taking back sunday

Biography

Taking Back Sunday released their self-titled debut EP in 2001 with the original lineup (which included singer Antonio Longo and bassist Jesse Lacey), but received little attention or fanfare. Following a change of lineup (Antonio Longo to Adam Lazzara, and Jesse Lacey to Shaun Cooper), they released the follow-up album Tell All Your Friends, which was produced by Sal Villanueva. The band's cover of "Tell All Your Friends" was recorded in New Jersey's Big Blue Meanie Recording Studios. The album gave the band a first taste of success through the single, "Cute Without the 'E' (Cut from the Team)" (which was teamed with a Fight Club inspired promo video). After the release, they played with bands such as Brand New and The Used, as well performing as a short stint on the 2003 Vans Warped Tour. Another change in their lineup occurred when singer/guitarist John Nolan and bassist Shaun Cooper left the band and formed what is now Straylight Run. Because of these departures, the band's future was in doubt for some time. However, with the additions of guitarist/vocalist Fred Mascherino and bassist Matt Rubano, the band became stabilized.

2004 proved to be successful for Taking Back Sunday, with the band opening for Blink-182 and being one of the main headliners for the Vans Warped Tour. In addition, their second album, titled Where You Want To Be, was released on July 27, 2004 on Victory Records. This album had a different sound than Tell All Your Friends. Propelled by the single "A Decade Under the Influence", Where You Want to Be went on to debut at the #3 spot on the Billboard 200 albums chart, with sales of around 163,000 copies. Taking Back Sunday received even more mainstream exposure by appearing (on the day of Where You Want to Be's release) on the late night talk shows Jimmy Kimmel Live and Loveline, and by contributing the song "This Photograph Is Proof (I Know You Know)" to the soundtrack for Spider-Man 2. They also contributed the song "Your Own Disaster" to the Elektra soundtrack and "Error Operator" to the Fantastic Four movie soundtrack.

On April 25, 2006, Taking Back Sunday released their third album in Los Angeles, entitled Louder Now, on Warner Brothers Records. It nearly mirrors the first two albums in style and message, yet delivers with a more polished sound. Louder Now was leaked onto the Internet in its entirety on April 19, 2006. Taking Back Sunday received mainstream exposure by appearing on the late night talk shows The Tonight Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live, and Late Night With Conan O'Brien.

In April 2006, Taking Back Sunday took part in the 2-day "Give It A Name" indoor rock festival in England. The band played at Manchester Evening News Arena on Saturday, April 29 and London Earls Court on Sunday, April 30. During the first song of their set at the Earls Court show, Adam Lazzara accidentally knocked out Matt Rubano with his microphone. Rubano later returned to the stage sporting a large head-bandage and a noticeable amount of blood on his face. During his absence, the band carried on playing with the help of Aiden's guitarist Angel Ibarra. Following his return to the stage, Rubano continued to play while sitting down.

The band released the follow-up single to MakeDamnSure, Twenty-Twenty Surgery, on August 21 2006 in the UK. The video premiered on the official UK website Taking Back Sunday UK on July 19 2006. The video depicts Lazzara as Johnny Cash.

Taking Back Sunday will be making guest appearances as themselves in the hit series Degrassi: The Next Generation. The episode will be titled "What's It Feel Like to Be a Ghost", after the track on Louder Now, and will feature the character Craig Manning. The band will also be featured in one of the minituare online episodes (webisodes) called Degrassi Mini's. This information has been confirmed by Stephen Stohn, the show's Executive Producer.

"Spin" from the album Louder Now is featured on the new NFL Football video game Madden 07, which was released August 22, 2006

Taking Back Sunday was nominated for the MTV2 Award in 2006, but lost to 30 Seconds To Mars.

Band members

• Adam Lazzara - lead vocals/occasional guitar/harmonica
• Fred Mascherino - guitar/vocals
• Eddie Reyes - guitar
• Mark O'Connell - drums
• Matt Rubano - bass

Former members

• John Nolan (1999-2003) - guitar/vocals
• Shaun Cooper (1999-2003) - bass
• Antonio Longo (orginal lead singer, only featured on TBS demo)
• Jesse Lacey, bass, backing vocals

Discography

Studio albums

Compilations

• Atticus: Dragging The Lake II (2001, SideOneDummy Records) - "You're So Last Summer"
• Spider-Man 2 Soundtrack (2004, Sony) - "This Photograph Is Proof (I Know You Know)"
• Take Action Vol. 4 (2004, Sub City Records) - "Bonus Mosh Pt. II"
• Caddy Of The Year 4 (2004, Below Par Records) - "A Decade Under the Influence"
• Atticus: Dragging The Lake III (2005, SideOneDummy Records) - "Number Five With A Bullet"
• Elektra soundtrack (2005, Wind-Up Records) - "Your Own Disaster"
• Fantastic 4 Soundtrack (2005, Wind-Up Records) - "Error Operator (F4 Edit)"
• Madden NFL '07 (2006) - "Spin"

Singles

Videography

• "Timberwolves at New Jersey" (2002) (Unreleased—the video can be found on the special edit of Tell All Your Friends)
• "Great Romances of the 20th Century" (2002)
• "Cute Without the 'E' (Cut From the Team)" (2003)
• "You're So Last Summer" (2003)
• "A Decade Under the Influence" (2004)
• "This Photograph is Proof (I Know You Know)" (2005)
• "Set Phasers To Stun" (2005)
• "MakeDamnSure" (2006)
• "Twenty-Twenty Surgery" (2006)
• "Liar (It Takes One To Know One)" (2006)

Trivia

• When writing songs, the band record their melody first and then write their lyrics.

• The song "There's No 'I' in Team" off Tell All Your Friends is a response to the Brand New song "Seventy Times Seven" off Your Favorite Weapon. Many think that "Seventy Times Seven" was the response, but it was the first song of the two to be written and released. The songs were written about the time that John Nolan (ex-TBS) slept with his best friend Jesse Lacey's girlfriend. An all-out fight ensued, and the two didn't speak for years. They eventually made up, and the songs expressing their sides of the story were put on their respective albums. Brand New has been known to change the lyrics of "Seventy..." to the TBS version from time to time, and John Nolan has appeared with Brand New to sing the song as a duet with Jesse. Jesse has also appeared with TBS to sing "There's No 'I' in Team", but has not since John Nolan left TBS to form Straylight Run.

• The album Louder Now also has a bonus track, Brooklyn, and in the chorus is the phrase "If you see something, say something". This phrase probably refers to the commonly seen "If you see something, say something" campaign by the NYC MTA to keep the subways safe, as the phrase is written all over subway systems and rails in the city.

• Every album cover has the number 152 on it. This is to represent the exit in North Carolina where before joining TBS Adam and former friends would take a pit stop on their way to concerts or on the way back home.

• In the video for Timberwolves at New Jersey, Eddie can be seen wearing a "The Getaway" t-shirt. That is a very limited edition of a T-shirt for the band now known as Matchbook Romance. Only about 100 shirts were made and Eddie had said he would wear it in the video for the band, whom he is friends with.

• The baby on the front of the 2nd C.D. Where You Want To Be is supposedly a very young Ed Reyes.

• TBS recently toured with Eisley and Hellogoodbye in Australia and the UK followed by a tour with Angels and Airwaves, Head Automatica and The Subways in the North American Tour '06.

• The intro on the demo version Great Romances of the 20th Century is a clip from the movie Beautiful Girls. It did not make the LP version due to copyright issues.

• Tell All Your Friends is the fastest and highest grossing album in Victory Records history.

External links

• Official website
• Taking Back Sunday's Official MySpace
• TBSunday: News, Forum, Media, More!
• TBSUnion.com fansite with latest news & media
• Feature(s) of the band available here
• unofficial myspace group
• Taking Back Sunday DuckTape Music