Illinois-based band REAL FRIENDS have released a brilliant new song ”Always Lose’ which is out now via Pure Noise Records.
Speaking about the single – “To sum ‘Always Lose’ up lyrically for me, it’s a song about feeling unlovable & being faced with repeated failed attempts. I think over the years I have grown a bit of jadedness. It comes from having fallen in love several times, believing I had found ‘the one’ and ultimately that not being so. When I truly open up and become close with someone, is when I’m scared of losing them most. Which has made it hard to break walls down. The song is about those fears and hopes of overcoming them.”
Illinois-based Real Friends have released new song ‘Tell Me You’re Sorry’, available to stream right now!
Speaking about the new song the band said ‘We all have loved ones in our lives that have hurt us. Sometimes those people just keep living their lives as if they never even hurt us. They think since the situation has blown over that there’s no need for an apology. But at the end of the day, we all need that closure of a proper apology for those wounds to heal. “Tell Me You’re Sorry” explores the struggles of not being able to heal without hearing the simple words “I’m Sorry” from the person that wronged you. This is a very personal song for a few of us in the band. It is rooted from numerous strained relationships in our lives. We hope our fans will hear this song and connect with it. If the words and energy of this song can help one listener feel less alone, then we accomplished what we wanted to do with “Tell Me You’re Sorry.”‘
Recently, Real Friends dropped ‘Torn In Two, sharing both an original version of a track as well as a reworked version.
Where the initially released version was a soulful heartbreaking drop, this one involves the whole band. Just listen to it and you’ll see why you need it.
Illinois-based quintet Real Friends are turning the page on a new chapter with new singles“Nervous Wreck” and “Storyteller.” Released today along with the announcement of their signing to Pure Noise Records, these two new singles also welcome a new face to the band with new singer Cody Muraro.
“Nervous Wreck was inspired by the isolation I’ve experienced over the last year,” shares Bassist Kyle Fasel. “Before COVID hit, I was making strides to get out of my introverted ways. All of those strides were quickly erased when the world flipped upside down. I’ve often been so introverted that some people take it the wrong way, like I’m mean or something. When in reality, I’ve just developed some social anxiety as I get older. The lyrics of the song point to me being out of my own skin when around other people, and even feeling out of place when I’m by myself. There’s not really a resolution to the song. It’s very much about being in the midst of all those complicated feelings. Having a new singer in the mix can be a hard challenge to overcome, but Nervous Wreck still fully embodies the spirit of Real Friends. It fits Cody’s voice perfectly. I remember recording it and thinking this is exactly what Real Friends is. This track is very special to me.”
Check out ‘Storyteller’ via the following link and watch the music video for ‘Nervous Wreck’ below.
For as much as the world has changed since Real Friends first emerged in 2010, the band’s mission hasn’t. They continue to bleed without apology and write songs that make it okay to feel everything: the ups, the downs, and anything else in between. Rather than shy away from emotion, the group run right towards it with distortion cranked and hearts opened, tightening their careful distillation of pop and punk on each subsequent release.
After ten years with the band, founding member of Real Friends and vocalist Dan Lambton has announce that he has left the band.
He posted a short statement via Twitter, saying he will contine to write music with his other band, Rationale as well as thanking fans of Real Friends for their support.
Check out his statement below.
“For the sake of brevity, I’ll get straight to the point. We have mutually decided that it is best for Real Friends to continue on without me. Over time, this band has changed, evolved, and reached a place where our paths are diverging, leading us to this collective conclusion.
Moving forward, I will continue to write music with rationale., livestream on Twitch, and, at the moment, it is unclear whether or not I will be able to pursue music in a full-time capacity.
Either way, I am grateful to have experienced all of the opportunities presented to us as Real Friends. We have been able to do so many amazing things and share many intimate moments with so many incredible people. For that, I am grateful.
Real Friends have also posted a short statement, saying their decision to part ways is mutual and will continue to make music in Lambton’s absence.
You can read their statement below.
“To our fans and friends,
After 10 years together, we have mutually parted ways with Dan Lambton.
We have lived our dreams, toured the world, released three albums, and made countless memories together that we’ll never, ever forget.
What that future holds, we aren’t entirely sure of yet – but we are excited and optimistic. At the same time, we also wish our brother and friend Dan the best. He will continue writing with rationale., and live-streaming on Twitch.
This is not the end of Real Friends. We have simple turned the page to the next chapter.
If you remember seeing Real Friends at Slam Dunk Festival the other weekend, you’ll remember they absolutely stormed it!
But they’re not done in the UK yet for 2019 as they’ve just announced a UK tour with the amazing Grayscale and the brilliant Belmont.
Here are the dates.
October 2019
17 – BRISTOL Thekla
18 – LONDON Electric Ballroom
20 – BIRMINGHAM Academy 2
21 – NOTTINGHAM Rescue Rooms
22 – LEEDS Stylus
23 – GLASGOW King Tuts
25 – MANCHESTER Club Academy
Slam Dunk Festival 2019 is just under one month away! That means everyone’s gearing up to decide on their plans for the day for who to see across the eight stages and who to meet (but I’ll save that for another time and if any band members are about on the day). For myself, I’m heading to the Leeds Temple Newsam Park date and I’m in a bind of just who go watch for the day. I’m torn between going to see some favourites against some that I’ve listened to for a while but just never had the chance to see live or someone whom I’ve never listened to before, but judging by the artists that are there, there aren’t too many I’ve never listened to.
Although, with all the acts that are going to be there, here’s my top five to check out just from a glance of who’s playing the festival.
5. Lizzy Farrall
I’ll start off with one of my favourite’s and because it’s been a little while since I’ve seen this Singer/ Songwriter live. Every time I’ve seen Lizzy, (most recently was her opening the He Is We UK tour) she has been a performer that has just been constantly growing and adapting to her surroundings where she’ll know what’s working and what isn’t. With her being a young performer as well, it’s been a pleasure to see her confidence grow with her music as well. Don’t miss her on the Acoustic stage.
4. Atreyu
A band on the heavier side of things over on the Jagermeister stage, the South Californians Atreyu have been just been getting better and better from my perspective and now in their eighteenth year as a band, their performance is sure to have some surprises for their longtime fans.
3. Real Friends
The last time I saw real friends, I believe it was on Neck Deep’s UK headline tour. From what I remember, they were just f***ing crazy on the stage where there was just never a dull moment. They just encapsulated the heavier aspect of the Pop-Punk scene and they’re a band that the scene have been desperately missed on the UK shores and if I know anything about them, you’ll have all the feels as far as they’re concerned over on the Marshall Stage.
2. Tiny Moving Parts
Swell is the name of Tiny Moving Part’s most recent record where hopefully this is how we’ll describe their performance. Only joking, but this criminally underrated band are one of the early starters to the day Dickies Stage and they better be prepared to get everybody moving and I am hoping for either For The Sake Of Brevity or Fish Bowl to be in that setlist.
Employed To Serve
I have to go with ETS on this list. I do admit I was shocked when I saw that they were going to appear on this years lineup, but I was so thrilled nevertheless as they’re a completely underrated and hardworking band who’ve been moving up and up the bills and venues for years. With the band releasing their third record, ‘Eternal Forward Motion’ about two weeks before the festival, everyone watching better be prepared to move and mosh on The Key Club stage.
Hey everyone, apologies this post is coming late, there’s been a few things going on behind the scenes I’ve had to deal with and for that, I’ve had to be home.
But enough of that, let’s get on with the music videos. For those that are new to this weekly post, I find the ten best music videos out there and put them into a list for your viewing pleasure. Up first is Florida deathcore group Bodysnatcher, whom have recently signed with Stay Sick Recordings and have a brutal track in the form of ‘Isolation’.
We’ll take things in a different direction with the next choice in the form of British Singer/ Songwriter Lizzy Farrall whom has returned with her first piece of new music since she released her ‘All I Said Was Never Heard’ EP back in January. The new track explains the topic of controlling and abusive relationships.
Keeping on the Pure Noise Records label is Can’t Swim. This track, ‘Sometimes You Meet The Right People At The Wrong Times’ is off their soon-to-be-released sophomore LP, ‘This Too Won’t Pass’.
Back in Britain, let’s go for a bit of Deaf Havana. This is a neon filled video for ‘Worship’. On the track, frontman James Veck-Gioldi has said: “I wrote it with my brother in a flat in Sheffield and we came up with phonetic sounds before we came up with lyrics, which is probably why the chorus melody is so rhythmic and not typical of how I usually write. It’s one of my favourite tracks on the record and it was the song we wrote the quickest, I think all in all it took us 15 minutes.'”
Now I know Halloween has just passed. Some people are looking forward to Bonfire Night, some are looking forward to Christmas (already) but I had to include this Real Friends video. Warning it’s gory af. Check out ‘Me First’ below.
Stand Atlantic are the band on everyone’s lips at the moment. They’re Aussie favourites who’ve just released their debut record. Part of that record was the title track, the ever brilliant ‘Skinny Dipping’. Which has an even better music video.
‘Flood’ is the brand new track from the band known as ‘Selfish Things’. But the message behind it might be the most important on this weeks list, or possibly one of the most important tracks I’ve posted.
Frontman Alex Biro said: “I wrote ‘Flood’ with WZRD BLD the day after the Las Vegas shooting. My wife was taking a climate change course in university simultaneously and I felt like I needed to find a way to talk about human complacency in the face of destruction beyond gun violence. Our species has this off-putting, innate ability to let things go to shit so long as it doesn’t directly impact us as individuals. The song was finished in under five hours – I’m extremely proud of it and the message contained within.”
Moving onto the UK Rockers As It Is, their concept record The Great Depression’, is continuing its narrative with the video for ‘The Reaper’ feat. Underoath’s Aaron Gillespie. The video sees the narrative of the main character, The Poet moving forward in his narrative.
Speaking on the track and video, guitarist Ben Langford-Biss has said: “‘The Reaper’ is the moment in the record’s narrative where The Poet becomes so desensitised to the concept of death, that death appears and manifests before him, offering an ‘escape’- not in a malicious way, but as a means of release from the pain The Poet is feeling. It was one of the most crucial and challenging moments in the narrative, and it was the last one that came together – lyrically and musically.
Let’s go for a European band for the penultimate video. German Alternative group, Breathe Atlantic and got a brand new single out at the moment, ‘ My Supernova’ and if the video is anything to go by, they’re pyromaniacs. ‘My Supernova’ comes from the band’s upcoming record, ‘Soulmade’ which is the follow up to their 2016 record, “futurestories’.
Now for this last video, we have to go to Halloween. Gerrard Way has been away making comic books, adapting The Umbrella Academy for Netflix and has now just released a new solo single, ‘Baby You’re A Haunted House’.
His last release as a solo artist was wayyy back in 2014 for ‘Hesitant Alien’, unless you count the two unreleased tracks for Record Store Day in 2016. Even if this is just a single release or signs of a full-length release, you’ll love the video for the final entry to this weeks list, ‘Baby You’re A Haunted House’.
They’re releasing a new record. The era of ‘The Home Inside My Head’ is now over and Real Friends are going to release their new record ‘Composure’ in less than a months time on July 13th 2018.
There’s going to be ten tracks on the record including the lead single ‘From The Outside’ as well as the next track, ‘Smiling On the Surface’, which has premiered today.
Listen to it below.
Composure was produced by Mike Green who has in the past produced for Paramore and All Time Low so it’s safe to say he knows how to take the Pop-Punk to the next level.
And here is the tracklisting for ‘Composure’.
1. Me First
2. Stand Steady
3. From The Outside
4. Smiling On The Surface
5. Hear What You Want
6. Unconditional Love
7. Composure
8. Get By
9. Ripcord
10. Take A Hint
On the record, Bassist Kyle Fasel has said to Billboard:
“We have never put this much time and effort into a record. “Composure is everything we’ve always come up short on. We focused more on melodies than ever before. We focused more on the overall emotional climate of each song than ever before. I truly think that every song on the record stands on its own. But when all the songs come together it creates our best effort to date.”
You can pre-order the record from Fearless Records via the following link.
It’s Friday so you know what it’s time for. It’s another countdown video for ten of the best latest music videos going around at the moment. Ahead of their Warped Tour appearance on the final ever cross-country trek across America this summer, Real Friends have released a brand new single with the accompanying video for ‘From The Outside’.
Next up are Homebound. They’ve revealed a new video for ‘Coming Clean’ and on the track, Vocalist Charlie Boughton has said: “The over-thinking and played out scenarios we mull over and over in our heads until we realise there’s nothing left to do but say what needs to be said.”
Now for some cinematics from none other than Knuckle Puck. They’ve recently announced they’re coming back to the UK this October with Tiny Moving Parts and Movements but until then, there’s the latest video for ‘Want Me Around’.
Next up, one thing you probably didn’t expect in a video on this list: Sock Puppets. You read that correctly! This next video is from Mike Shinoda in the video for ‘Ghosts’.
Now Don Broco have released some wacky videos in the past but now it’s another too add to their filmography in the video for ‘Greatness’, which is taken off their latest record, ‘Technology’.
Now Blackpool based rockers Boston Manor have had a pretty hectic week. They’ve played Download Festival, announced a headline UK tour and a new record. On top of that, here’s their newest video for ‘Halo’.
Pop-Punk royalty New Found Glory have released a few great videos in the last year and now they have a new one for their track ‘Heaven Sent’, the first single off their 2017 extended release ‘Makes Me Sick’. Check it out below.
The first chapter of Sainte is over. New music should be on the way if Tay Jardine is to believe. (I mean, why wouldn’t we?) But that means two new videos are here. Here is the first for ‘If You Ever Feel Alone’.
Now some huge news. If you didn’t know With Confidence are back! They’re releasing a new record at the end of August and we couldn’t be more excited! Here’s the first taste of their new material in the video for ‘That Something’.
And last but certainly not least is Neck Deep and the video for ‘Don’t Wait’ which features Architect’s Sam Carter. It’s the latest video from the band’s 2018 record, ‘The Peace And The Panic’ and probably one of my favourite videos in a while.
And that’s the last video for this week’s list. We’ve had some great ones this week and I can’t wait to see what’s on the horizon on the next video countdown. Be sure to check back next week.
Now this was an unexpected release from Real Friends, namely their bassist Kyle Fasel as he has announced via Twitter that he has published a book of poetry.
My debut poetry book ‘Nothing Memorable Stays The Same’ is now available on Amazon. Thank you so much to everyone that has supported my writing. Writing this book has been a huge goal of mine for a long time now. I’m so happy to finally have it out. // https://t.co/fPdVJZG8gwpic.twitter.com/5wpvAoSOFI
It’s called ‘Nothing Memorable Stays The Same’ and has been sdescribed as “the words inside this book are for the ones that don’t have it all quite figured out”.
Real Friends have sadly had to cancel their upcoming shows all over the place in places such as Australia, Europe and the UK to focus on their mental health.
Dan Lambton wrote the following statement.
“Hello everybody, Dan here. I wanted to let you all know that Real Friends will be cancelling our upcoming international appearances in Australia, Europe, and the UK,”wrote frontman Dan Lambton.
“This has come recommended by both the band and my psychiatrist so I can have time to continue learning to live and deal with my diagnosis of bipolar disorder. Since coming home from recording, I am sober, on new medication, and undergoing an intensive outpatient group therapy program per the recommendation of my therapist.”
“I am continuing to better myself so that Warped Tour this summer will be a fresh start for not only me, but for Real Friends as a whole. We all want to be the best possible versions of ourselves as individuals and in turn be the best possible version of Real Friends.”
“We appreciate your support and understanding, and we want to note that this conversation about mental health will continue, but for now I’ll be continuing my treatment, and we’ll make Warped Tour something so special for you all. Thank you all for your love and support.”
I plan on making a more detailed and elaborate statement concerning these cancellations once I can give the proper time to it because I feel that you all deserve to know what is going on, how my actions have affected those around me, and how I am taking steps to better myself.
Almost Anything Music 