I finished reading latest issue of Alternative Press this morning which features an oral history on TAKING BACK SUNDAY. Although the piece is mainly about the personnel issues that have haunted and taunted the band for the past eight years, the background of the group’s origins is full of interesting observations. I was still living on Long Island when the group just got going and twice saw the band perform with original singer Antonio Longo. They were not very good in that formulation. One thing that stuck out was how overly dramatic Longo was compared to the rest of the band. Arms flailing everywhere. Lots of jumping up and down while standing in place. It’s kind of funny seeing that brought up now in the oral history, more than ten years later, confirming those very early impressions.

Later on, a copy of the band’s second demo, the one that got them signed to Victory, was sent in for review on Pastepunk.  The same day it arrived, I listened to it and took it with me to play in the car for Kevin Wade, former Punkrocks.net editor, and eventual Lobster Records dude. I think we were going to see OVER IT that night (the odds were high during that time period that if we went to a show in Northern Virginia it featured OVER IT), and we listened to the demo in my car a few times. It just clicked, we knew this band was going to be special. What I heard specifically that day was the next iteration of Long Island Hardcore and you could just sort of feel that the word “hardcore” wouldn’t be associated with this sound for long. Going over that demo and even Tell All Your Friends today, you can pick out the subtle and not-so-subtle GLASSJAW and SILENT MAJORITY influences, as well as bits from Eddie Reyes’ beloved former band CLOCKWISE. The sharp emo turn of the full-length only obscures so much…

The oral history in Alternative Press glosses over the fact that TAKING BACK SUNDAY’s rise was a slow burn effort at first, much like THURSDAY’s Full Collapse. Shortly after the release of Tell All Your Friends, the band was a part of the 2002 Victory Records Tour and had the opening slot (before STUDENT RICK of all bands…). I went to the DC show on the tour and it was a mess, an early Sunday show that also included REACH THE SKY, who played DC often, but whose brand of melodic hardcore almost always seemed unappreciated here, and CATCH 22, who are not exactly known for drawing a crowd that was willing to watch other bands outside of a ska/punk sphere. Maybe this is a stretch in my memory, but I think TAKING BACK SUNDAY played to about 75 people at the 9:30 Club, a venue that fits 1300. The 2002 Victory Records machine eventually helped push the band to amazing heights, but their humble beginnings are worth remembering.

With the band returning to the Tell All Your Friends line-up for their new full-length, it’s pretty much a last ditch effort to stay afloat. I don’t think young kids get easily inspired by fifth-album releases by dudes in their 30s… and when there’s an Oral History of Your Band in Alternative Press, that’s already a sign that your epitaph has been drafted. That said, here’s to hoping that a little bit of the magic that was created during the band’s big bang finds a spot for 2011.