venues. They had been the opening act for bands such as Yellowcard, Taking Back Sunday, and blink-182. Performing with bands like that, how could Fall Out Boy not gain some recognition? Although the album didn’t make the Billboard charts when it first came out, it definitely had a positive impact on the band’s future. A media buzz surrounded the album and TV stations such as FUSE and mtvU began airing their videos for “Saturday” and “Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy.” That exposure gave them the recognition they needed to be picked up for their next album, From Under The Cork Tree. TTTYG proved that Stump and Wentz were capable of writing great songs and catching people’s attention. For this being their first full-length effort, the band started with high standards. The album ultimately launched the band forward and allowed them to continue with their music career. – Deanna Chapman 

Most important song on Take This To Your Grave
There’s no doubt that TTTYG is hailed as one of the albums, if not the album, that made Fall Out Boy. And as far as important song goes, there are two obvious contenders: The quintessential pop-punk anthem “Saturday,” with Stump’s pensive vocal reflection (written by Wentz) on potential thrills in a standstill life and Wentz’s belting screams that project a sense of urgency and chaos; and the catchy, if less heavy, “Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy” with an a cappella intro that grabs the audience from the start and keeps them chanting throughout. Despite my longing for pop-punk heritage, the clear winner has to be “Grand Theft Autumn.” This song and video put Fall Out Boy on the track to stardom and was on FUSE and Target’s in-store video/radio broadcasts all across the country in a matter of months.  It’s more catchy and poppy feel grabbed anyone from show-going fanboys to random radio listeners shopping for groceries. Though the success of this song was not truly felt until the album’s follow up, From Under The Cork Tree,which surged TTTYG sales dramatically, it’s clear that “Grand Theft Autumn” was the audience frontrunner. Everyone and their mother knows and loves this song. – Mike Sheffey

Fall Out Boy follow up to Take This To Your Grave 
We’re all pretty familiar with the trajectory of Fall Out Boy’s career - rocketeering mainstream success, some interesting stylistic departures, inevitable fame-weary hiatus, and the recent resurrection marked by the glory-hallelujahs of fans all over the world. But following immediately the release of Take This to Your Grave was the underground takeover of the pop-punk scene of the early 2000s, one that at the time was largely dominated by the sterling roster of Drive-Thru Records darlings. FOB followed up its soon-to-be-beloved full-length with relentless touring, supporting bands like Mest and Less Than Jake before amping up enough momentum to start headlining the clubs themselves.

By then, those guitar swings that Pete and Joe had been perfecting at every show had become nothing short of their trademark. In May 2004, they released an often-overlooked acoustic EP titled (deep breath) My Heart Will Always Be the B-Side To My Tongue, featuring some gouging emo acoustic tunes. Included was an unplugged “Grand Theft Autumn,” one very uncomfortable Joy Division cover, and most notably, the demo version of “Nobody Puts Baby In The Corner,” which was the world’s first glimpse into what was to come in From Under the Cork Tree. In the year to follow, the full-band version of that song appeared on Purevolume, “Sugar, We’re Going Down” materialized onto Top 40 radio airwaves everywhere, Pete Wentz survived a suicide attempt and miraculously FUTCTemerged to the world, courtesy of major label Island Records.

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Today PropertyOfZack is launching our fifth Decade feature in honor of The Postal Service’s Give Up, which is celebrating its ten year anniversary reissue today. We figured it would be perfect timing between the reissue and major touring coming this spring and summer. We have commentary on the album via team members Josh Hammond, Marc Gary Gray, Deanna Chapman, and Brittany Oblak. Enjoy and reblog to let us know your thoughts on Give Up ten years later!

Most important song on Give Up

The first time I listened to “Such Great Heights,” I knew instantly that I was listening to a defining piece of music history. I was sitting in my car the moment the intro notes began pinging around my head, forming one of the most consuming walls of sound I had ever experience. With flawless production, near perfect structuring and composition and absolutely stunning lyric approach, the song is as close to a modern masterpiece as possible.

Additionally, the song would gain a second life through a cover by Sub Pop label mate Iron & Wine. The song would find its way to the soundtrack of the film Garden State, gathering cult status and a reputation and fan base of its own, therefore altering the careers of both The Postal Service and Iron & Wine. Shifts could be noticed in the career of Gibber’s other project, Death Cab for Cutie. Transatlanticism’s first single would noticeably take more of a Postal Service approach to structure in the way it would mix depression with solid pop structuring. 

It is no stretch to imply that the reach of this song extends past that of many indie releases. Locking in the legacy as the biggest asset on a stellar release the song should be remembered long after everything it has touched has faded into retirement. – Joshua Hammond (@endless_rambles) 

How did The Postal Service follow up Give Up 

Give Up was a great start for The Postal Service, until they decided at the time there would not be a follow up. The writing process had begun for a sophomore effort, but was never completed. However, The Postal Service by no means went away in regards to the number of fans they still maintained. Give Up was such an outstanding album that it left people wanting more, but it wasn’t until January 2013 that the band’s site was updated and they announced a re-issue of the album, which will include a two rarities. Their fan base went crazy and it was clear that the original success of the album brought the group very loyal fans. The re-issue is out now and I believe that will show just how many people still love the group and want another album. Ten years is a long time to wait. – Deanna Chapman (@deechapman21) 

How does Give Up hold up in 2013

If this album came out today, would it be received equally well? Has the album aged well over the past ten years? Are those the same question or entirely different questions? For the sake of this next couple of paragraphs, I’m treating them as different questions, and answering them in reverse order. The album has aged gracefully over the past decade, but if it were released today, it would not have nearly the success or impact it saw in 2003. Before any diehard fans of The Postal Service skewer me as a consequence of my last sentence, please let me expound (for I mean this as a compliment).

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Today PropertyOfZack is launching our fourth Decade feature in honor of AFI’s Sing The Sorrow, which just celebrated its ten year anniversary. The band has been quiet for a few years now, but the anniversary of one of the band’s most popular releases can’t help but bring memories back for AFI fans. We have commentary on the album via team members Josh Hammond, Marc Gary Gray, Deanna Chapman, and Adrienne Fisher, in addition to special words from Mike Hansen of Pentimento. Enjoy and reblog to let us know your thoughts on Sing The Sorrow ten years later!

Legacy of Sing The Sorrow 

In reality Sing the Sorrow has two legacies. 

To begin with the album serves as a major fork in the band’s career in terms of referencing their sound. With Jerry Finn and Butch Vig at the helm of production, their sound would shift from the horror punk and hardcore sound that fan’s had become accustom to, forming a more industrial and alternative sound flooded with synthesizers and samples. Combining the brilliance of both storied producers, AFI’s new sound caught the attention of media and fans alike. The album caught fire and built a buzz like the band had never experienced. 

All three singles from the album (“Girl’s Not Grey,” “The Leaving Song Pt. II,” and “Silver and Cold”) landed significant radio attention, help the album climb the charts. Peaking at 5 on the Billboard Top 200 charts, the album would grip the industry in a way not completely expected from previous releases. High praise from the media would also help drum up exposure for the band, eventually leading to a Platinum Record for Sing the Sorrow.  The album would slingshot the band into A-List status, changing the face of the career of AFI. With bigger venues, larger audiences and more exposure, the band’s speaking voice would quickly shift into a yell. – Joshua Hammond (@endless_rambles)

Most important song on Sing The Sorrow

Sing the Sorrow showcases a pretty standard evolution that plenty of bands undergo - the move from hard to soft, from aggressive to introspective. AFI caught their fair share of flak from underground supporters for the shift, as it came in suspicious conjunction with their new major label home and with a host of songs that had mostly all but abandoned the hardcore punk style that was adopted on their previous releases. “Girls Not Grey” and “Silver and Cold” made for popular singles while deviating the furthest in style from the core aggression by which AFI had come to be defined. And while one can make the argument that the most popular songs are the most memorable, I’ll suggest differently.

“Dancing Through Sunday,” while not belonging to mainstream rotation, is a fan-favorite and does the best job of demonstrating the group’s sonic evolution while still keeping one foot firmly in their punk roots. A fierce, upbeat song, it lyrically toys with juxtaposing the ideas of dance and sadness; the dark-and-twisted overtones are pretty exaggerated and won’t be winning over any adult fans here a decade later. However, the song most notably incorporates both the shrill vocal stylings of the AFI of old along with the deeply hooky chorus, contributing to the band’s newfound accessibility - “ohhhhh”s aplenty! Not to mention the presence of a hammy guitar solo following the bridge, which I may or may not have had playing the first time my dad ever took me to drive on a real highway…it totally shreds. – Adrienne Ray Fisher (@adriennerayfush)

How the album changed the band’s future

Sing the Sorrow was the sixth release from AFI, but one of the firsts to have mainstream success. It opened up the band to a larger audience as they charted on Billboard’s top ten. Songs such as “Girl’s Not Grey” and “Silver and Cold” became increasingly popular. The band even won a VMA for the “Girl’s Not Grey” music video. This album gave the band their first mainstream success, which carried over into their next album, Decemberunderground. Being noticed on the charts and being exposed to a larger audience had definitely changed their future. They went on to get a slot on Saturday Night Live, headline festivals, and play in stadiums. Needless to say, Sing the Sorrow greatly helped the band’s future success. – Deanna Champman (@deechapman21) 

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We are incredibly excited to be launching our third Decade feature in celebration of Copeland’s Beneath Medicine Tree, which is celebrating its ten year anniversary next week. Though the band has now come and gone, Beneath Medicine Tree is a record that has stood the test of time for listeners, viewers, and POZ. We have commentary on the album via team members Josh Hammond, Marc Gary Gray, and Brittany Oblak. Enjoy and reblog to let us know your thoughts on Beneath Medicine Tree ten years later!

Best song on Beneath Medicine Tree

To understand the significance of “Brightest,” the opening track of Copeland’s debut full length, Beneath Medicine Tree, you first have to grasp the depth and intensities of the concept of the album. Inspired heavily from the hospitalization of his girlfriend and the death of his grandmother, Aaron Marsh approached the album’s lyrics and songwriting from a confessional and extremely venerable position. Nothing is held back from the listener and every drop of emotion felt from Marsh ends up bleeding into the mix. 

“Brightest,” a song that comes in at just over two minutes, stands out as the most understated and softly spoken song on an album weighed down in heavy plots and heart wrenching scripts. It is this simplicity however that makes the song shine. Based over soft, flowing piano and calm, careful guitar the song’s lyrics express hindsight. Marsh looks back fondly at prior situation, explaining that he has let it go. He says softly and almost insecurely, “All I know is she warms my heart and knows what all my imperfections are” before revealing the great couplet on the album “and she said that I was the brightest little firefly in her jar.” 

I remember being 22 years old and hearing Marsh sing those words for the first time. In that moment everything changed. I can recall seeing my views and concepts of what love shift dramatically. I desperately wanted to be the brightest firefly in someone’s jar. That statement defined me. It changed me. More importantly it stuck with me for a decade. 

Unintentionally and from his own grief, Marsh managed to pen the most important two minutes of my life. I can only imagine the effect that it managed to have on his. – Joshua Hammond (@endless_rambles) 

Legacy of Beneath Medicine Tree

I’m not suffering from writer’s block, I swear. However, I can’t seem to “sum up” the legacy of this album. I would posit that the legacy Beneath Medicine Tree ten years after its release (but you knew that already, right? Decade? Amiright?) is a slightly complex one. First of all, Copeland is a “Christian” band, and however you choose to view that, the label (limiting or unnecessary as it may be) can certainly have an effect on the way a band is viewed: see Exhibit A – mewithoutYou. 

Being one who is frustrated with such labels, I will choose to completely ignore this fact when attempting to place this album in its proper historical place and context. Here are two things that I know for sure: 1) when given the list of albums that would be highlighted in this Decade project, I did not bat an eyelash at this album. In other words, of COURSE this album needs to be highlighted. No brainer. 2) Nothing on this album sticks it permanently into its period in history. Let me expound. There are no badly placed screaming parts (no screaming parts at all, for that matter). The production is simple and understated. There are no rap interludes, no dance move music videos, nothing to pin the album to 2003. I hate to throw around the word timeless, but in this context, the album is timeless. And that’s definitely a good thing. 

At the end of the day, this album fills a nice gap between the late 90s emo bands (think Jets to Brazil, Hey Mercedes, etc.) and bands like Brand New and Fall Out Boy who thrived in the middle to later portions of the 2000s. Ultimately, Aaron Marsh solidified himself a place next to the great indie/emo songwriters of the last ten years, and if that’s the most I can say for someone, that’s still quite something. - Marc Gary Gray (@marcgarygray)  

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We are incredibly excited to be launching our second Decade feature in celebration of The Movielife’s Forty Hour Train Back To Penn, which was released ten years ago today. Though the band has been broken up for most of the past decade, minus two reunion shows, Forty Hour is a record that many POZ team members and bands that we love hold dear to our hearts. We have commentary on the album via team members Erik van Rheenen, Adrienne Fisher, and guest Marc Gary Gray. Enjoy and reblog to let us know your thoughts on Forty Hour Train Back To Penn ten years later!

Legacy of Forty Hour Train Back To Penn:

2003 was (clearly) a banner year for Drive-Thru Records pop punk, and The Movielife’s album Forty Hour Train Back to Penn (clearly) fits into that category. However, unlike almost any other album in this showcase, this album marked the end of a band’s run, as opposed to the many debut or sophomore albums you’ll be reading about in the next few weeks. Forty Hour Train Back to Penn plays like many of its peers: 3 minute catchy jams about heartache, longing, and let’s face it…girls. With the aid of retrospect, this album feels rather dated. There is certainly an air of sincerity surrounding these tracks, but with so many of their contemporaries striking similar chords (chords…get it? Never mind…), the only remarkable thing about this album 10 years later is how unremarkable it sounds. In effect, this album permanently grounds the band (and, with help from others, Drive-Thru Records) as relics of the early 2000s, a time when boy bands were fading from the spotlight but Kanye and Skrillex weren’t there yet to grab hold of the pop music reigns. It was a time when four unassuming guys from Anywhere, USA could wear their hearts on their sleeves and sell records while they were doing so. Fans of pop punk (myself included) will continue to love this record the way we love playing old NES games on the Wii; we don’t want to go back for good, but we’re glad we can from time to time. - Marc Gary Gray (@marcgarygray)

How Forty Hour Train Back To Penn holds up in 2013:

Pop punk isn’t a genre that ages especially gracefully, but Forty Hour Train Back to Penn holds up remarkably well. That might have something to do with the fact that it’s the last record we got from The Movielife, and with Vinnie Caruana saying “The Movielife is dead” during the Acoustic Basement Tour, waiting for another Movielife record would be as aimless as waiting for Godot. Because the Movielife isn’t around to play these songs, giving Forty Hour Train Back to Penn a spin every so often keeps the songs as fresh as they were ten years ago. Caruana’s open-book lyrics still hit home, and while it’s a shame the Movielife called it quits, at least they saved their best album for last. Hearing Caruana perform some of these songs acoustically really illustrates their versatility, and that translation away from the full-band ethos keeps fans listening. - Erik van Rheenen (@TheVandyMan)

Movielife’s follow up to Forty Hour Train Back To Penn:

The Movielife put out Forty Hour Train Back To Penn in 2003 and, despite praise from the pop-punk community, announced less than a year later that the band was no more. And with that, the cord was cut – no final show, no posthumous B-side releases, no breadcrumbs to feed the fans.

So, to say whether or not the band was successful in following up their final full-length record truly lies in the way that the Movielife achieved closure for themselves and for their fans. In 2008, Caruana brought the songs back to full-band life by performing a set of Movielife songs at Bamboozle and Bamboozle Left that year, with Set Your Goals as a backing band. The decision to play this way was reported as because the other members of the Movielife were not willing to participate in a reunion, yet Caruana wanted to find a way to bring the songs back to life for fans that still loved the records and had been hoping against hope to hear the songs again in a live setting. Caruana also continued playing solo shows on a semi-regular basis over the years, touring by himself and playing sets that consisted of both Movielife and I Am the Avalanche songs.

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2013 is going to be an incredible year to reflect back on the music we love and the memories attached to songs we still know better than any others. We’ve created a new PropertyOfZack feature called Decade to celebrate those albums that we love and the albums that have inspired a new wave of music in their path. Decade will be a frequent feature on the site taking place around the ten year anniversaries of albums or their tours.

We’re kicking off Decade which Finch, who recently began their What It Is To Burn anniversary tour. We have commentary on the album via team members Jesse Richman and Adrienne Fisher, Under The Gun friend of the site Dan Bogosian, Joe Cubera of American Dream Records, and Buddy Nielsen from Senses Fail that has all been compiled by Managing Editor Josh Hammond. Enjoy and reblog to let us know your thoughts on What It Is To Burn over ten years later!

Legacy of What It Is To Burn:

What It Is To Burn was the album that broke post-hardcore into a mainstream entity, as far as I’m concerned. Thrice and Thursday became bigger bands, Glassjaw ranked higher on the charts for a bit, but Finch hit number one on the Heatseekers chart and 99 on the Billboard 200 in an era where the top 200 had no idea where to go after ‘N Sync broke up (and no, that isn’t a joke). Finch came out of nowhere and identified themselves as a mainstream link to an obscure scene, combining the east coast hardcore sound with the San Diego alternative scene, bridging the likes of Drive Like Jehu and connecting them to the “emo” people still cling to today. A decade later, we can look back and say that maybe the album isn’t everyone’s favorite, but the imprint and the impact were there and stood the test of time. What It Is To Burn changed two guitar music in the 2000s, and – perhaps against the band’s own wishes – made “screamo” a thing. Love it or hate it, the album changed the shape of what was to come, and still provides songs to sing along to. I’ve seen every reunion show so far, and every audience member knows every word. If that isn’t a profound legacy, what is? - Dan Bogosian (@dlbogosian)

I would say that What It Is To Burn was one of those records that influenced a generation of kids to play a certain style of music. The mix of the catchy singing and heavy parts 100% spurred Senses Fail to explore that world of sound. - Buddy Nielsen (@SensesFail)

How the album changed Finch’s future:

The record being such a success for the band might have actually hurt their future. I feel like the band resented the fact that they had that much success, on a record they didn’t feel represented where they wanted to be musically. It is pretty obvious that on their follow up they wanted nothing to do with their old sound. - Buddy Nielsen (@SensesFail)

How What It Is To Burn holds up in 2013:

What It Is To Burn is not an album has has aged particularly gracefully.  Ten years after its release, the record doesn’t get played for much of any reason other than that of nostalgia.  Having to sit through the entirety of the album is more of a chore than a pleasant experience, and tracks like “Grey Matter” and “Project Mayhem” are noisy, painful reminders of the screamo heyday.  A few bright spots remain, however, as the title track, “Post Script,” and “Ender” are decent songs, and can still be enjoyed in moderation.  As with a lot of music from this era, WIITB is not the most mature album, musically or lyrically. As tastes have been refined and as angst has subsided over the past ten years, much of the appeal which made this album popular has been lost to the ages. – Joe Cubera (@anamericangod) 

I think the album still holds up very well. I think well written songs will always stand the test of time and this record is filled with those. - Buddy Nielsen (@SensesFail)

Finch’s follow up to What It Is To Burn:

I think that the battles between what the label wanted and what the band wanted played a large part in the delay of the follow up. They were on MCA, as per Drive Thru’s deal, but MCA folded into Universal and the band ended up on a rudderless label in Geffen. By my personal accounts on dealing with Geffen, it was an awful place for a band like ourselves, Finch, Starting Line, and NFG to be. We luckily were able to leave and NFG powered through but I really feel like Starting Line and Finch paid the price. I truly think things would have been different had Finch been allowed to stay on DTR or chart their own course.  - Buddy Nielsen (@SensesFail) 

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Light You Up and Decade have announced a UK tour in March. Check out the dates below by clicking “Read More.” 

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