Why is bashing Tom a thing at all? The drums on all of their albums are sick and every time I've seen them live, he's been fantastic.
This guy from The Higher seems like a complete dick. This drum thing goes way back. I do recall the band addressing a legitimate issue with tempo during live performances way back when they were an active band. I know a session drummer played on at least Island, but I'm not sure if there are other tracks as well. Tom has always seemed like a super cool, humble dude. Sure, he's not some kind of Travis Barker level player, but he's solid enough for the genre.
IIRC, they didn’t use a click in the early days and it was obvious in a bad way. But I feel like by the time BOATS came out he was using one. Does that sound right?
Just one example... Direction (the song) is such an immaculate album opener that perfectly sets the tone for the rest of that album, & the band from that moment on. The drums are so fucking important in that song
Yeah, Howard Benson brought in Kenny Aronoff without the band knowing the replace drums on "Are You Alone?" "Island" and "What You Want." Legendary player, and the songs are better for it.
Yes, unfortunately in the beginning of the band's run the live drumming was very bad, and noticable. He then started playing to a click track live and everything has been great since then
He’s clearly a great drummer, even if he was unpolished in the early days. The parts on Stay Where I Can See You, Way With Words, Cut! Print It, Saddest Girl Story, Somebody’s Gonna Miss Us, Artistic License, Autography, all really creative and difficult to pull off
Lol - that’s what started this whole thing actually. Went to their Instagram to see if anyone had asked. Looks like it’s still on Apple Music for some reason but is missing from multiple other streaming services. I have not found an answer, but someone on Reddit started a thread about it a month ago, so I guess it’s been a while
Band sounded off both times in 2005 when I saw them. The theater show (Nintendo Fusion Tour) was more noticeable. Seems like he’s just improved a whole lot since his tracks got re-recorded for Direction tracks. I think the band is tired of answering those questions though. They’re not likely to replace members.
My wife noticed this a few weeks ago and emailed their management team. The response was “Oh good catch! We’ll be working to fix this asap!”. Maybe it was just overlooked?
I only saw them once in 2005 and don’t remember them sounding bad, but it felt jarringly slow with the click in comparison to the way they’d been playing at like minimum 1.5x speed. That was also about when they said fuck everything and just started opening shows with Best Of Me - imagine spirits weren’t too high in general
I'm sure this is still a thing and I just don't keep up, but looking back at tours back then is so funny. What do you mean pop punk and screamo bands are on the Honda Civic and Nintendo Fusion tours?
Oddly enough, I saw them on that tour in Anaheim and TSL cut their set short because Tom split his hand wide open on his kit when his stick split.
I liked 2-3 tracks off The Higher’s “On Fire” but that’s pretty much it lol Anyways, I don’t think Tom is a stellar drummer but I don’t think he’s terrible either ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I think they're a very "of their time" band if that makes sense; there's nothing that stands out about them, but I thought that record was really catchy. That remix for "Pace Yourself" that Patrick Stump did is god awful though. Kicking out a member for stealing from the band and spending it gambling is hilariously on brand for a band from Vegas.
According to their Wiki, the guy trying to weasel his way into TSL by bashing Tom quit The Higher because their guitar player was claiming he wrote all the songs and later was found to be stealing from the band to gamble. I laughed.