Antsmarching.org will have a review of the new album tonight

[CWMCALL]

I'm still skeptical. I agree with Wormann. Sorry to be like that, but shit...I hope I have to put my foot in my mouth.

EDIT: Whoever said this will be better than BTCS needs to send me some of that high grade crack you've got your hands on.

[Nitro1515]

Matt from antsmarching posted his long review a little while ago, it looks like they cut out the best part of American Baby according to him

Hey all. Thanks for sticking around and having such a great time in here! Sorry for not pumping more info your way and taking so long to make a post in here...it was kind of tough once the party got kicked back off after the initial introduction and I've spent 18 of the last 36 hours in my car. Sorry also about the server not holding up that well last night. The poll on the front page was coded poorly (by me) and it'll be fixed at some point today. I'm sure you noticed that once Joe took it down, the site sped right back up, even with the high traffic. We'll have that all fixed for you soon.

The band's A&R guy, Bruce Flohr, was sort of the DJ for the first half hour of the whole thing, saying a little bit about the album process, the sessions, and a bit about each song he played for us.

Naturally, anyone within management and/or the label is going to be psyched about this album publically. They're not going to stand up there and say they don't like it. That being said, however, I truly feel that this time, it's legit. Bruce said that every single album he's ever had dealings with in the past has had some sort of tension level in the studio between the band members. It's hard work, they're cooped up in there, a lot of emotion is being poured into the songs, and invariably there's friction. He said for the first time, there was absolutely none of that during these sessions. He's never seen the band have the time they had making this album.

He went on to introduce the disc's first single, American Baby, and spun it. It was mentioned that this song was written the day after the election. Accompanying the introduced tracks was video on two big screen TVs - most of it footage from the studio sessions. AB started off with video of the band watching fireworks from outside their studio - very cool. As we've said on the main page, there's a breakdown during the outro to this song, in which Mark layers a couple of sax tracks from Roi and Carter gets to break away from the standard rock beat. It's the coolest part of the song and I partially agree with it being cut out of the radio edit, simply for the fact that we'll still be excited about hearing the album cut of a song that's been out for two months.

Bruce then introduced a song he termed as "if I were a betting man, I'd put my money on this being the second single." He then played Dream Girl, which is a nice song, which Sharon put pretty well as, "the next Space Between." Not in similar sound, but it has that type of ballad vibe where it will be a solid second single in terms of radio play. The song begins with a vocal harmony that is interesting and again, refreshing to hear the band doing something out of the ordinary.

We were then introduced to a song we've all heard a bit of from the studio videos, Everybody Wake Up. The main riff in the song has a twinge of Build You A House to it, but I wouldn't go as far to say that it was directly influenced by it. A solid tune, definitely staying with the theme of different material than we're used to. At this point I came to the opinion that this disc is more like Everyday than any of the other discs thus far, in the sense that the songs are well produced, and definitely have an element of electricity to them. Not necessarily a bad thing, however, as when you hear these songs, I think you'll feel that they have soul, where the Everyday disc seemed fake and glossy.

Bruce then introduced the final song he'd play for us (before the lights came back on,) Steady As We Go. He said that it was the first time that Dave had played piano on an album, and what I heard was a huge argument that he should do it more often! A simplistic piano part, but a calming, beautiful tune. The first half of the song is very much Dave Matthews solo, but then the band joins in and really rounds out a song that I feel might be the sleeper of the album. And by sleeper, I mean that this song could really turn out to be something.

The lights came on and they spun the remaining tracks on the album as people got up to mingle and drink. As this morning's email obviously shows, the tracklist has still not been set in stone, although that's a decision that most likely is either newly made, or will be within the coming days. Some prodding got some tracks played that we might not have heard otherwise. Hunger for the Great Light seemingly was going to be kept unplayed, but we couldn't have that, could we? Since the disc was playing in the backround, and there was a lot of conversations happening, I couldn't fully focus on the songs, but Fonzi wrote the music on this one, and it's definitely a rock song with style to it. It was good to hear Hello Again out of the studio, but there isn't much different to note. I'm glad it's going to make the cut, and I think it's the song's pure strength that pushed it onto the tracklist. I say it like that because the band had played the new summer songs so much this past tour, they almost felt like "old" songs to them by the time they got into the studio. Add to that the fact that they were writing so much good material, they felt like they had shifted gears past that material, so we got lucky with that one. Joy Ride was played as well, but is not a lock for the album. Another track known to be on the album is "Smooth Rider," one that's termed to be " a down tempo groove anchored by Lessard and Beauford." I believe I heard this song, because a 'down tempo groove' is a good description of one of the songs. Definitely has good drive to it, I guess you could say similar to Too High off of Some Devil, but more energy to it. "Stolen Away" is another track slated to make the cut, but all I know about it is that it has an "inspirational music motif" by Roi. All this has me excited - it really sounds like the individual members of the band really shine on this disc. "Stand Up" was a management favorite, and I can see why. For some reason I conjur up images of Sly & the Family Stone when I hear this song. Apparently a popular phrase at Haunted Hollow was, "Play Stand Up!" Funky, funky, funky.

I also got a chance to talk with Boyd, and he seemed extremely excited about getting this album out to the fans. I asked him if the songs that didn't make the cut (of which there are many) will be getting any play during the summer, and he gave me a definitive and excited, "Absolutely. Definitely." Looks like we're in for a refreshing and exciting summer.

All in all, it was a great time. It was very gracious of the band and management to reach out to the fan community and bring us in on the process of promoting the album. I know it was one of the greatest experiences of my life for sure. Many of you know that I've been less than impressed with the band's recent material. I hope that this disc helps me turn that corner, and from what I've heard so far, the band is headed in the right direction. If the band really is as excited about getting this stuff out to the fans as they say they are, and I believe they are, we owe it to them to give this stuff a shot. I don't think we'll be disappointed.

[GSR]

I think you'll feel that they have soul, where the Everyday disc seemed fake and glossy.

Fonzi wanted the new ablum to have a soul feel to it.

[jsgksu]

I also got a chance to talk with Boyd, and he seemed extremely excited about getting this album out to the fans. I asked him if the songs that didn't make the cut (of which there are many) will be getting any play during the summer, and he gave me a definitive and excited, "Absolutely. Definitely." Looks like we're in for a refreshing and exciting summer.

Thank god, that just made me very happy. I was scared of them shelving half of the songs and never hearing them.