Albums That Changed My Life: Paul DiGiovanni (Boys Like Girls)
This week's "Albums That Changed My Life" contributor is Paul DiGiovanni of Boys Like Girls!The band are currently out on tour, alongside The All-American Rejects, in support of their recently released "Crazy World" EP. All tour dates and ticket information can be found here.
The Get Up Kids - Something To Write Home AboutThis was the first record that ever made me FEEL. My older cousin gave it to me sometime in '99 and it honestly changed my life. I could relate to each song and compare them to specific moments in my life. As I listen to it right now I still remember and feel the 8th grade, high school, girls, friends, growing up... "Something To Write Home About" was the "one" for me.
Copeland - Beneath Medicine Tree
From front to back this is one of the most emotional, timeless, beautiful records of all time. Another one that bring me RIGHT back to the early 2000's. "Brightest" has almost brought me to tears every time I hear it for over 10 years. From soft acoustics and piano, the jazz drums, to conceptual electronic jams... how do these different ideas fit together on one record so well? They say smell is the strongest sense linked to memory, but right now as I listen to "Walking Downtown" I can feel the halls of my high school, driving to get Wendy's late night with my friends on weekends, playing ultimate frisbee and football after school, driving to swim practice, to the mountain to ski in the winter. Music is the closest thing we will ever experience to a time machine in our lives and "Beneath Medicine Tree" will forever blow my mind.
Stevie Ray Vaughan - In StepOkay here is a curve ball, and ultimately less relatable than my other choices, but this record is why I am where I am today. There was a period where I was frustrated with music, with guitar, with life. I stopped performing for almost a year until my grandfather and my dad showed me Stevie Ray Vaughan. Man did his playing blow my mind, and it still does. 20 years after his heyday in the 80's he is still considered one of the biggest musical geniuses of our time. John Mayer has even come out and admitted that he is a total Stevie rip off, thats enough to see his impact on modern music.
Boys Like Girls - S/T
Finally, at the risk of sounding pretentious, here we have Boys Like Girls -"Boys Like Girls." The subject was "Albums That Changed My Life..." This record represents my transition from a boy into an adult. I was 17 when I auditioned for this band. Within 6 months we had started playing shows, recorded a mini EP on my iBook, and were about to hit the road. I gladly left high school and never looked back. Thinking back to one day being in english class, and the next getting in a van with new friends driving to Tucson to "see what would happen," blows my mind to this day. That's the definition of "life changing." And I wouldn't do a second of it differently.
Finally, at the risk of sounding pretentious, here we have Boys Like Girls -"Boys Like Girls." The subject was "Albums That Changed My Life..." This record represents my transition from a boy into an adult. I was 17 when I auditioned for this band. Within 6 months we had started playing shows, recorded a mini EP on my iBook, and were about to hit the road. I gladly left high school and never looked back. Thinking back to one day being in english class, and the next getting in a van with new friends driving to Tucson to "see what would happen," blows my mind to this day. That's the definition of "life changing." And I wouldn't do a second of it differently.
