Victory Records, known as the label for such bands as Hawthorne Heights and Silverstein, and for giving the popular Taking Back Sunday their start, is the label for the new band A Day To Remember’s debut album, For Those Who Have Heart. The band, hailing from Ocala, Fla., have a sound comparable to Hawthorne Heights, though it seems as though they change their sound from track to track.
The new album is available in stores now and consists of 12 tracks that seem to cover everything from the very heavy to the very acoustic. The first track, “Fast Forward to 2012,” starts off with a light pop-punk sound, but, a few seconds into the song, the screaming begins. Their rhythmic pop-punk sound is lighter than Hawthorne Heights’, and their heavy screaming is much harder than that of the aforementioned band’s. It seems to remain that way for most of the album, though there are a couple of softer songs, which seem oddly misplaced.
The one major complaint people may have with this band is that A Day to Remember’s sound is all too familiar-the whole light-heavy combo from the likes of other bands, such as Atreyu and Senses Fail, as well as from many other bands that ended up falling short of making an impact on the genre. The truth is that A Day to Remember has a very generic sound, but it also is a tried and true sound, and they seem to do a better job of pulling it off than most similar bands of late.
The band consists of five members, including lead singer Jeremy McKinnon, guitarists Neil Westfall and Tom Denney, bassist Joshua Woodard and drummer Alex Shellnut. For Those Who Have Heart is their first album with a major label, but, back in 2005, they put out And Their Name Was Treason through Indianola Records.
Although they’ve only played together since 2003, the members of A Day to Remember had played in the Florida music scene for years until they joined to form their current band. Since 2005, the band has been touring on a national level, achieving moderate levels of success and often opening for more popular bands. However, when bassist Woodard got in contact with someone who works at Victory Records, he ended up convincing Victory to film one of their shows in Chicago. After seeing the show, Victory invited A Day to Remember to play in a showcase for them. The rest, as they say in the business, is history.
Overall, A Day to Remember is not the most original or unique band out there. Yet, they have the sound and image that it takes to be successful in their genre, and they are sure to be around for years to come-or at least as long as “screamo” music is popular.
