Revisited The Needles The Space this morning and it’s truly a drag it bombed & Straylight Run never really found their audience. It really highlights the band’s musicality & capabilities as songwriters, and it was really bold to move further away from pop structures after signing to a major label John’s mentioned in recent years he was more concerned about being unconventional with the album than it being good, and while production and cohesiveness are weaker spots for sure, most of the tracks really work on their own. Can’t help but wonder what they’d be creating now if they’d have been a financially sustainable band since then
I'm kind of stunned that Straylight never ended up doing just like, a small string of shows here and there while TBS is on a break from writing/touring. It's been so long that I think there'd be a decent demand to fill up some small club shows. They'd definitely do better than John's solo tours, imo.
Oh hell yeah.. if SR played ANY tour.. Id wanna go for sure. Actually more than for TBS at this point lol.
Yeah I never got a chance to see Straylight Run either. Would LOVE to see a show. My wife would enjoy it more than I would probably.
Saw them twice. Once in 2007 (headlining show) with The Color Fred and Cassino opening. Then again in 2008, opening for Bayside. Both awesome shows.
John's "You don't miss Straylight Run, you just miss being young" tweet is still one of my favorites.
one of my favorite shows ever: 2004 - Straylight Run, Say Anything, Hot Rod Circuit, Northstar. Played a venue in Boise Idaho that was so small, that they all decided to play an acoustic set (except for straylight).
So glad I went. My mindset back then: straylight was the "taking back sunday guys' new band," say anything was the band that I heard on the doghouse records sampler i picked up from ashow that had "that one awesome song and the other that started out really weird so I never fully listened to" (alive with the glory and woe), loved northstar, and kinda knew hot rod cause of the "breathe in, exhale" song. In life, there's those shows where you see bands that later become top tier for you, and think to yourself - "if only I had known what I was witnessing."
It was either 2004 or 2005 that I went to the Straylight Run headlining tour. Opening acts were Minus the Bear, The Honorary Title and Spitalfield. Still one of the best bills I've ever seen.
I remember Andy Jackson was the rumored frontrunner to replace Fred for a while. That could have been pretty good.
I went to the album release show night 1 at The Downtown on Long Island. He who must not be named was there in a powder blue suit.
His album as Death In The Park was so good, and I can easily imagine most of the songs being repurposed for TBS at the time.
If I remember correctly, the rumor was so strong that he even commented on it. Said that he auditioned but hadn’t yet been asked to join. It’s sort of interesting that the band had an audition with an established name (within the scene) and choose to go with a much more unknown person