For as much as the world has changed since Real Friends first emerged in 2010, the band’s mission hasn’t. The Illinois quintet 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. When the band—Dave Knox (lead guitar), Kyle Fasel(bass), Eric Haines (rhythm guitar), and Brian Blake (drums) —welcomed vocalist Cody Muraro in 2020, the goal stayed the same as they crafted new music for Pure Noise Records.
Over the years, Real Friends have forged and strengthened a deep connection with fans. The group’s 2014 full-length debut, Maybe This Place Is the Same and We’re Just Changing, marked a turning point. Rock Sound named it one of the “Top 50 Albums of the Year.” 2016’s The Home Inside My Head maintained this momentum with further acclaim and sold out shows. In 2018, Composure incited applause from Music Connection, Alternative Press, Substream Magazine, New Noise, and Billboard who described it as “raw.” To date, they’ve also amassed over 100 million streams and counting. In 2021, they turned the page on a new chapter with the singles “Nervous Wreck” and “Storyteller.”
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In the fall of 2010 bassist Kyle Fasel "wasn't happy" with the music he was working on and wished to start over. Fasel called lead guitarist Dave Knox and the pair soon started talking about the goals they wished to achieve. Fasel didn't expect it to lead anywhere. Vocalist Dan Lambton, who was friends with Knox, received a call from Fasel, asking if he would like to join him and Knox. They were soon joined by drummer Aaron Schuck. The band recorded its debut EP, This Is Honesty, in the spring of 2011. Following the release of the EP, the band began playing shows around the Midwest. The group soon realized that it "didn't feel right, playing the songs they currently had. Almost forcing ourselves into sound." They had a meeting and came to the conclusion to start over. During this period of change, Fasel and Knox were playing in The Fastest Kid Alive. Shortly afterwards, Schuck was replaced by Brian Blake. Blake had emailed the band after he found out they needed a drummer.
Real Friends didn't have a permanent second guitarist, often having their friends to substitute. Eric Haines soon joined as a rhythm guitarist. Until Haines joined Fasel and Knox would typically write the songs and they didn't have "another guitarist's opinion", according to Fasel. Shortly after the release of the Everyone That Dragged You Here EP, the band's popularity increased and the audience at their shows also increased. The band later released the Put Yourself Back Together EP. Reviewing the EP for Rock Sound, Andy Biddulph said noted that he would not be "surprised" if the band was "mixing it with the big boys in a year's time". In November, the group supported The Wonder Years on their UK shows, included UK Warped Tour.
Fearless signed the band in December 2013. The band were initially hesitant to sign to a label but called Fearless "different. They made it feel more like a family." The group "still wanted full control of our band" while Fearless would help with marketing and distribution, according to Fasel. The band recorded their debut studio album in February with producer Seth Henderson. The band released its debut studio album, Maybe This Place Is the Same and We're Just Changing on July 22, 2014. The album sold over 10,300 copies, charting at number 24 on the Billboard 200. The band played on the 2014 Vans Warped Tour supporting the album's release, appearing on the Journey's Stage. More Acoustic Song EP was released for Record Store Day in April 2015. One of the tracks, an acoustic version of "Late Nights in My Car", features Kevin Jordan from This Wild Life.
Fearless Records announced that a new Real Friends record would be released on their label in 2016, through a post on their official Twitter account, which was made on December 22, 2015. Prior to the Fearless announcement, the band had made several references to the recording of a new album throughout 2015 on their Facebook and Twitter pages. Real Friends finished recording their second full-length album on the road, in February 2016. Prior to the album's announcement, the band began to play a new song entitled "Colder Quicker" during their live sets. On April 1, 2016, the band announced the title of their new album as being The Home Inside My Head, along with the album's release date, cover art and track listing. Additionally, on the same day the band released a music video for "Colder Quicker". The album was released on May 27, 2016.
On November 16, 2017 the band released a single entitled "Get By". On June 18, 2018 the band announced the new album 'Composure' set for release on July 13, 2018 to their home town fans during an RSVP Acoustic session. It was preceded two weeks prior by a single entitled "From the Outside", which was accompanied by a music video.
Style and influences
Real Friends has been described as pop punk and emo, as well as emo pop punk. Punknews reviewer said "If American Football went totally pop-punk, Real Friends would be the result." Vocalist Dan Lambton has been described as a cross between The Starting Line's Kenny Vasoli, The Wonder Years' Dan Campbell and The Dangerous Summer's AJ Perdomo. Bassist Kyle Fasel has cited American Football, Dashboard Confessional, The Early November, Jimmy Eat World, The Promise Ring, Saves the Day, The Starting Line, Spitalfield, Taking Back Sunday and Thursday as influences.
Bassist Kyle on the often used phrase "sleepy eyes and bony knees":
I think there’s something that needs to be explained on our end here. We released a new EP on June 4th titled “Put Yourself Back Together.” There are some references in the songs that mention sleepy eyes and bony knees. There have been some negative comments regarding the amount of times we mention those two things. I want to make this post to explain the detailed meanings of both of those subjects. I assure all of you out there that we would never put something in multiple songs that doesn’t have a great amount of meaning. These songs are my life summed up into some verses and choruses. These songs are my therapy, and that goes for the four other dudes in my band too. So here we go….
Sleepy eyes refers to a time in my life in 2011. I was going through a very messy break up which then lead to a love triangle and that lead me to be depressed. The girl that I was in love with since I was eighteen had found someone else that she grew to love. She told me that she still loved me as well though. This lead to lots of sleepless nights and some weight loss as well. Thirty pounds of weight loss to be exact. Listen to our song “Floorboards” for more details on that whole situation. Well anyway, this situation and some other ones over the past few years have led me to not being able to sleep at night. I had resorted to sleeping pills in 2011 when I was depressed. I also consider myself a night owl in general. I haven’t gone to bed before 2 am in years. But mainly sleepy eyes is something that I think we have all been through in life. It’s about those nights when you’re so overworked and have so much going on that you can’t fall asleep, even if you are physically tired. Not only do I write these songs for my own therapy, but I would hope that some of you could find some peace in them. So of course I’m going to reference this subject multiple times. And that is sleepy eyes.
Bony knees is a subject that pops up in a lot of our songs as well. I will keep it general at first here. I in fact do physically have bony knees. But I will surely say that there is a way deeper meaning behind these bony knees. It kind of all dates back to my depression in 2011. Like I stated before there was some weight loss, which made these knees a little more bony than before. I also found myself physically and mentally down on my knees while going through depression. Even after 2011, after I started feeling better, I would still find myself down and out on my bony knees physically and mentally. We all go through dirt in life and lot of times it makes us fall on our knees for awhile. I can easily say that dirt has put me on my knees more than I want to say. But the beautiful part about falling on your knees is getting back up. And that’s the main point of the bony knees reference. You have to get up in life and move on. We have all been there and we will all be there again. When I write bony knees in a song it reminds me of how I put all of the bullshit behind me and moved on. And that is bony knees.
I just wanted to clear this all up. I don’t want anyone to ever think that we are using this as some sort of gimmick or something. We keep things real and it will always be that way. I hope you can all now find deeper meaning and connection with sleepy eyes and bony knees.
I Don
Real Friends Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Then you left me for dead
I don't love you anymore
I hope you're happy since I don't know you anymore
You were a part of me
And now you're just nothing but a memory
No matter how bad I want you in my bed
I know that you found somebody else to be there for you
I'll keep sleeping sideways in my empty bed
To fill up the lonely space
I'm just a kid with too much lonely space
Now I'm just like the pictures that you take
I'm nothing but something that once was
Like colors that fade away in the sunlight
They're nothing special like they used to be
They're gone and they're never coming back
No, they're never coming back
I'm gone and I'm never coming back
No matter how bad I want you in my bed
I know that you found somebody else to be there for you
I'll keep sleeping sideways in my empty bed
To fill up the lonely space
I'm just a kid with too much lonely space
I woke up today and realized that what we had is dead
I'm just a pile of lifeless bones to you
I've spent too many years thinking about somebody
That doesn't even think about me
Thinking about somebody that doesn't even think about me
Thinking about somebody That doesn't even think about
No matter how bad I want you in my bed
I know that you found somebody else to be there for you
I'll keep sleeping sideways in my empty bed
To fill up the lonely space
I'm just a kid with too much lonely space
In "I Don't Love You Anymore," Real Friends lead singer Dan Lambton sings about the pain of a loss of a relationship. The lyrics describe how the singer feels after being in love with someone who ended up leaving him for somebody else. The song's first two lines express the confusion and betrayal felt by the singer. He can't believe that someone he loved could say that they loved him only to then abandon him. The lyrics of the chorus create the theme of the song. The singer says that he no longer loves this person anymore, and he hopes they're happy because he no longer knows them. He describes how the other person was once a part of him, but the relationship has ended, and they're no longer anything but a memory.
The lyrics continue with the singer's struggles to move on from the relationship. Even though he knows that the other person has found someone else, he still wants them. However, he acknowledges that he's just a kid with too much lonely space, which portrays the emptiness he feels after the relationship has ended. The metaphor of a fading photograph is used in the third verse to illustrate how the singer sees himself. He feels that he was once special and unique, but now he is nothing but a memory, just like the colors that fade away in the sunlight. The last verse concludes the song, with the singer coming to terms with the fact that the relationship is over. He says he's spent too long thinking about someone who doesn't think about him, and therefore he needs to move on.
Line by Line Meaning
I can't believe you've got the nerve to say you love me
I am shocked that you would have the audacity to claim you love me
Then you left me for dead
After saying you love me, you abandoned me to suffer alone
I don't love you anymore
I have finally moved on from my feelings towards you
I hope you're happy since I don't know you anymore
I wish you well, but I have no connection to you anymore
You were a part of me
At one time, you were an integral part of my life and my identity
And now you're just nothing but a memory
You have faded into a distant memory and no longer have a presence in my life
No matter how bad I want you in my bed
Although I may crave your physical presence, I know it is not what is best for me
I know that you found somebody else to be there for you
You have moved on and found someone else to give you companionship
I'll keep sleeping sideways in my empty bed
I will continue to sleep alone and cope with my loneliness
To fill up the lonely space
Sleeping alone is my way of dealing with the emptiness you left behind
I'm just a kid with too much lonely space
I am a young person with a great deal of emotional emptiness and loneliness
Now I'm just like the pictures that you take
I have become meaningless and insignificant, like the photographs you capture
I'm nothing but something that once was
I am only a shadow of my former self, devoid of my past connection to you
Like colors that fade away in the sunlight
I have faded and lost my vibrancy, like colors that disappear in the sun
They're nothing special like they used to be
I am no longer unique or exceptional, as I once was to you
They're gone and they're never coming back
The memories of our past are permanently lost and cannot be regained
No, they're never coming back
The past cannot be undone or revisited, as much as I may want to
I'm gone and I'm never coming back
I have moved on from our relationship and will never return to it
I woke up today and realized that what we had is dead
I finally came to terms with the fact that our relationship is truly over
I'm just a pile of lifeless bones to you
To you, I am nothing more than a discarded and lifeless entity
I've spent too many years thinking about somebody
I have invested too much time and energy into someone who does not reciprocate my feelings
That doesn't even think about me
You do not even consider me or my feelings in your own thoughts
Thinking about somebody that doesn't even think about me
I am consumed by thoughts of you, despite knowing that you do not think of me in the same way
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: Brian Blake, Daniel Lambton, David Knox, Eric Haines, Kyle Fasel
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
The Cubetician
When my friend said this songs sucks, I immediately knew...
Real friends don’t exist
MADD MANX🎵🎶
@blakee he's just sick and tired of the bullshit
Francesca Vigil
@blakee im on about this critical guy who is very annoying
blakee
@Francesca Vigil tf are you on about
Francesca Vigil
Literally everyone like that says everything sucks, like stfu. I have a dude in my class and thats all he saids "that song sucks" "this rapper sucks", "that joke sucks". Me: *talks about how I like rice and want to visit china*. The dude in my class (he is Japanese): "Your'e racist".
He is so annoying
Matt Vlogs
This made my crocs turn into Jordan’s
Arcangel Mical
Hopefully u didnt sell em
CRUIZE
@Airynn McGuire lmaoo
Airynn McGuire
@CRUIZE hell nah
abloozed
Magine