The Starting Line
Say It Like You Mean It, 2002
This is another band that I got into because of rooming with my good friend Andy Sophomore year. It's actually astounding that I have never realized all the bands that he got me into. Good job Andy!
The origin story of The Starting Line is that guitarist Matt Watts found lead singer Kenny Vasoli in an AOL chat room. Kenny was 14 and the rest of the band was like 18 and 19. But they really clicked and after releasing an EP in 2001 (
With Hopes of Starting Over), they released this album on my 19th birthday, it turns out. (Thanks Wikipedia!)
What really drew me to this band was Kenny's lyrics. It seemed like he had a leg up on everyone else in terms of turning a phrase or expressing a very specific feeling in catchy, quotable ways.
Add that to the patented Drive-Thru Records pop-punk production and you have an amazing album. Lots of cool stuff with time changes in their songs and I'm always really drawn to that when it's paired with good lyrics.
I have many fond memories of listening (read: rocking out) to this album on the drive from Virginia Beach to Harrisonburg, where I went to college.
I never saw this video when I was in college and it might have been on MTVU, but it seems like the kind of video that I would have been really into. Sweet with a little bit of a caustic bite at the end.
The two songs I've chosen to feature from this album both contain iterations of the album title. "Almost There, Going Nowhere" just comes out and says it. "This Ride" turns the title on its head. I love hearing the album title in the lyrics, so hearing it twice is even better!
The Starting Line - Almost There, Going Nowhere
The Starting Line - This Ride
One more thing that seeing the video made me think of. I've always thought Kenny looked kind of like a T-Rex. I've always thought the same thing about Bradley Cooper. Do you think maybe they're both just cleverly camouflaged dinosaurs?
You can buy
Say It Like You Mean It at
Amazon,
Amazon MP3, and
iTunes.
