rxbandit89's Recent Activity
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rxbandit89 replied to the thread Yellowcard Crack Top Ten.
I'm so happy for them! I can't wait for the full album. The singles have been fantastic.
Jul 25, 2025 at 8:43 AM -
rxbandit89 liked Jason Tate's post in the thread Band Thrice.
There are many other things I should be doing instead of this right now, but I do think a reply is needed here. If I am unable to get to everything I want to say, I'll start with the top line: I replied to you originally because I saw the words "take to task" and then "half of the people agreed with me" and I got curious. Once I saw the actually comment I got 1) sad, because I feel bad for the band that someone would write that on their social media page, 2) confused because it was no where near half of the people agreeing with you. It was 100% of the people replying to your comment disagreeing with you, 7 likes on the comment vs. 5,900 likes on their post plus another 200+ positive comments with hundreds of likes all in favor. So that's like, what ... 0.118% agreeing? I commented because the math was so overwhelmingly not in your favor and not what you said and because I found what you said, to repeat myself because I don't really have a better word here: rude. Because you began with this request, I need to be upfront. Unfortunately, this isn't what I hear. Not only because of the comment you made which really did rub me the wrong way, but because of an email sent to me years ago by someone you know when we promoted your work on the homepage. I will not get into specifics publicly. But I have a bias because of this. Because you quoted me with a long post, and asked this of me publicly, I feel obligated to be honest about this in my reply because it colors my response. And I was worried all morning that no reply at all looks dismissive to anyone reading this thread. Maybe I'm wrong there, but I overthink things. And, to be clear: I really don't mean to come off as being overly harsh in what I say. But I should admit I am a little biased here for these two reasons. No. That is a misrepresentation of what I have said and what I think. I have tried to very clearly state that we differ on HOW someone shares critiques in general (or in this case specifically to a band their social media accounts). And even more specifically: about bands we like. If you want to post a poop emoji on Falling in Reverse's social media page, I wouldn't blink an eye. But very specifically I thought how this was presented was rude, and I empathetically felt sad for the band and Dustin as just a raw emotional gut feeling as I read it. I have never made the claim that we should "shield bands from all our critiques or concerns." This is a straw man. It's not what I've said in this conversation nor what my entire history of talking about music has shown to be true. To be clear, I am not responding in this way to be mean, I am genuinely just not interested in arguing against something I've never said. A good lesson to learn. IMO, Wild, Free is incredible and I love it. And I know it's very meaningful to the band, and, reading through the review, I bet this: The biggest offender is the dull, momentum-killing ballad "Bend the Light," where the synth pads and U2-styled guitar leads offer nothing to draw your attention from Vena singing lines like, "It's so hard to pretend / When you feel like I feel / It's so hard to pretend / When you see like I see" multiple times in a row Probably very much hurt. That song is about a band member losing his partner to a horrible disease. I know about this because he posted about it a lot on Facebook when it was happening and it was heartbreaking to watch. I saw those things turn into those lyrics. I saw the grief turned into that song. Hearing that song for the first time was an extremely emotional moment for me and I'm glad whoever commented on the review was kind and humble, but I bet it was not just a blip on the radar for him. And it's why I've tried as I've gotten older to move my criticism, in long form, into explaining where I don't think something works without using language like "dull" or "offers nothing," and I try and avoid extrapolating personal motives or reasoning that I don't know. (Ian Cohen's review of Painting a Panic Attack being the example of what I hope to never do in my writing.) But that's just me, and I don't want to tell you, or anyone else what to do if and when you write anything, but after seeing so many examples like this in my career, it's where I've ended up. I've written most of my life with an understanding that the person who made the thing I'm writing about is probably going to read it. That's just the truth behind my website being popular for a bit. And it took me years to think through how handle that with any kind of maturity. I lacked empathy for the art. For the artist. And didn't spend enough time thinking through why something was the way it was or what the reasoning behind it may be. As a very young writer I thought I knew best and it was "just my opinion" without thinking through why someone with more talent and wisdom and experience making music would make a specific musical decision, even if I disagreed with the output, and more importantly how to use my "opinion" in a way that was potentially more constructive. Trying to tie this back to the start and my central thesis, that's what rubbed me the wrong way: how it was said. It came across and mean and entitled to me. Scolding. Smarmy. And it bugged me. I mean you no ill will, I mean to only pass on what I've seen and learned and you can take and ruminate on it, or forget it completely. As I said before, you do you. I mean that and I am trying to live by that --* to let people do what they feel is best and not be judgmental about it. I'm not great at it; I'm trying. I only commented to start because I looked and the math ratio did not match up with your original post and it bugged me how it was worded. I've spent far too much time on this topic now for something that I really don't want to put my time into because it's not that big of a deal. You wrote a comment I found rude, I commented on it, you (I think) also understand it was kinda rude, and I've genuinely been trying not to be rude back but offer my explanation to why something like that bothers me (for now too many words). I'd like to not have any more big giant texts back and forth, I have other things I should be doing, but because you replied publicly to me I felt like if I didn't say something people would think I was doing something wrong. I'm probably just broken. Please, commence discussion about Thrice and the album and maybe someone should start an album thread. I'd like nothing else than not to have any more of this be part of my future. * (I wrote this whole thing, fuck chatGPT for ruining em dashes for me.)
Jul 24, 2025 at 6:26 AM -
rxbandit89 replied to the thread Band Thrice.
I am stuck in a meeting and can't listen to this yet and it is killing me
Jul 22, 2025 at 7:08 AM -
rxbandit89 liked exanctile's post in the thread Band Thrice.
More of a Gnash-up
Jul 22, 2025 at 6:39 AM