AM! Next Album...make or break?

laurendelore wrote:

JamaicaSka wrote:

They're not gonna change to "please the fans", I think that's been long established, they're above that. I still hope they do something that the old "HARDCORE!!" lot hate even more, their whining is getting beyond annoying to just being comical nowadays.

I agree 100%. Thanks for putting it better than I could.

Anyone else remember an interview where Tom basically said that he enjoyed shocking people and challenging their expectations? In other words, who knows what's next. But,

""It didn't matter the record that we put out right now," Against Me singer/guitarist Tom Gabel grumbled. "We could have put out any type of record and people already decided if they were going to hate it or if they were going to listen to it open-mindedly. Really, for both types of people, it didn't matter."

http://www.aversion.com/bands/interviews.cfm?f_id=375

I think we are in line for more of the same.

Sure, I love ATEC and RAR more than I love New Wave, whatever. But it would take a fuck of a lot for me to stop seeing this band live. Bands progress, it happens. They record what they're happy with, they play songs they're happy with on tour. I'd much rather they kept touring and played a setlist with a little more NW on it and wanted to keep doing that, rather than reverted to playing Tom's demo tape every night in a dingy bar with only a super-hardcore of fans showing up to scream all the same songs back at them every night. They're never gonna please all their fans, not that they're even into the game of doing things to please fans. So as long as they're pleased with their tours and records, then I'm happy.

If I turned up and was surrounded by idiots with fringes and eyeliner all the way down their chin, I'd still be able to have a good time so long as I could still have fun. It would only really deter me if the band grew fringes and started wearing eyeliner. Which will be the day I reach for my suicide pills. I'm not sure the idea of them playing stadium tours is credible at all. Not in the UK anyways.

Honestly, when new wave first came out, I wasn't thrilled. I liked about half of the songs. But, when i saw them perform almost the whole album live(minus piss+vinegar and animal) i was hooked. They opened with up the cuts, and right away i could tell I was going to like it. Any AM! scepic is drawn in upon seeing em' live.. It's the same thing that got me hooked on AM in the first place. Seein' em live. It's what its all about. (Mind you at the last show i was at there was no barrier and no security.)

Yeah, a few of my mates weren't that bothered and have got into 'em a lot more since seein' 'em live. They're THAT good live.

When New Wave came out (or rather when I downloaded the leak, whoops) me and my best friend drove around listening to it a lot and we just thought it sounded so good, big, and powerful. Maybe it didn't hit me the same way as their previous material, but it's still an amazing album.

i would love for them to come out with another album like ATEC or RAR, but what it really comes down to is if they come out with somethign different. I have no respect for bands who put out 10 records that all sound the same. As long as their sound progresses and they do soemthing different i can never hate them.

I think we should all face it that they're not going to do something that sounds like ANY previous album. ATEC does not sound like RAR, as SFAFC doesn't really sound like either of them.

All the albums show progression of the band, and I wholeheartedly agree with godisdead about the live issue. Against Me! are 20 times the band they are on CD when they're on a stage. Not many bands can go up on a stage say nothing to the crowd for an hour and still leave everyone leaving as though they're had the time of their lives.

If the new album is anything like 'Nuclear Cowboys..' or 'Amputations' then I am VERY much looking forward to it.

Against Me! never reapeats and thats awesome so the next album probaly wont sound anything like New Wave

Lil RoRo wrote:

Against Me! never reapeats and thats awesome so the next album probaly wont sound anything like New Wave

'reapeat' is actually spelled 'repeat'

'probaly' is actually spelled 'probably'

hey, godisdead, did you get your username from Friedrich Nietzsche?

Stalls_Standing wrote:

If the new album is anything like 'Nuclear Cowboys..' or 'Amputations' then I am VERY much looking forward to it.

I agree - they sound VERY AM! and are very good teasers.

Yeah, if those songs are anything to go by, this album will be even better than New Wave.

i think that the songs are okay acoustic, but im afraid of the way that they might sound with the rest of the band from a high-end studio......i think that they would sound pretty cool if they made the artistic move of recording them with old techniques and equipment

I assume if they even put those songs on the new album which i doubt they will, they will be kept acoustic, cavalier eternal style

they may........

Matter fact i did dandan. good eye. Against Me! forver! And Zarathustra spoke thus to the people...

Sorry I cant spell good...gosh

Stalls_Standing wrote:

I assume if they even put those songs on the new album which i doubt they will, they will be kept acoustic, cavalier eternal style

That's a bit of an assumption there - I can imagine Nuclear Cowboys electric - that would be cool. And an acoustic version as a b-side, or vice-versa?

dandangoose wrote:

i think that the songs are okay acoustic, but im afraid of the way that they might sound with the rest of the band from a high-end studio......i think that they would sound pretty cool if they made the artistic move of recording them with old techniques and equipment

I disagree that it would be an "artistic" move. I think that using older technology and production methods force bands to think more about the sound than the songs.

Take the White Stripes for example.....I've heard they record using only analog, 1970s technology. That's all well and good, but you can tell that instead of writing good songs, they went shopping for the right mics.

I don't care how crisp and clean and overproduced an album is, so long as the songs are good.

arollo wrote:

[

I don't care how crisp and clean and overproduced an album is, so long as the songs are good.

That's like a double negative - overproduced = bad, Phil Ochs had that problem and AM! have it a little, I love their live versions better than the studio one's in most cases - RAR is mostly over-produced.

Like a good meal, or good fashion, or make-up, good music, IMO, is simple, simple, deep and elegant.

Yes, I suppose I used the wrong word.

I mean by "overproduced" the use of current technology and methods. "New Wave" was not overproduced, it just sounds like it was recorded in 2007, if that makes any sense. I mean to say that I don't care how new or progressive it sounds, so long as the songs are good.

But yes, I love the live show. I wish Against Me! would go into recording like some bands do....I know that the RX Bandits do this - they basically record an album live. They'll record the rhythm tracks all at once, then go back and do the high end and melodies and leads and vocals all at once. So the album is still recorded in parts and mixed properly, but it's basically a live performance all the way through with the whole band playing at once. I think if Against Me! did that sort of thing, they would basically cement their position as the greatest band around.

Yeah - that would be great - basically, they need whoever produced Nirvana's In Utero.

That would be

AMAZING

This is the man they need - Steve Albini - aka - producer of In Utero.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Albini

It was Steve Albini & Scott Litt. Which explains a lot. I can actually see Steve Albini working with Against Me!, and I have wonderful dreams about it.....

Litt worked with The Replacements. Ha ha.

This was written of Albini on WikiPedia:

On In Utero one can find a typical example of Albini's recording practices. Common practice in popular music is to record each instrument on a separate track at different times and then edit different recordings together at a later time; see multi-track recording for more information. However, Albini prefers to record "live in the studio" as much as possible: the musicians perform together as a group in the same room. Albini places particular importance on the selection and use of microphones in achieving a desired sound, including painstaking placement of different microphones at certain points around a room to best capture ambience and other qualities.

So you can see how fantastic that would work with Against Me!

So yeah, you're right.

Props for the RX Bandits reference. Saw them live not too long ago.

I feel that New Wave isn't their best by far, but it's a great album in comparison to most bands. AM! set the bar at a height that an album as good as New Wave is couldn't even come close to reaching it. I think the next album will be similar to NW, but the label will kind of give up on them becoming the pop rock band they were hoping AM! would become. The next album will be better than NW, but not as good as the old shit. Then hopefully they'll go to writing whatever the fuck they want and doing whatever the fuck they please.