| DVD REVIEW All Time Low |
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Band : All Time Low Taking their name from a line in New Found Glory’s song Head On Collisions, this Baltimore (Maryland) based Pop Punk band was founded in 2003 while its members (lead singer/ guitarist Alex Gaskarth, lead guitarist/ backing singer Jack Barakat, bassist/ backing singer Zach Merrick, and drummer Rian Dawson) were still in high school. Starting out covering songs by the likes of Green Day and Blink-182, the foursome soon enough started writing their own material, and singed to underground label Emerald Moon Records for the late 2004 release of their debut EP The Three Words To Remember In Dealing With The End. The band’s full-length debut The Party Scene followed in July 2005. In early 2006 (when the boys were in their serior high school year) the band started getting really serious, when they were offered a contract with Hopeless Records. After a meeting of the 4 families, it was decided that the boys should definitely live out their dreams, even if it meant them nót attending college (for the time being)! So the guys signed the deal on Valentine’s Day 2006, and as a “reward” the label sent the band out on a busy touring schedule as soon as they graduated. Later that year saw the release of the EP Put Up Or Shut Up (containing a select number of re-recorded varsions of songs off the debut album plus two completely new songs), which confirmed the positivity of the boys’ choice by entering both the Independent Albums and Heatseekers charts. After more extensive touring in support for the EP, the band entered the studio to record their sophomore album. 2007’s So Wrong, It’s Right would make it to the Billboard 200 to the #62 position, and to #6 on the Independent Albums charts. Second single “Dear Maria, Count Me In”, even made the singles charts, peaking at #86 on the Pop 100. Popularity grew ever more with the band being featured on MTV’s Discover And Download and Music Choice’s Fresh Crops shows, and the addition of their music on MTV’s Big Ten and MTV Hits playlists. March 2008 saw the band making their television debut on the Jimmy Kimmel Live! Show, after which they also performed at the MTVU Woodie Awards. In late 2008 the band was announced “Band Of The Year” by the Alternative Press, and they were subsequently picked to grace the cover of the magazine’s January 2009 issue. In between touring during the last year, the band had been writing new material (also one song in collaboration with Blink-182 bassist Mark Hoppus, which the band announced would nót be on the upcoming album as it was too different from their usual material), and although work was still to be done, they entered the studio with different producers (Matt Squire, Butch Walker, David Bendeth, the team of S*A*M &Sluggo, and R & B artist The-Dream – for one song) to record different songs. Prior to the release of Nothing Personal, the band released the single Weightless (as a paid download only), and made the entire album available for streaming one week before its release in early July 2009. Billboard magazine predicted the album would possibly enter the top 10 in its debut week with sales between 60,000 to 75,000. Well, the latter was possibly a wishful thinking, but with 63,000 copies sold, the album nevertheless entered the Billboard 200 at a #4 position (definitely an all time high! As habitual, the band supported the release with a real busy touring schedule (300 days’ touring out of the year, does that sound busy enough to y’all?). It’s during that tour that the band started filming the footage enclosed in the feature documentary (with addition of very old video footage and interviews with the band members’ parents) on the DVD of this album, and would eventually also record the complete concert (including encores) given by the band on December 4, 2009 at New York City’s Hammerstein Ballroom. Now you can call me weird, but the first section I viewed on that DVD was the documentary (“Feature” section). Now thus far I’d only come across ATL’s music from a compilation on Hopeless, and of course I already knew they are a rather successful Pop Punk band, but I was eager to find out more about the band’s history! As it so happens the 76-minute documentary also comprises plenty of (backstage footage, off-stage shenanigans, and) footage from the live part of the DVD (no less than 6 full-length features), so that treated me to a sizeable bit of music from the band as well. Now you can argue that using that footage is a cheap way of adding 21 minutes to the feature documentary…oh wait, you’ve got a point there! Ach no, actually it works to make interruptions in the infotainment which might otherwize become too longwinded, and besides that it makes for a recognition feel once you turn on the 69-minute “Live Show” section on the DVD. As an extra, there’s just under 5 minutes of outtakes. As for the CD, it’s actually got even better sound than the DVD or rather, it’s put on a louder volume. But the main thing is, it’s nót been edited! It’s got àll the in-between songs stuff you’ve also got on the DVD! Nice, and rarely seen/ heard! Anyway, although I’m not about to add this band among my favourites, having seen/ heard this album has convinced me that this band really deserves the good things that’s been coming its way. Besides writing really good material, the band members manage a real good performance in spite of the on-stage shenanigans, frequent in-air jumping, etc. Also, you’ve got a vocally really good band here. The lead singer gets plenty of nice (occasionally harmonic) backing vocals…and by the way, they also had a couple of guest performances that evening, like We The Kings singer Travis Clark came on stage to take over vocal duties towards the end of “Coffee Shop Soundtrack”, Automatic Love Letters’ Juliet Simms came on stage during Alex’ acoustic solo of “Remembering Sunday” (which he follows up with another acoustic solo, namely that of the song “Therapy”), and to end the show one Andrew Goldstein (didn’t catch which band he’s from) also came on stage (don’t think his mike was plugged-in though). Of course the fan will knów most of the songs from the albums in his/her (a lót of girls in front of the stage) collection, so this release won’t add anything, except for the video footage, which is well worth having…or at least in my mind! Still, DVD, and live recordings at that, means no rating from me!!! Yo, you know what (as if you haven’t heard yet)? ATL signed a contract with major label Interscope in September of last year, and they’ve already spent studio time with producers Matt Squire and John Fields during March of last to record their debut album for the label, which is to be released in 2011! Tony. |
