Memory Lane
When I was a younger, much angrier boy, my favorite band was Thursday.
Most know Thursday for their seminal classic, Full Collapse. They ushered in a new era of post-hardcore: the emergence of truly emotional content set to the backdrop of heavy, hard, and groovy instruments. They hailed from New Jersey, where they continue to play shows and record music.
The best show memory I have in my existence was a few years ago, when my sister and best friend at the time took a road trip up to New Jersey. Now, if you see Thursday live, you know they never, EVER, disappoint. It just doesn’t happen. However, getting to see them in their home state…
Well, that’s something else entirely.
The road trip was pretty brutal. We stayed overnight in a hotel that slept like crap. I had no sleep the night before either, working full time in retail and keeping the hours I did. I was tired. When we left, I drove the entire way home overnight. I don’t remember much of that either.
It was worth it. Thursday played an amazing show. It was one of those great shows that you can barely remember because you were so in the moment. They ended with Jet Black New Year, my favorite song of theirs from an EP that few but the most devoted Thursday fans really knew about. They did this with confetti raining around our heads.
People that appreciate Thursday for what they did knew how much they put into each and every note they played. These guys, to put it plainly, had seen some @$*!. No doubt about it.
Tuesday is normally reserved in the industry for new music. They do it because that’s tradition, not because it really holds any artistic merit. In the spirit of blues, I’m making today Throwback Tuesday. I may not do it all the time, but I will most of the time as I see fit. Here’s a taste of their live show:
They never really got a lot of attention back then from the non-post hardcore crowd, so finding decent footage of shows around 2006 is difficult. This is important to understand, especially considering Youtube didn’t exist, and digital cameras were still 3.0 megapixels if you were lucky. Considering how fast technology has grown, it isn’t surprising to find that people tend to have such short memories about how hard an artist had to struggle to get themselves out there, so they could practice what they love.
Finally, I end with an actual music video. This will always remind me of a Hurricane. Look up the date the album War All The Time was released, and then look up meteorological phenomena during that period. I’ll give you a hint. It came out in September.
Namaste.
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Our Lady of Perpetual Tone 