Albums That Changed My Life: This Time Next Year
This week's "Albums That Changed My Life" feature comes from California's own, This Time Next Year.The band are currently touring across the US on New Found Glory's "Pop Punk's Not Dead" tour in support of their new album, 'Drop Out Of Life'. If you haven't heard it yet, you don't know what you're missing!
Saves The Day - Through With Being CoolThis record came into my life at a very pivotal time. My freshman year of high school was when I really started going to local shows and listening to punk/hardcore bands. My friends had always burned me CDs of bands they thought I'd be into, ranging from BANE to New Found Glory. When I got "Through Being Cool", everything changed for me. Lyrically, it was as emotional and honest as a band could get. That's what struck me the most about this record. As a 15-year-old kid, I could easily relate to almost everything Chris was singing about. What really put the hook in me came about 10 years later. Some of the songs are more relevant to me now than they ever were. Songs like "Shoulder To The Wheel" and "Vast Spoils of America" became my anthems to every night drive on tour. That's how I knew that this record changed my life. It made me want to be in a band. More importantly, it made me understand what it is to be in a band that I love.
AFI - Shut Your Mouth and Open Your EyesThis was the first record I ever bought on vinyl. I used to sit in front of my fireplace with this shitty record player I bought off of eBay and just listen to this over and over. As cheesy as it sounds, this record changed my life. It opened my eyes to all the music in the bay area and made me expand my musical tastes with punk, hardcore, indie, etc. and helped me get into bands like Rancid, The Nerve Agents, American Nightmare, The Distillers, The Cure, etc. I still listen to all of these bands on a regular basis and it’s thanks to AFI.
Metallica - The Black AlbumMy father raised me on rock n' roll singers such as Chuck Berry and Little Richard, as well as Motown artists such as Marvin Gaye and The Temptations. Up until I was eleven that was all I knew of music. He gave my brother-in-law money to take me to my first ever concert, which he chose to be Jerry Cantrell and Days of the New supporting Metallica at the Shoreline Amphitheater. I remember the lights going out, the crowd cheering and the first few seconds of "Enter Sandman" playing. I decided at that moment there was nothing else I wanted to do.
The next day I got a ride to the record store and purchased my very first compact disc. The first few seconds of "Enter Sandman" struck me as hard as it did the night before. I listened to that song twenty plus times before my mother told me to play the next song, which I did. Twenty times.
Some will dispute that was the slow decline of the band, or some may put it on producer Bob Rock, and while I'll agree it's not their fastest, or maybe their most impressive, no other record hits me harder than that one.
I still have that record thirteen years later. It no longer plays but sits in my collection.
Blink-182 - Enema Of The StateThis record changed how I viewed music and opened my ears up to all new genres. The combination of perfect melodic songs and well-crafted choruses immediately caught my attention. Blink-182 also was a band that would help their friend's bands and take them on tour, which helped me find more music. Without this record I would not be the same person today.
AFI - The Art Of DrowningThe album that changed my viewpoint on music forever would have been AFI – “The Art Of Drowning”. I came across this record when I was in 8th grade (2001), and my entire direction in my musical endeavors changed forever. While a lot of other records have a huge influence on my drumming style as well, AFI's "The Art Of Drowning" sent me into a life long punk rock coma.
