A Monster Monster is on the loose.
The Almost’s second album for Tooth & Nail/Virgin Records began taking shape just as soon as the band came off the road after touring for their 2007 debut, Southern Weather, including a stint on that summer’s Warped tour.
That album, which debuted at 39 on Billboard’s Top 200, earned them a Top 10 single at Alternative radio, and a spot on MTV’s Discover & Download, was essentially the work of a single individual—Underoath drummer Aaron Gillespie, who wrote all the songs, played all the instruments and then recruited a band to play them live, starting with fellow Floridian Jay Vilardi, a veteran of several well-known area bands like Metal Blade’s Phoenix Mourning and Orlando-based Hand to Hand.
“My job was to teach everyone the songs,” explains Vilardi, who describes himself as the band’s musical director. The addition of Philadelphia-based guitarist Dusty Redman, himself a veteran of Tooth & Nail bands like Beloved and Dead Poetic and Salt Lake City bassist Alex Aponte rounded out the line-up.
The now thoroughly road-tested band was intent to make their latest a completely collaborative effort, melding their talents into a whole that was more than the sum of its individual parts. The process began with Vilardi, Redmon and Aponte e-mailing files back and forth to Gillespie, who was busy penning lyrics and coming up with musical ideas of his own while touring with Underoath, before all four of them got together in the studio to jam and work out the arrangements.
It was a system that resulted in a powerfully cohesive album that melds their diverse songwriting skills, from the thudding, Raw Power-like stomp of the title track and “Young Again,” to the stark acoustic blues and closing psychedelic jam of “Monster,” the techno-rock laced with tribal drums of “Books & Books” and the melodic Coldplay/U2/Kings of Leon arena-rock anthem, “Hands.”
“It turned out to be a really good process because we wound up with a tremendous amount of material we can use,” says Vilardi.
“We jammed on these tracks for hours before we actually laid anything down,” nods Gillespie. “This now feels like a real band. Everyone gave up a piece of his own agenda for the good of the final result. And that’s how you end up with something special. It was a relief for me because it took a lot of the weight off my shoulders. They supplied the bricks and we built the house together.”
The guys also enlisted the help of steel guitarists Chris Scruggs (grandson of bluegrass legend Earl Scruggs) and John Davis (Superdrag vocalist/guitarist) while in the studio. Both Scruggs and Davis helped they guys broaden their musical pallets on a few tracks like “West” and “Hand Grenade.”
“It was whatever each of us could do for the song,” agrees Redmon. “There were no ego issues, no one screaming, ‘I’m Eddie Van Halen!’”
Gillespie says the songs are about the dark side of the human condition, battling your demons to come out the other side, starting with the album’s title.
“I’m giving in to you,” he roars in “Lonely Wheel,” though in “No I Don’t,” which segues from an acoustic beginning to an anthemic rock chorus, he admits, “I’m learning how to wait.” The hard-hitting “Young Again” and the country-flavored “Hand Grenade” (“Oh to be young/It sounds like so much fun”) are both about lost innocence, while “Souls on Ten,” with its piano flourish and urgent intensity, has a Springsteen feel and the grungy garage-rock of “Summer Summer” offers an elegiac nod to vintage Neil Young with Crazy Horse.
“It didn’t start out as a concept album, but by accident, I think it became one,” says Aaron. “It’s about the ‘monster’ that lives inside of all of us, which we have to fight to get rid of. It’s a battle you live with every day. In the end, when that stops, the question remains, can you now live your life? Can you get all of who you are, can you find a place that makes you happy?”
That catharsis comes across loud and clear in the final song on the album, dubbed “Monster,” which starts with Gillespie alone, accompanied by a single dobro. “Learning how to see/In this weird change of space/I’m learning to believe in this life… I feel you helping me.” The song builds until, about two-thirds of the way through, the rest of The Almost come in, embarking on a spontaneous acid-soaked jam, recorded live, that provides the ultimate release.
“Everybody needs that,” says Gillespie. “For some people, it’s drinking, others run, some throw baseballs. I play music. That’s what I do. That gets rid of the garbage in my life.”
“It’s about how terrible we can be at times,” says Vilardi. “It’s hard to be a person today who stands for something. It doesn’t make you better… sometimes it even makes you worse.”
On “Hands,” the band prove they can create an arena- and radio-ready rock anthem, with its martial beat, chiming keyboards and lush ‘80s new wave fizz.
“It’s like an Achtung Baby vibe,” nods Dusty. “That song came out of nowhere. We demoed it, then got into the studio and started playing it and just got real excited.”
“I like working with a song structure,” says Gillespie. “In Underoath, that’s not what we do. We create moments, which is important, but The Almost is something different.”
“Monster Monster” and “Young Again” demonstrate Jay and Dusty’s love of classic garage punk, like The Stooges and The Velvet Underground
. “We really want to put the middle finger back in rock,” says Vilardi. “We love the attitude of bands like Guns N' Roses.”
And that’s strange, because it turns out that rebellion doesn’t conflict with being on Tooth & Nail, where the support of community is almost as important as the religious implications.
“Music should reflect who you are,” says Aaron. “I believe there’s hope in finding who you are. That’s my conviction. At the same time, I want anybody, no matter their affiliation, to react to the music in the same way. I don’t want people to feel they’re being judged.”
With the addition of drummer Joe Musten (Gillespie played all the drums on the album), The Almost is ready to hit the road and do what they do best, play for their increasing fan base around the country.
“We plan on hitting it as hard as we can,” laughs Vilardi. “We’d like to leave and not come back for two years.”
“We’re just beginning now to establish our identity,” concludes Dusty. “There were a lot of people now who are finding out about Underoath through The Almost.”
Now there’s a transformation for you.
Summer Summer
The Almost Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
For something better
There's nothing better
Same old weird and familiar sound
It's just you leaving town, my God
August came around
Summer comes and
That you caught
When you were young
Summer goes, makes you feel
Like life is great
And hanging on for more
Empty streets, empty me
Just call me vagabond
Wondering in the sun
This is getting sort of old
Wandering aimlessly
Is it empty streets, or empty me?
Summer comes and
Leaves you with a fever
That you caught
When you were young
Summer goes, makes you feel
Like life is great
And hanging on for more
Hanging, hanging
Holding on for more, hoping, praying,
This will all start over
Come back for me
We will walk the streets
Of this old town
Make me a promise
This will all come back around
Summer comes and goes and leaves you
[You wanted more]
It comes and goes and leaves you
Summer comes and
Leaves you with a fever
That you caught
When you were young
Summer goes, makes you feel
Like life is great
And hanging on for more.
Hanging on for more.
The Almost's song "Summer Summer" is a nostalgic and introspective reflection on the fleeting nature of summertime and the emotions it brings up. The song begins with the singer “walking around, looking down / for something better.” This sets up a feeling of restlessness and dissatisfaction, which is then contrasted with the joy and excitement of summertime, when “life is great and hanging on for more.” The lyrics suggest that we are constantly searching for something better, even when we are surrounded by beauty and happiness.
As the song progresses, the singer explores his own feelings of emptiness and aimlessness, wondering whether it is the world around him that is empty or whether it is he himself who is feeling empty. This theme is reflected in the line “Empty streets, empty me / just call me vagabond.” The repetition of the phrase “Hanging on for more” throughout the song suggests that the singer is holding on to the memory of a past summer, hoping that it will all start over again.
The song's bittersweet sentiment is reinforced by the repeated reference to a fever that the singer caught when he was young, which is now leaving him. This fever can be interpreted as a metaphor for the excitement and passion of youth that fades as we grow older, leaving us with a sense of loss and longing. Overall, the lyrics of "Summer Summer" suggest that while summertime may bring up a range of powerful emotions, ultimately everything is fleeting and we must learn to appreciate the present moment.
Line by Line Meaning
Walking around, looking down
Moving around aimlessly, looking for something different
For something better
Seeking something superior to the current situation
There's nothing better
Unable to find something superior to the current situation
Same old weird and familiar sound
Pervasive sound that's strange and familiar at the same time
It's just you leaving town, my God
Realizing that the sense of something missing is due to friends leaving
August came around
The end of summer is nearing
Summer comes and
Leaves you with a fever
That you caught
When you were young
Summer brings an inexplicable feeling of longing for something that was experienced during childhood
Summer goes, makes you feel
Like life is great
And hanging on for more
The joy of summer lingers within, making life seem wonderful and worth experiencing more
Empty streets, empty me
Feeling lost, with no direction or purpose
Just call me vagabond
Identifying with the life of a wanderer
Wondering in the sun
Roaming under the blazing sun
This is getting sort of old
The repetitive nature of the wandering is becoming tiresome
Wandering aimlessly
Is it empty streets, or empty me?
Questioning whether the emptiness is due to the surroundings or oneself
Hanging, hanging
Holding on for more, hoping, praying,
This will all start over
Desiring for the return of summer and everything that comes with it
Come back for me
We will walk the streets
Of this old town
Make me a promise
This will all come back around
Asking the season of summer to return and recreate the joy that was once experienced
Summer comes and goes and leaves you
[You wanted more]
It comes and goes and leaves you
Summer arrives and departs, leaving behind a sense of wanting more
Hanging on for more.
Clutching onto the hope of experiencing more of the joyous summer season
Contributed by Logan N. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
weezy Lloyd
Haven't heard this song in years damn the trip down memory lane
Omni Storm
Same
Anastaisha
it's the best their song I swear
Chaybe
2018, going to 2019 and this is better song of all my life of 24 years old. Holy moly.
CESAR SURF
Empty streets, empty me Just call me vagabond Wondering in the sun This is getting sort of old Wandering aimlessly Is it empty streets, or empty me? Hanging, hanging Holding on for me, hoping, praying, This will all start over
CESAR SURF
Walking around, looking down For something better There's nothing better Same old weird and familiar sound It's just you leaving town, my God August came around Summer comes and, Leaves you with a fever That you caught When you were young Summer goes, makes you feel Like life is great And hanging on for more
TheFxOwnage
The band is named "the almost", the song is named "summer summer".
Jasmine Garcia
Buenisima cancion...
CESAR SURF
Come back to me We will walk the streets Of this old town Make me a promise This will all come back around
TheFxOwnage
@CodyBailey618 Well, have a nice summer and I hope you enjoyed listening :)