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Taking Back Sunday may be the biggest band you've never heard. The Amityville, Long Island, emo-hardcore band has sold over 100,000 copies of its debut album, Tell All Your Friends, without commercial airplay and, until now, very little MTV support. Their secret? Touring, touring, touring.
Anyone who's seen a recent TBS gig, like their recent opening stint for the Used or during one of their smaller headlining shows, will vouch for the band's live appeal. The group plows through a set of mosh-worthy emo, featuring enough pop hooks to get the audience singing along in a Dashboard-like frenzy. Hearing thousands of kids screaming self-loathing romantic diatribes like "You could slit my throat, and with one last gasping breath/I'd apologize for bleeding on your shirt" is unforgettable, if somewhat disturbing.
The audience participation recently started to get out of hand. One New York show had more fans diving off stage than on the floor -- and it was an acoustic performance. For singer Adam Lazzara, who had been injured in a freak stage accident last fall, it was sort of a wake-up call. "Since I was hurt, we've toned things down a lot," he says. "I'm more conscious of people coming on stage and jumping into the crowd. I can see fans when people jump on them. It's really sad. I want to pat them on the head or something."
The band formed just two years ago after Lazzara, a North Carolina resident, became obsessed with the Long Island hardcore scene that sprouted contemporaries like Glassjaw and the Movielife. After commuting for several shows, he decided to move in-state and form a band with some like-minded musicians in the New York punk scene. Victory Records soon took notice, and the band released Friends last year to critical acclaim.
Though the group has developed a steady fan base through constant touring, Taking Back Sunday recently upped their profile with a video for the single "Cute Without the E (Cut From the Team)." But the Fight Club-inspired vignette met with some resistance. "We were going to have a bunch of guys fighting a bunch of girls in this basement, and the girls wouldn't always win," Lazzara says. Though it would have accurately reflected the rather vicious love-hate nature of his lyrics, the director and record company didn't go for it (a re-edit features more of an overall three-minute homage to the David Fincher film).
With MTV2 and MuchMusic now behind the band and a headline tour on the way in March (not to mention a headlining spot on the Warped Tour this summer), the band has only one worry: themselves. Both Lazzara and guitarist/co-lyricist John Nolan have found girlfriends. "It's funny, because we're really stoked about it," the singer admits. "But I haven't written a love ballad . . . yet."
See an exclusive live performance of "Cute without the E"
KIRK MILLER
(February 25, 2003)