The Front Bottoms - In Sickness & In Flames (August 21, 2020) Album • Page 13

JaytotheGee · Aug 24, 2020

Got my record today

travisred · Aug 24, 2020

VanMastaIteHab said:

Every band work with Mike Sapone challenge

His last few years have been so solid. Basking In The Glow was exactly the sound I wanted from Oso Oso. Didn't know I needed a FB's record with more bite (but still pretty sleek) until I heard this.

Aaron Mook · Aug 24, 2020

idk guys "bus beat" reminds me of a ben folds song, and not one of the good ones haha

cj · Aug 24, 2020

just checking this out and damn its good

SamLevi11 · Aug 24, 2020

I have Spotify, is there any way I can still read any of that track by track :(

Drew Beringer · Aug 24, 2020

it's only for Apple Music

SamLevi11 · Aug 24, 2020

Damn.

ncarrab · Aug 24, 2020

JaytotheGee said:

Got my record today

What variant? Mine still says 'not shipped'

JaytotheGee · Aug 24, 2020

ncarrab said:

What variant? Mine still says 'not shipped'

Lemon

Snoblin · Aug 24, 2020

Being honest, the track-by-track hardly made sense for most of the tracks. I could only understand half of what they were getting at lol.

Snoblin · Aug 24, 2020

For those who want to read it:

"You know it's like art in life, right?" vocalist-guitarist Brian Sella tells Apple Music when describing The Front Bottoms' new album In Sickness & In Flames. The album's title was inspired by events in the New Jersey-based duo's life but took on an entirely different meaning once the global pandemic hit. "It definitely felt like while we were making this record the shit was hitting the fan for me and [drummer] Mat [Uychich], and in good ways and terrible ways," explains Sella. "So it was definitely a release. We dumped a lot into this record emotionally, for sure." Leaning into the chaos and uncertainty surrounding them, In Sickness & In Flames is a well-rounded collection that highlights the best of The Front Bottoms' idiosyncrasies—peppering in alt-country ("the hard way"), grunge ("leaf pile"), and euphoric sing-alongs ("everyone blooms") throughout. Here, Sella and Uychich get into the stories behind each of In Sickness & In Flames' 12 tracks.

everyone blooms
Brian Sella: “A couple of songs were all mushed together. So we had maybe three songs that, when we got into the studio, we would rearrange. And 'everyone blooms' was in that category; it was a group of three, I would say. 'everyone blooms' and 'leaf pile' and there was one more, I can't remember. I think we definitely made a lot of that in El Paso.”

camouflage
Mat Uychich: “So I think 'camouflage' was definitely the beginning of the writing to the official time where we were like, 'Let's start demoing, pursuing new music.'"
BS: “I sent it on these ukulele versions of the song that we did. I wanted to try to get into a wacky style—rock camouflage, get a mohawk—so that was the look that I want to go for. But then the vibe...obviously in 2016 Trump gets elected. And it's just, you don't want to put off that vibe of camouflage, all that kind of stuff.”

jerk
BS: “I love the vibe of that song. I think you definitely like to mess around with drum moves and shit like that. And Mat's great at incorporating all that stuff into the track.”

the truth
BS: “It was the last song we wrote, so we were definitely loose and we definitely had the process going. And I remember I wrote, ‘You are the truth I've bent myself around,' when we were in El Paso. And Erik [Kase Romero], our buddy who recorded the album with us and plays live with us, he was so encouraging. I was like, 'Oh, all right. Maybe I'll try to remember it.'”

montgomery forever
BS: “I definitely realized, after explaining it so many times, it's just about gentrification. It's just about people moving into an area and taking over and whatever effect that has on the people that lived there prior. I wrote it about when I went to see a building get demolished in Jersey City and it was amazing. It was an incredibly emotional experience, surprisingly. And so that was, I realized, it was the public housing building that they demolished to create condos. And then within seconds, just enormous structure, it's gone. It's just done. So as I'm walking away with my wife, there's a woman standing on the corner and she has a shirt and there's a picture of the building and it says, 'Montgomery Forever.' And that's why I was like, 'Oh, fuck. People lived here. These are their memories.'”

the hard way
BS: “When the bridge comes in, I feel like that's what makes it a Front Bottoms song. It just goes into this other direction, kicks it up a little. And I love imagery, and I think that's really what makes people connect to lyrics and to songs is you give them an image of something and then they can make it what they want. And I think I really wanted to say 'crooked nails' because I just thought that was such a cool thing. A crooked nail is just useless, but you could step on it, it's around. So that was, lyrically, that was something I wanted to do.”

leaf pile
MU: “Brian was just playing the beginning on the acoustic guitar, just going through it, just doing that riff over and over.”
BS: “Playing it live, I feel emotionally it just hits, man. It hits hard.”

new song d
MU: “That songwriting process was a journey.”
BS: “With all of the songs on the album, they still start from a demo, obviously. But there was a couple of demos with that song. As was a couple on this album that went through a bunch of different changes from voice memos and demos.”

Fairbanks, Alaska
BS: “We got to go to Alaska and play shows at University of Alaska Fairbanks and it was very incredible, it was an amazing experience. You have to do the Northern Lights and stuff. So originally the song was just 'Fairbanks, Alaska' over and over and over again for two minutes with that chord progression. It's developed into this big, long thing. But, yeah, we've had that for a while.”

love at first sight
BS: “I love the sample on this; this just came from an open mic. And I'll say the coolest part of it was, we had this song 'love at first sight,' he dropped this sample in and it all lined up where the song ended. And also everybody started clapping at the end of the sample. So it was a moment where I'm like, 'Ooh, shit.' So it just had to stay in there.”

bus beat
MU: “This was an earlier demo, too. You start wild, you play a show and you get back into the bus. And we're trying to set this beat and we named the file ‘bus beat.’”

make way
BS: “We were like, ‘Oh, this has got to be the last song.’ The influence of movies and other types of art definitely affected the songs. And yeah, definitely. It probably felt like we were making a movie, for sure.”

cj · Aug 24, 2020

um is this their best album? bus beat is absurdly epic.

paperlung · Aug 24, 2020

i love this album wow. i initially felt like i was missing a song like west virginia or twin sized mattress, but this hits just as hard but in a different way. the whole thing has a vibe that i didn't know i wanted from tfb

VanMastaIteHab · Aug 24, 2020

I’m taking lessons I’m gonna learn how to SIIIIIIiiiiiiiiiiiiIIIIIInnnnnG

Aaron Mook · Aug 24, 2020

Yeah everything here just hits harder than ever before. Lyrics, melodies, their use of the studio as an instrument. Easily their best album imo. Can't stop spinning it

spookymulder · Aug 24, 2020

I was not expecting it to be so fucking good, but I keep coming back to it. The production and weird choices are just so good

VanMastaIteHab · Aug 24, 2020

Set list from the drive in show is cool. Hope that More Than It Hurts You being there means a new grandma EP is in the works.

paperlung · Aug 24, 2020

VanMastaIteHab said:

Set list from the drive in show is cool. Hope that More Than It Hurts You being there means a new grandma EP is in the works.

did that show stream anywhere?

VanMastaIteHab · Aug 24, 2020

paperlung said:

did that show stream anywhere?

Not that I know of, unless someone in the audience of cars recorded it.

mattfreaksmeout · Aug 24, 2020

I need to stop googling how far the drive to New Jersey is before I get stupid

Anthony_ · Aug 24, 2020

VanMastaIteHab said:

Set list from the drive in show is cool. Hope that More Than It Hurts You being there means a new grandma EP is in the works.

man, would love to get Grandma #3 next year

paperlung · Aug 24, 2020

VanMastaIteHab said:

Not that I know of, unless someone in the audience of cars recorded it.

dying to see leaf pile live

VanMastaIteHab · Aug 24, 2020

Anthony_ said:

man, would love to get Grandma #3 next year

As far as I’m concerned they’re not allowed to stop making grandma EPs until this classic gets re-recorded:

MRose24 · Aug 24, 2020

Is Tom Warren still involved with the band anymore? Feel like I haven’t seen his face in awhile but could be because of COVID?

rbsfeatures · Aug 25, 2020

still listening and will do for next couple days but not hugely into it so far.

paperlung said:

i love this album wow. i initially felt like i was missing a song like west virginia or twin sized mattress, but this hits just as hard but in a different way. the whole thing has a vibe that i didn't know i wanted from tfb

I feel like it's missing a couple of songs that I actually love like on the first three albums (flashlight/maps), (twinsize/backflip), (historic cemetery/ginger).

Would say my ordering is:

Back on Top
Self Titled
Talon of the Hawk
Going Grey = Sickness & Flames

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