#emo jake could play if it means a lot to you on his acoustic
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why are people putting a 5sos song over “Emo” Jake edits?? one of these things is not like the other...
#yall really? like id accept a blink 182 song or something#put on adtr or something cowards#memes#letters from the author#emo jake could play if it means a lot to you on his acoustic#or like fuckin greenday he's older than me he def wasn't listening to 5sos#emo-gvf pipeline
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Hey honey!! I hope you are doing okay but if you aren’t I’m sending you positive energy and hoping you feel better. So since I’m finally back I wanted to ask who your favorite youtubers are? because I saw you mentioned youtube rewind earlier, which I honestly thought was a big mess. Also if you could give me some song recs because I wanna know what you enjoy and to see what we have in common!! I also just wanna find new music and maybe find new youtubers to watch.❣️🖤
okay this is gonna be rlly long probably bc im gonna put everything into sections so im gonna do a cut thingy and also tag it as “long post” for those who dont wanna scroll thru it all sdgfhjkl
so for youtubers i watch a lot of them bc i dont watch normal tv nor do i have netflix/hulu.
gamers: markiplier, jacksepticeye, pewdiepie, crankgameplays, captainsparklez, cinnamontoastken, dan and phil games, cryaotic
commentators: pyrocynical, memeulous, imallexx, willne, anything4views, inabber, cody ko, adoseofbuckley, yoel rekts!, chris ray gun, h3h3productions
political/social issue/news commentators (time to get controversial): blaire white, hunter avallone, shoe0nhead, anthony brian logan, lauren southern, jaclyn glenn, ready to glare, philip defranco, rebel media, lauren chen, milo yiannopolous has a youtube channel but hes… a lot rn, stevencrowder
spooky guys nd gals: rob dyke, cayleigh elise, reignbot, mrcreepypasta, creepsmcpasta, theres more i just cant think of names
muas: james charles, jeffree star, glam & gore, madeyewlook, gabriel zamoa, nikkietutorials
education: vsauce, scishow, game theory, film theory, kati morton, psych2go, cg kid, asapscience
etc: rusty cage, idubbbz, filthy frank (rip), maxmoefoe, myah alanna, boyinaband, brandon rogers, hope for paws, colleen ballinger, miss london, kalvin garrah, st0rmryan, sam collins, trisha paytas, good mythical morning, the try guys, jacksfilms, josh peck, first we feast, kurtis conner, shane dawson, jenna marbles, roly, rosanna pansino, supercarlinbrothers, ryland adams, tana mongeau, eugenia cooney, gabbie hanna, joe santagato, drew monson, garrett watts
OKAY NOW FOR MUSIC and its only gonna get longer and worse from here. also different formatting. ur probably like “pls perish i regret sending this ask”. im gonna try to stick with 10 songs max for each genre and if you wanna skip this section all together my spotify is hatefuckz.
rap/hip-hop/anything else in this similar genre:
monz - real one (ft myah)
myah - throwin paper. all her other songs are amazing too
anything by lil peep !!
lil xan - far
rich brian - glow like dat
joji - bitterfuck
joji - pills
all of post malones stuff is rlly good
xxxtentacion is good depending on what ur into. if ur into like,, heavier rap check out his older stuff but if ur into more emotional tracks his newer stuff might interest u
emo shit:
falling in reverse - sink or swim
fall out boy - sugar were going down swinging
hawthorne heights - silver bullet
bring me the horizon - shadow moses
panic at the disco - lying is the most fun a girl can have
hawthrone heights - ohio is for lovers
everything by pierce the veil is amazing
fit for rivals - damage
country:
rascal flatts - life is a highway
carrie underwood - before he cheats
blake shelton - honey bee
miranda lambert - kerosene
laura bell bundy - giddy on up (giddy on out)
jake owen - barefoot blue jean night
jason aldean - my kinda party
trace adkins - honky tonk badonkadonk
metal (or just rlly hardcore stuff idk nobody come at me its 3am):
rings of saturn - natural selection
bring me the horizon - alligator blood
motionless in white - immaculate misconception
white chapel - the saw is the law
attila - middle fingers up
attila - party with the devil
suicide silence - fuck everything
chelsea grin - playing with fire
slipknot - disasterpiece
acoustic punk:
mischief brew - gimme coffee, or death
human kitten - i dont want to be sad
sledding with tigers - that one limp bizkit song
neck deep - december
a day to remember - if it means a lot to you
ajj - brave as a noun. also all their other stuff
literally everything by crywank
just nick - cliche filler punk song
one night stand in north dakota - suicide is painful
panuccis pizza - i killed arbor day for you
if you want any specific genres or anything just send another ask nd ill gladly give u more stuff
also obviously i listen to nd adore 1d nd some other artists i forgot to add. flatsound being another.
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Hi Hi Hi. Here is a little blurb I wrote off the top of my head about all my friends on this year’s Group Picture Vol. 8. I love them all. I love their songs. And I love that we still keep up this stupid tradition; and somehow the comp keeps getting better and better. Thanks everyone! Merry Christmas / Happy Holidays :) - walt
Sour Guy - All Those Plans Were Wrong
Last summer Kris Schobert (Sour Guy, Walter Etc. / Mitty core member, Ernie…) was admitted to the hospital… and then again… and then again…. I think he spent like a month total in the hospital. It was not chill. But when he got out, the whole experience gave him a bit of clarity and new perspective on his life and the decisions he has made thus far. I won’t speak any further for him, but Kris… hey, nice song! And your quality home recording production and continuation of the WMAHMO slop sound doesn’t not go unnoticed! This song made me tear up in a coffee shop the first time I heard it.
Slaughter Beach, Dog - Big Band
Slaughter Beach, Dog are randomly GP staples by now but also one of my favorite bands and greatest friends. This song is a bit of a sound change for them, swapping mid tempo soft rock John K Sampson vibes for a theatrical late 60’s / 70’s sound that is a bit more light hearted than normal and I LOVE IT. It’s catchy, it makes me laugh, yet its so true. Glad to have these boys back this year.
Teal & Jer - Alphabet
Portland’s dreamiest duo Teal & Jer (Chain, Riled, Loose, lots of projects) bring a quirky alt edge to our otherwise bland and boring comp. Without them, we’d just be us. I personally would like to hear more Teal solo work??? Teal???
Milk Flud - Rodeo
If you don’t fuck with Milk Flud then you can get out.
Chase Hoyt - Health
Chase Hoyt (Ubu Roi, Feed, Chaz and the Minions of Chaz, The Rodeo…) is a GP fixture by now, and important asset to MNE because it’s his classic rock sensibilities that balance out the overload of folk / indie rock that we swim in. This song not only has a comically true message (health is the most important, i agree Chase) but the vibe, especially the chorus, has my head bobbing and me feeling like I’m on a grassy hillside at an outdoor concert in the 70’s, but also one glass of wine deep making homemade pizzas at an Air BNB with a girl I love, and that is a nice combo of feelings. “Let’s wrap it up / I’ve embarrassed us all enough”
Dry Goods - Learnt Nothing
You hear that flawless acoustic finger picking? That masculine story telling voice that sounds somewhere between a suburban Bob Dylan and a cowboy singing to the emptiness of the high desert? Yup, its Russell Park AKA Dry Goods and FKA Weston Bookhouse coming at us with another folk masterpiece, but this year adding in some new elements we aren’t quite used to- namely some cruisey guitar solos! Rumor has it Dry Goods is in the studio recording a new album right now and I would not be bummed out if this song were on it.
Byronius Punk - Beautiful Things
I just spent 3 weeks with Byronius Punk (Ian Farmer of Slaugher Beach, Dog / Modern Baseball) at his studio The Metal Shop in Philadelphia making a record with his beautiful mind and his new drum machine- so this song really hits home for me. I could write an essay on why this is the perfect Group Picture song- my three main points being - 1. It is a song about the act of creating. (“in everything that exists there lies a certain beauty / I want the world to know how much it all means to me”) which is exactly what Group Picture aims to celebrate. 2. It’s a song written and performed by someone who is usually more in the background of his bands (bassist / backup vox / recording engineer) but here has a platform to express his own individual style and skills, which is exactly what Group Picture wants to promote. 3. It has a Milk Flud name drop, which is a classic and classy GP / MNE move. Thank you Ian. You rule.
Dante Elephante - It Bothers Me
Dante Elephante are Santa Barbara legends and their new album “Rare Attractions” shows them evolving their sound into more loungey and ethereal territory. I am so glad they have joined GP this year, because I see singer / songwriter Ruben almost every weekend when he DJ’s at The Tavern in Ventura and I drunkenly annoy him / vaguely fan boy out on him. Dante being on Group Picture is a sign that our friendship extends beyond Saturday nights at the Tavern. Also their album vibes hard. Check out Rare Attractions on Spotify.
Peanut Butter Cups - Highest Quality
Petition for Aaron Kovacs (Peanut Butter cups, Lauren Records CEO, Winter Break and Summer Vacation drummer) to finally put out a full album? This catchy lo-fi pop rock is undeniably infectious. Fun fact: I’ve been hanging with this boy for almost 10 years and I’ve never heard him sing, but then he sends me these recordings and I’m like wtf your voice is so cool! If he makes a full album, MNE will put out the LP and still give him 100% of the digital income. That is how much I like Aaron’s style.
Anika Pyle - Young Love
I once wrote a song with the lyric “I’ll probably see her on tour but she won’t be on Group Picture this year.” I’m so glad I was wrong. Welcome to GP Anika Pyle! Anika (Katie Ellen, Chumped) plays raw emotional pop rock songs and this gem “Young Love” is just the tip of the iceberg. When her vocals max out at the end of the tune and you get a little bit of musical goosebumps, that is the feeling you get for a full 30 minutes of watching her play live. Anika, please come in and stay for a while!
Walter Etc. - This Would Only Happen to Me
Ok ok enough of the soft emotional bullshit. Here’s a song about someone coming to kill me! It’s 100% true. If you’re reading this, help!!!
Jake Lee - Good Run
Jake Lee (Bleeding Gums Murphy) strikes again with a lo-fi indie gem in which we hear Jake Lee reflect on his gaime from last year. Sounds like he made some interesting choices and is coming to terms with them? Or did I miss the mark, Jake? He is and always will be one of my favorite songwriters and his voice in this fuzz effect is not a bad look, I have to admit. The only way my life would be better is if Jake made a full album. Cheers homie.
Babytooth - State Quarters, OR
Technically, this is Babytooth’s official debut on Group Picture, but Portland, OR singer / songwriter Isabel Zacharias had a song on the comp last year that blew me away. It was her vocals and lyrics that hooked me then, and are still yanking me now. Now backed by a full band that gives dynamic range to her songs, it was still that first line “now you know you want a girl without a phone” that had me nodding “yup i love this”. Fingers crossed for Babytooth to become a GP staple.
Trashbike - Weasel
Trashbike is Bread (Blowout, Walter etc., Donkey Lips) and his homie Ru playing the pedals. He told me he wrote this song while stumbling home from the Bye and Bye. Bread is like a sexy emo prince, can’t you hear it? This song rules and I really hope Trashbike is more than just a one and done GP band. I would listen to a few albums of soft songs like this, wouldn’t you?
Banned From Japan - Vegan X
Welcome back to the Socal Valley punk rockers Banned From Japan! If you know that singer / songwriter Matthew Earle has been sober for a few years, this song is hilarious, simultaneously poking fun at vegan straight-edge and himself. The music rips and his vocals are catchy af. Fat Wrecks Chords come and sign Banned From Japan asap!
Walter X - Winter Shy
Ok. This is a bit meta. Walter X (Michael Mahaffie and his WMAHMO / Walter Etc. hardcore chip tune cover project) covers an old Walter GP song as his own GP song. Pretty niche MNE content! This song, in this Lifetime-esque style, his vocals so clear but so gruff, those guitar harmonies, the creative intro and chip-tuney bridge…. this literally gives me chills and is so much better than the original. I encourage anyone reading this to go check out his own original music under the name Jump Cut. It sounds just like this but with Michael’s own songs, shedding the limitations of the musical simpleton Walter songs. Also, check out the full Walter X album on Spotify! What a talented dude…
Curling - Genkai Trip
Curling released their MNE album “Definitely Band” this year and the musical arrangements / song structures absolutely floored me. Genkai Trip is a song that got left off the album, but lives on through GP! Singer / guitarist Bernie Gelman noted “There's some pretty wacky guitar overdubs where Jojo and I each doubled some guitar parts while the other person was playing with the trem on the guitar, so you get this really weird detuning effect.” and yup that is Curling in a nutshell for you. Always excited to play around with gear and recording techniques that are way beyond my level. I think this is an extremely underrated band and highly encourage the world to check out Definitely Band on spotify!
Ali Muhareb - DIY Hell
Ali? What the hell did you even make this song? It’s intriguing in the verses and then when the chorus busts out it sounds like if Dough Martsch were an up and coming artist in Portland in 2018. I actually had to text Ali to ask what these guitar sounds were and, if anyone is interested, he responded, “I compressed two guitars together through a virtual amp. And they’re both running through this sick pedal I got called the Data Corrupter.” For sure Ali! Thanks for a bad ass tune.
Dakota Loesch - Don’t Solve My Mysteries
I’ve been listening to a lot of Dakota’s music (solo, Animal City, Lemp Lungs) recently. I keep coming back to it, and its not a mystery. After hundreds of songs in his pocket, songs like “Don’t Solve My Mysteries” still sound musically and lyrically fresh, like Dakota has never had writer’s block in his life. When I listen to his music, I feel like it vicariously breaks down my own creative barriers. For instance when I first heard this song and he dropped the hook “just don’t solve all mysterious” I had that knee-jerk urge to ditch what I was doing and go write a poem or something. His will to create is just that contagious. Combine that with the Casio-keyboard bedroom drum machine vibe that I love so much about his songs like “The Basmati Rice” and you have a 10/10 GP banger.
Jerbear - Nowhere Girl
Jerbear is Jeremy Murphy (Teal & Jer, Riled, so many) and he is the king of a few things: weird bad guitar tones, asymmetrical organic song structures, rad lyrics that I never understand, and a voice that is universally loved. He stole my heart with Cranberries in the Cosmos on a previous GP, but I think Nowhere Girl takes the cake. Jer- when do we get the full solo album? Please don’t fall into the category of GP lost wonders. You’re not too shabby at this music thing!
Hemingway - Catch My Cool
Catch My Cool is a B-side from Hemingway’s You Will Never Be Happy.
I played drums in Hemingway at this time and I always vibed that Benny didn’t really like the way this song came out int he studio. I don’t get why? That vocal melody, soft sad and surfy guitar leads… it makes me wanna hold hands with a girl on Christmas Eve while walking down some bougie street looking at Christmas Lights. It sounds like a Starflyer 59 worship track and I love it for that. Benny, you made a mistake. This song should have made the album.
Alex Maddox - The Hypocrit’s Dilemma
I’ve heard Alex play this song when we get together to jam, and he always laughs it off as a Walter Mitty rip off song. But honestly, this is what I wish WMAHMO would write about if we made a folk punk record today. If you listen to this song knowing that Alex Maddox was a guy who quit his high paying job to travel Europe in his van, surfing and skating and working on farms, the lyrics to this song are way more wanna-be Walter Mitty. The song depicts a transformation in his paradigm and is completely raw, authentic, and sincere. Alex inspires me to chase a wholesome life that is designed for and by myself, rather than the obvious and sterile template that is provided for us, and this song exemplifies that 1000%.
Uncle Uncle - Nira (I’m Alive)
We played with Uncle Uncle last year in Santa Barbara and I honestly think we should have opened for them. They are actually a good band, both live and recorded. Stylish, friendly, and comically laid back- they might be the quintessential Santa Barbara band. A semi-new band, Uncle Uncle is gaining momentum quickly, and I won’t be surprised when the day comes that Kevin and Dom big time me on State st. Til then, I’m just glad I get to claim that they were on a Group Picture.
Humphrey Orlando - Set U Free
Ah, Humphrey. No, Humphrey accompanied by Toast. Two legends as old as MNE itself. What is there to say? I could listen to their wandering ballads til I fall into the Big Sleep, and still the melodies linger on…
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Album Review by Bradley Christensen Envy On The Coast – Lucy Gray Record Label: Photo Finish Release Date: August 7 2007
Envy On The Coast should have blown up in 2007. This band was poised for stardorm in the alternative, emo, and post-hardcore scene, but they never took off, for whatever reason. I came across this band around 2007, because I heard an acoustic version of “Tell Them That She’s Not Scared,” a song from their debut LP, Lucy Gray. I picked the album soon after, and I fell in love with it. My copy’s a little beat up, especially in the case, because I wasn’t too careful with my CDs back in the day, but it’s got some character to it. That’s what I always say about my CDs that are cracked in any way, but I’m getting off topic. Envy On The Coast are a good example of a band that deserved much, much better than the treatment they were given in the scene. Not that this band was treated unfairly, but they never got as huge as they should have. I think that could be for a couple of reasons – they were either slept on for being too “weird” in their scene, or they were just lost in a sea of other bands. The latter seems more likely, as the early to mid-00s were rife with post-hardcore, emo, and alt-rock bands trying to be the next My Chemical Romance, but a lot of bands got sidelined. Recently I’ve been talking about some bands that were rather underrated, such as Aiden, but Envy On The Coast was a special breed of band. The other reason that I could theorize as to why they’re rather underrated is that they were a bit too “weird” for the post-hardcore scene. Part of why I love Lucy Gray is because of how diverse, unique, and interesting it is. Hell, you can even go as far to say that my love for unique and diverse bands / albums comes from this album. If it weren’t for listening to albums like this, Fall Out Boy’s Infinity On High, or AFI’s Decemberunderground, all albums that had a lot of different things going on within it, I could very well be one of those music fans that only yearns for the “older stuff,” as well as hates any band that changes their sound slightly.
I’m not trying to say that their sound was super weird, out there, or inaccessible, but they were out of the ordinary in their scene. They weren’t your average post-hardcore band. They played with elements of prog-rock, alt-rock, post-hardcore, pop-punk, and emo, just to name a handful of styles. This band was all over the place with their sound, and I wonder if that’s why people kind of passed them on by, because they were ahead of their time. I mean, look at bands like I The Mighty, Too Close To Touch, and Hands Like Houses, since their sounds are very much rooted in prog-rock and post-hardcore, ultimately going out of the norm for what post-hardcore bands have always been. They’re veering away from the emo influence, and more so into an experimental, progressive, and versatile style. Envy On The Coast was doing that ten years earlier. Their sound is very different, versatile, and unique. The best part is, too, it all works. Lucy Gray is a damn near flawless album. Every aspect of this album hits a home run. Starting with its sound, as that’s the best part of the album, these guys are some of the most unique, versatile, diverse, and interesting musicians I’ve ever heard. Throughout its 49 minutes, this LP has a lot of different ideas, sounds, and moods. Some tracks are more energetic, some are more somber, and some are a mix of the two. For every short, sweet, and energetic track you have, such as “Vultures, “Sugar Skulls,” and “Mirrors,” you have some weirder tracks that go on a musical journey, such as “Artist And Repertoire,” ‘The Gift Of Paralysis,” or “Tell Them That She’s Not Scared.” The last handful of tracks are more on the ballad, somber, and slow-burning side, which is one of the minor issues I have with this LP. The LP kind of loses its momentum by the end, especially after the first two-thirds are pretty energetic, but the momentum kind of just stops. They’re still good songs, though, so it doesn’t ruin the album at all.
The album does a great job of keeping your attention, at least in terms of the sound, because there’s a lot happening at any given time. The album never gets boring, despite what I said about the momentum being lost a bit by the end. The album’s tone just changes dramatically, and I don’t know if it fully recovers from that. Either way, though, the vocals and lyrics on this record are fantastic. I absolutely love them. I love the vocals for the same reason that I love the instrumentation – they’re well done, diverse, interesting, and versatile. There are some “heavier” tracks on this album, with minimal screaming, but it’s handled very well. Whether it’s on an energetic track, heavier track, softer track, or somber track, the vocals are great, one way or another. It’s rare to hear a vocalist with such talent, expression, power, and control. There’s a lot of range in the vocals, and while I’m never listened to their sophomore album, because I lost touch with the band after this album (this was years before I fully utilized the Internet for discovering music), I’m sure the vocals are even better. The lyrics are great, too, though. There are some melodramatic and over the top lines, but there are some very poignant ones, too. My favorite track, lyrically, is hands down “Tell Them That She’s Not Scared.” This is a very powerful track, and the first track I ever heard from this album (the acoustic version, no less, like I said, which makes the song even more emotional), but it’s about the vocalist’s mother battling cancer. The song makes a lot of references to faith, angels, Heaven, and how they’re battling for his mother’s life. It’s a very touching, powerful, and emotional song. I know I just spoke highly of this album in a recent review, but this song makes My Chemical Romance’s “Cancer,” which appears on The Black Parade, look like a child wrote it. It’s one hell of a track, but the rest of the album is very interesting, too. It’s a very well-written, poetic, and interesting record, lyrically speaking, which is not something you hear too much in this scene.
The only problem that I have with this album is, like I said, its tone is very weird towards the end, but it’s not like the quality suffers. I can see someone getting pulled out of the album, especially if you’re not into ballads. I’m not, honestly, but the songs are pretty good. It does pick up slightly, just not enough to recapture the spark that it had throughout the first two-thirds. Either way, though, this album is killer. Envy On The Coast should have blown up a lot more. I don’t remember them being that huge. I mean, they were on a really cool compilation album that Alternative Press put out in 2007. It was a “back to school” compilation they put out on CD that I got at Target, and that’s how I found a ton of bands on there. I came across bands like Chiodos, Bayside, and tons more. I still have that CD, too, so I should dig it out at some point. Anyway, this band kind of blew up in the scene, but not anywhere close to where other bands did. They didn’t even become a scene favorite, either, and I wish they did, because they were awesome. Lucy Gray is a great album. Back when I first got it, I thought it was awesome, and even now, ten years later, it’s a great album. It’s rare to find albums this great (well, you just need to know where to look), but there are some bands that never got the recognition that they deserve. This is one of those bands, sadly. If I never picked up that Alt Press compilation (for the record, I think they only made one of those, because I don’t remember seeing any more of them; I got one in 2007, and then I never heard about them again), I never would have heard of this band. They never got the recognition they deserved, but that doesn’t mean I can’t stop recommending them to people (I did that with my best friend Jake, actually, and I’m glad that he’s been enjoying the album), hoping that they’ll get some recognition later on. Some bands do get more popular when they break up, after all, even though I think Envy On The Coast are back together, but I don’t really know what’s going on with that.
#envy on the coast#lucy gray#sugar skulls#photo finish#emo#post-hardcore#rock#anthony green#alt-rock#pop-punk#punk
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How Fueled By Ramen Has Stayed Relevant For 20 Years
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How Fueled By Ramen Has Stayed Relevant For 20 Years
The label, started in a Florida dorm room in 1996, is still thriving. Here’s why.
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Hayley Williams of Paramore. Frazer Harrison / Getty Images
Fueled by Ramen, like many record labels, started in a dorm room. Somewhere in Gainesville Rock City in 1996, a young John Janick shook hands with Less Than Jake drummer Vinnie Fiorello, and the hottest property in north-central Florida pop-punk was born. Its first clients? Ska-punk dilettantes The Hippos and The Impossibles, bands you’d only know if you, like Janick and Fiorello, were in it for life.
“We were operating out of a 150 square foot room, maybe less, with bunk beds and CDs, just running everything from my desk,” said Janick over the phone from Los Angeles, where he now lives. “I’d go over to Vinnie’s apartment to do mail orders. It was an interesting time, and maybe a little bit naive.”
Fueled by Ramen had its first major success when it issued the 1998 self-titled EP from an upstart group of Arizona kids named Jimmy Eat World. It sold enough for the still-fresh-faced label to buy its first office space in Tampa, and served as a sign of things to come. Eventually this Florida-bred, rude-boy indie label became a tastemaking stalwart. It’s where Fall Out Boy got famous, selling 250,000 copies of Take This to Your Grave over the course of two years. Gym Class Heroes and Panic! At the Disco would soon follow, and they remain signed to this day.
But shouldn’t Fueled by Ramen be dead? We’ve seen this story before. An era-defining label goes rags to riches with some smart business partnerships and a savvy A&R — swallowing up every hot act in the scene until their brand becomes synonymous with the genre itself. Replace the guyliner with MDMA or a couple bodies hung over hotel balconies, and it’s the exact same legacy of powerhouses such as Factory or Death Row. If there’s one thing we learned about iconoclastic, hyper-specific record labels, it’s that the gravy train doesn’t run forever. Suge Knight is bankrupt and locked up; The Haçienda is an apartment complex. By any reasonable estimation, Fueled by Ramen should be floundering, or downsizing, or absorbed — that’s just how these stories are supposed to end.
But that hasn’t happened. Fueled by Ramen continues to thrive. The old mid-2000s guard of Fall Out Boy and The Academy Is… have been cycled out for a younger, hipper, more dynamic generation of acts such as Twenty One Pilots and fun. That’s right, fun. — the band who won a bunch of trophies for Some Nights are signed to Fueled by Ramen. Paramore, the long-standing Hot Topic icons, tasted true, transcendent crossover success with their 2013 self-titled record, propelling their name into nondenominational pop radio, and scoring singer Hayley Williams a guest spot on Zedd’s “Stay the Night.” Gym Class Heroes are still getting on TV, your mom listens to Young the Giant — Fueled by Ramen’s current roster remains an influential modern rock record label.
That’s no small feat in 2015. Fueled by Ramen might never be able to escape its emo-pop peak, but you’d be hard pressed to come up with any imprint that’s been able to stay so relevant for so long. It’s managed it, in part, by becoming a subsidiary of Warner Bros., which earned the until-then indie criticism from punk rock purists. But that, like everything else Janick has built, was a means to an end.
“We wanted to make sure there weren’t any ceilings for our artists, while also keeping our culture independent,” said Janick. “There were other major labels filling artists�� heads with stuff like, ‘Oh you’re being held back by Fueled by Ramen, they don’t have the resources.’ For me it was about being an indie label with major ties, where we can build the foundation with a big company there to take you all the way.”
That environment is what resonated with a 15-year-old girl from Meridian, Mississippi, who was screaming her lungs off in a band called Paramore.
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Fall Out Boy. David J. Bertozzi / BuzzFeed
“I remember meeting with John at a Cheesecake Factory,” said Paramore frontwoman Hayley Williams via email. “I was with our manager Mark, and doing some acoustic shows at Taste of Chaos 2005. We talked about the scene and where I saw Paramore fitting into it. I was so happy to be hanging with a label guy who got it. He didn’t see me as some answer to Avril Lavigne’s success. He just always understood what Paramore was. Who we were. That sort of thing means a lot to a 15- or 16-year-old kid.”
Paramore would carry Fueled by Ramen’s banner for years, through the bloody triptych of All We Know is Falling, Riot!, and Brand New Eyes, three of the best albums mid-decade emo-pop ever produced. But then, around 2010, the bubble burst. Two-thirds of Paramore quit and looked for greener pastures elsewhere; Fall Out Boy, who had left Fueled by Ramen for Island, called it a day; and Panic! At The Disco were well past their crossover, VMAs-headlining peak. As far as era-defining labels go, this was par for the course. Eventually pop-culture fixation moves on, and the sound you’re known for becomes a lot less hip. But Janick adapted. In perhaps the most important signing in Fueled by Ramen history, he inked fun.
“I tried to sign Nate (Reuss) when he was 18 years old and in The Format,” said Janick. “But he went to Elektra instead. That was back when we were in Florida and didn’t have much money. Five years later we had the partnership with Warner and Nate was still in the Warner system through Elektra — I tried to work with him but he went off to do his own thing. But the third time around he had started fun., and we finally managed to get a deal done. He’s one of my closest friends now. They spent a year and a half figuring out what Some Nights is going to be, and it was one of the biggest albums of that year.”
Fueled by Ramen has kept an iron grip on a very specific part of the industry — from Jimmy Eat World to Fall Out Boy to Paramore to fun. — for its entire 20-year run as a company. It has shifted with the generations, while never alienating its core audience. It’s hard to think of a label that’s been more tenacious.
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Nate Reuss of fun. Kevin Winter / Getty Images
But then, at perhaps the height of its powers, in the moment where Fueled by Ramen proved it could keep up with everyone, Janick left. The primary entrepreneurial force of the company, the man who’d become an icon in the scene, who sat down at the Cheesecake Factory to sign Williams, was leaving his baby after perhaps its greatest crossover success yet.
Janick is now the CEO of Interscope, and working with everyone from Kendrick Lamar to Lady Gaga. For the first time in its history, Fueled by Ramen was out of his hands.
“I’m trying to keep the label moving forward, I’m trying to grow the label, but at the same time I’m always thinking about how John has built this amazing brand and all I want to do is not screw it up,” said Mike Easterlin, the current head of Fueled by Ramen. “You try not to freeze up and overthink everything, but sometimes you can’t help yourself.”
Easterlin worked alongside Janick for years, and got the nod to take the reigns of Fueled by Ramen in 2012. He seems appropriately aware of how daunting it is to become the adoptive father of a label with such a distinct legacy, but he also understands the way forward. If fun. proved anything, it’s that Fueled by Ramen is perfectly capable of transcending its kiddy, Warped Tour reputation.
“There was still this perception that FBR was a ‘scene’ label instead of a modern pop brand that’s had dozens of major hits,” said Easterlin. “The first one I encountered was with Young the Giant, who were on Roadrunner, and The Devil Wears Prada, who were on Fueled by Ramen. I thought, ‘Wait a minute, you guys should be switching,’ but I’d be lying to you if I said that Young the Giant didn’t have concerns. They still saw it as a scene label, despite the huge success of Paramore and the huge success of fun. I had to convince them that at this point what I wanted to do was grow the label up.”
A few months later, Easterlin asked Janick what he thought of the label’s progress. His response? “I’d be doing exactly what you’re doing.”
It’s a philosophy that’s best exemplified in Paramore’s self-titled album, which was the first album Fueled by Ramen released under Easterlin’s authority. Poppy, cheerful, and energetic, it was all the things you loved about the band, but now getting play on Clear Channel. It won a Best Rock Song Grammy over Jack White and the Black Keys, the first of Paramore’s career. After a decade of incubation, Paramore emerged lockstep in Fueled by Ramen’s new, post-Some Nights era.
“I tried to position it that way,” said Janick, reflecting on his last couple years at Fueled by Ramen. “I watched labels that were in a specific scene, and I don’t want to say they died, but they weren’t as relevant anymore because the scene they were tied to wasn’t healthy. For me it wasn’t about being a part of the ska-punk scene or the emo scene or the pop-punk scene, it was about being culturally important and transitioning in a way that felt natural.”
Throughout all this, the shifts in leadership, mission statements, and scene associations, Fueled by Ramen has managed to keep its core group together. Paramore, Panic!, Gym Class Heroes, even never-beens like Cobra Starship. In an industry that relies on turnover, Fueled by Ramen looks out for its own.
“We have a core group of 9 or 10 people who work here, and at the end of this year our artist count will total, like, 14 or 16, and that’s it,” said Easterlin. “We want everyone to feel a part of the family. There’s a band that we’re signing that said, ‘You guys all seem to really like each other.’ We’re brothers and sisters, we want a personal relationship with our bands, and because we’re small, we get to really, really focus on each of them. I’d like to think we have a very unique situation here.”
“There have been plenty of changes, and I know that’s pretty normal in the industry, but we’ve never had a reason to want to leave FBR,” said Williams. “We like the history that’s there. They have always believed in our vision for the future and they also know our roots. It’s having so many people on the team who we grew up with. We like the reminder of where we came from. It’s nice to share stories and say ‘remember when?’ with some of those people. Not to mention FBR actually have put out so many cool punk rock records and they’ve been a part of so many kids’ experience with the scene. Whether it’s someone else’s idea of punk or not, to me, the fact that two punk fans built a label out of their college dorm means something, and I’m proud to be a part of that.”
Read more: http://www.buzzfeed.com/lukewinkie/fueled-by-ramen-feature
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