Taking Back Sunday, known for hits like “MakeDamnSure” and “Liar (It Takes One To Know One)” are trying to become the title of their most recent album, “New Again” — sort of.
With a new guitarist, a new(ish) album and a new outlook on life, Taking Back Sunday are attempting to take back the airwaves.
“I definitely think the band’s matured,” guitarist Matt Fazzi said in an interview with The Eagle. This maturity is evident on the group’s latest record.
“New Again” is definitely not by the same 18-year-old boys who wrote the first album; it has a far more mature sound than the band’s earlier music. Some of the edge from their first album, “Tell All Your Friends,” has been smoothed out and baby-proofed for this new phase in the lives of the artists themselves. It also has a darker feeling and leaves the listener wondering where all the spirit from the old TBS went. However, their first single, “Sink Into Me,” is something of a flashback, reminiscent of their earlier work. It has that same joy and passion as Taking Back Sunday did when they formed 10 years ago.
But some fans are still unsure about the new record, choosing to believe that the band peaked back in 2002, with the release of “Tell All Your Friends.”
Fazzi does not deny a change.
“Some people think ‘New Again’ sounds like ‘Tell All Your Friends,’ which I completely do not agree with,” Fazzi said. “If that’s the way people hear it, that’s great, and if that made them like it, that’s cool.”
After being in the business for 10 years, fans can hardly expect the band to produce songs similar to those they wrote as teenagers.
“At the end of the day we just try to write a good record and write good songs and try to push the band in a few different directions that the band has never been, and I think we did a pretty good job of that,” Fazzi said. Speaking for the band, Fazzi said they were all proud of the way TBS had evolved.
Of all the songs on the record, Fazzi believes “Carpathia” best defines this new Taking Back Sunday sound.
“I think that song is a nice picture of where we were at when ... making the record, but also the direction we’d like to go in, more ... of a vocal frontier for the band,” Fazzi said, adding that he hopes the band will continue to grow.
Despite the many changes, Taking Back Sunday fans have stuck by the band — for which the boys remain thankful.
“We’re so, so lucky that we have a great fan base that always sticks with us no matter what,” Fazzi said. “We may not have sold as many records on ‘New Again’ as we did for ‘Louder Now,’ but we’re still selling the same, if not more, tickets for every city; our touring is still...great.”
On the cusp of beginning a new tour with the All-American Rejects, Fazzi looked back fondly at their time this summer opening for blink-182 and the influence other bands have had on them.
“Blink and Weezer had a huge effect on me wanting to learn how to play guitar and getting me to seem like it was within my reach,” he said. “It was cool to identify with someone like Rivers [Cuomo, lead singer of Weezer] who just didn’t look like your normal rock star; he looked like a totally normal, geeky guy.”
Fazzi said the experience was a memorable one, but the band are excited to be doing what they’re doing these days.
“At the end of the day, we’re all still people that appreciate a musician’s role and to be able to play music every day for a living is a dream come true,” Fazzi said.
Curious to see how far this band has come? Grab tickets to their show on Nov. 16 at the Patriot Center, where they’ll be co-headlining with the All-American Rejects. And don’t worry, hardcore TBS fans — they promise to play a ton of their old stuff, too.
You can reach this writer at thescene@theeagleonline.com.
