Finn, been listening to a lot of your videos lately. Very informative. You know your stuff. Please help me, I have fragmented lyrics to a song stuck in my head. Can't find it on any apps or Google. The lyrics, as I remember them "don't be anything without me, don't try anything without my" Any ideas? Should be a band from the mid 2010s
Expecting motion city soundtrack to be mentioned again. I picked up commit this to memory the other day at the flea market for a buck and realized later it was signed by the entire band. Criminally underated pop punk rock group
It blows my mind Motion City Soundtrack wasn’t bigger than they were. I just saw them in Chicago last month and they still sounded so good, and they still are funny between songs. I have seen them at least six times.
I feel like finn has made a career talking about all the bands from the "MX vs. ATV Offroad Fury" soundtrack. Kudos to you, good sir. That was an excellent game.
ohhhh I haven't gotten that far into the vid yet, but I caught them live with sum41 years ago, and it was fucking amazing. that concert was one of the best crowds I've ever been in... such a blast.
I saw them in Dallas in the mid-90s opening up for Bad Religion and they were excellent. Surprisingly, their best two albums, Oz Factor and Blue Room weren't mentioned in the video.
I just saw The Starting Line open for All American Rejects and New Found Glory and they still sound great. I still love Say It Like You Mean it. It is a perfect pop punk album
@@Leftturnaddict amazing! I saw the Simple Plan and Sum41 recently and it was great! I saw The Offspring at the 2005 Warped Tour and that crowd went nuts. Crazy pit!
Bands like TSL, The Early November, Jimmy Eat World, Boys Night Out and Saves The Day were the sort of bands who were just a couple steps ahead of now 30 something year olds at the time. They only “fell off” because we weren’t ready to hear the sort of maturity they were displaying through their writing. As I go back and re listen to all of these records like Futures, Based On A True Story etc. I love them even more than the initial records they put out that got me into them in the first place. These bands hit Rock/Alternative radio around the time when Sirius and satellite radio was booming. They all fell into the weird hole of being too immature for “adults”, and too mature for “kids”.
Finn, Unwritten Law are definitely still a band. I’m from Australia and they just did a tour this August. Definitely an underrated band. I’m 30 years old and I heard about them when I was a kid because Seein’ Red was on the Grind movie soundtrack. My only friend who listened to them is 35 and couldn’t come to the show because he had to look after his kid, so I went and saw them solo. They were good live.
I was never a fan of the starting line's music. But I have to say that Kenny is a great guy. He was filling in on bass for a band that I ended up joining after him and he did literally everything he could for us. Got us on a bunch of warped tour dates, promoted us on stage at their shows, shouted us out in the thank yous of the starting line albums, mentioned us in interviews. He seriously couldn't have been cooler to us.
the unwritten law front man does have an incredible voice, and it's so so good live too. saw them in a tour with sum41 ages ago, and that crowd was epic... memorable show across the board.
98 was possibly the best warped tour year ever. Instant Aquabats fan the moment I saw them, Fury of the Aquabats! Might be the greatest Ska album of all time, fucking banger.
Sworn Enemy was crazy! I loved those guys. Reminds me of Northside Kings, Hoods and all those other “Thug” core bands. I also think people forget, outside of Boston Beatdown, FSU was on Gangland on History or TLC or one of those channels. That shit was real and real violent back in the day. Brass knuckles wrapped in bandanas so you couldn’t see who smacked the shit out of you while crowd killing. Miss it and don’t miss it at the same time
I'm gonna be that guy for a moment. Ready? To make everyone feel even older, The Best of Me was released in 2002 just before their record in July of 2002. So even older than mentioned. With that said, everyone should re listen to TSL's discography because it's underrated as a whole! Finn could also make a video on their story because it's a facinating tale from being called Sunday Drive before TSL, to their Geffen label issues to their Virgin records label issues to the fact that they are still selling out shows today despite their last ep coming out in 2013. It's been a Rollercoaster for them and for the most part they take it in stride. As a band and as individuals, they rise above so many artists even those who have mainstream success.
That 90’s New Brunswick/Princeton scene was so good (Saves the Day, Lifetime) which wound up producing an all time great Philly melodic hardcore band, Kid Dynamite ⚡️
Starting line was from real close by my town, my wife always tell the story bout how they came in to her empty bar late on like a Tuesday to celebrate when the island music video got played on mtv. She said they were the coolest most wholesome guys. Bonus points the singer’s grandma was a lunch lady at my high school. 😂
About 20 years ago, I saw The Used headline a show that had the openers Finch, Days Away, The Starting Line, and Saves the Day. All in a 1,000-ish person little club and thought they were all going to flourish. This one hurt :(
@@ltrskltrA lot of it had to do with Nate Barcalow. He's quit and rejoined the band multiple times. They also changed their style big-time on their second album, which hurt their momentum.
@@ltrskltr They have broken up 3 different times since 2006, or been on "hiatus," however you want to describe it. I think they played When We Were Young festival and were supposed to tour this year but I don't think they went out. Thought they were gonna be huge!
Unwritten Law’s self titled black album was actually their third album (and probably their best) but their second album Oz Factor was a banger as well and leaned more heavily into their punk sound. I associate them more with the skate punk scene than the pop punk scene even though they came out of Poway like Blink.
UL is absolutely amazing. They’re still a band. They released a new album a few months ago. Scott Russo is one of my favorite songwriters. He made an album with Amee Allen (the interrupters) in 2007 called Scott & Aimee - Sitting in a tree. What a great album…
Yeah, they’ve been around a long time. Blink plugged them in “Josie” but UL already had a deal with SONY at the time. What are the odds that a small town on the outskirts of San Diego would produce 2 of the bigger skate punk bands in the 90s?
Unwritten Law are currently touring Australia going to a bunch of small cities that never get bands like Gosford on the Central Coast and Torquay in rural Victoria. I saw them on the Gold Coast. Small venue but packed out show. One of the best shows I have been to in the last 10 years
Sworn Enemy is one of the best hardcore metal bands of all time. First time I saw them was on tour with Biohazard and Kittie. Changed my whole perspective on hard music forever.
I went to high school with the guitarist from Sworn Enemy. Great band! He was a hardcore metalhead then also. Makes perfect sense he chose the career path he did.
Sworn Enemy was/is great. Love that 2000s hardcore sound like Hatebreed, Throwdown, Bury Your Dead, On Broken Wings, pre keepers of the faith Terror, Lionheart, First Blood, Too Pure To Die etc.
I’m a huge Saves fan. And I even like their catalog after Stay What You Are. In Reverie was such a shockingly different album that it just didn’t fit anywhere. No genre base would claim it. And they fizzled. Chris also wanted to turn the band into the modern Beetles, and the departure from their roots was too much for most.
Yeah, too big of a departure from their previous albums…also, In Reverie just wasn’t very good. I think Conley was attempting to get into dreamier pop music (see: The Promise Ring). Maybe they could’ve pulled it off if the original band stuck around to round out the music, but it basically turned into a weird solo project.
In Reverie sounds weird because of the vocals but all the albums after that are great and sound more similar to Stay What You Are. One of their newest albums - Self-titled (or the grapefruit one) is up there with the best imo.
That was the era when he started dumping guys and the lineups started changing a lot. I have to believe that lead to some differences in the songs/sound.
Unwritten Law just finished a tour in Australia and recently released a new record which has some pretty great tracks on it. You should suss it out Finn.
Still love The Starting Line. Their other two albums are pretty good in my opinion, but I know most people aren't into them. Also, Unwritten Law's "Music in High Places" acoustic album is very underrated.
Also, honorable mention for No Motiv. How did they not blow up big after Diagram for Healing? Super catchy with a radio-friendly voice. Tremendous live.
Thank you for another bands that should have been bigger, always appreciate these videos. I remember seeing TSL in HS late 2002 right after Say it Like You Mean It, I was in the audience going " Damn these guys look like they are the same age as me"
Saves The Day was ALWAYS weird. Seek out the Lisa's Birthday Tape (EP?) on TH-cam, I'm fairly certain those were prior to Can't Slow Down and they're really dark songs. For better or worse, they've always been a progressive band and none of their records sound the same. In Reverie, the record which is pointed out as their nose-dive into obscurity, is now wildly fawned over and instantly sold out both times it was repressed on vinyl.
Never heard those songs before. Thanks for sharing! Yeah, STD always had weirdly specific lyrics (🎵let me take this awkward saw and run it against your thighs…🎵) It was those deeply emo lyrics combined with the hardcore/pop-punk style that made it all so catchy. When Chris got into his dream pop phase it just became a little too… I don’t know what. But it wasn’t enjoyable to listen to 😅
In Reverie was ahead of it's time imo. They crushed that new emo/pop punk/hardcore sound on their first few albums and they just wanted to do something different. I think Chris said at one point that anyone could have made Stay What You Are, and it is prob their most mainstream sounding straight forward album they've made. But In Reverie just confused people too much and the scene wasn't ready for it. I remember being super disappointed when In Reverie came out but took me a long time to grow on me and now looking back I see its genius, but of course even when a lot of people realized how great it really was too much time had passed.
Unwritten Law 100% still a band. Saw them a couple of weeks ago in Australia and I’m 2020 as well. Unlike a lot of older bands winding down and doing small club shows, they are a very tight band and Scott still sounds amazing.
i saw them twice on the Hum tour back in april. i'm so jealous you guys got to see Cailin too. Did she come out and sing 'Cailin' with him? i've been a fan of the band for over 20 years and i've always wanted to see her come out for that song. btw i was at the show where scott got arrested and missed it.
I really dug The Starting Line's third album with Kenny embracing his curly hair for the first time. They had that acoustic album that was great as well that my late mother loved. Mark Trombino honestly has to be my all-time favorite producer in the music industry and he produced their first album. Just look at all the masterpiece albums he produced throughout the years including my all-time favorite album by Mineral, Endserenading. That will always be my favorite album until the day I die. He also produced Finch's debut, a bunch of Jimmy Eat World's best albums, and the underrated Denver Harbor album where 16 year old Ilan Rubin played amazing drums to the best pop-punk singer, Will Salazar on vocals. Oh and he produced Blink 182's Dude Ranch.
I still have a finch belt buckle I rock almost weekly. Lol! I still listen to Fenix TX (tearjerker) and Starting line gets rotation weekly as well. I loved anyways, but have been around since the very beginning. I heard startingline in my mall through the entire lobby at the start of the pandemic. Say it like you mean it. I'd say if you get played in the mall... like Jimmy eat world... you didn't flop.
Brooooo thank u so much for the sworn enemy shout out! My cousin is Lorenzo the og lead guitar. He left to go Hollywood n shit but im glad his work gets recognition. I got the pleasure of goin on tour wit him when i was 18 back in 06. On that tour was six feet under, animosity(another super underated band)n it was job for a cowboys first tour. Jfac only did the second half of the tour cuz they were seniors in hs still lol. Also rip pauly the og drummer. I miss that guy .....
STD basically dissolved after the 3rd album and Chris Conley carried on with the name even though it was more like a solo project. Whenever the style of the music changes so drastically, I wonder if it wouldn’t be simpler to go by another name instead of confusing fans.
I actually played in a band that opened for Sworn Enemy here in Manchester UK. The 2000s was a great time growing up in the alternative/underground scene.
I am a 52 year old woman who used to go to Gilman over 30 years ago. There were probably twice as many guys as gals. Sometimes the skater types would bring their 'normal' looking girlfriends with them and they usually wouldn't mingle and would look at us like we were some kind of freakshow. LOL By the way I met Unwritten Law in a 7/11 parking lot around Oakland about 20 years ago. I was playing old Bad Religion with my windows rolled down when I pulled up and they were hanging outside of their van eating some snacks. One of them said they liked the song and I think he may have flirted with me but I wasn't sure. I said thanks then drove home.
Saves the Day is like the whiny pop punk sound version of the Descendants. So many bands in the following decade like Yellowcard, We the Kings, Simple Plan, Something Corporate, All Time Low, Paramore, and dozens of others all were clearly inspired by Saves the Day. Through Being Cool and Stay What You Are are incredibly iconic. The cover art for Through Being Cool is the single most encapsulating pop punk/emo image in existence.
Unwritten Law did their rounds for sure on Leno, The Carson Daily Show and MTV prime time concerts. I even saw them playing on the ESPY’s back in the early days. Unwritten Law is one of my favorite bands, for some unknown reasons they just didn’t catch on, but were well respected by other bands in the scene at the time.
@@craigmahaney4369 yea I saw that about MXPX, but I haven’t quite got around to listening to the me album yet. I saw them live in 2000. “We ain’t got no place to go, LETS GO TO THE PUNK RAWK SHOW !”
@@craigmahaney4369 UL and mxpx are 2 of my favorite bands. The new mxpx is ok, the previous self titled album that came out in 2018 i think is my favorite album they've done and i've been a fan since 97. the new UL album The Hum is also really good.
Saw unwritten law in torquay Australia last Sunday. Put on an amazing show and cailin supported and she came on when they done the song cailin, and in wade fashion was just normal crazy and there was fight in the encore and wade got up threatening to fight em both. Etc etc haha
That TSL album should be in a museum as the epitome of pop punk. Not a single skip on that entire thing. This was back when Drive Thru Records basically ruled that genre. Would love to see a video about the rise and fall of Drive Thru. I’m sure the owners (Richard and Stephanie I want to say?) would be up for an interview if you could track them down.
The Starting Line and Saves The Day - Great examples. I have listened to these band A LOT since they popped up. Both had really interesting arcs. Kenny Vasoli (TSL) was recently a guest on the Chris Demakes A Podcast picking a part a later song of theirs. The 2nd album has a few songs clearly written during the 1st album, which are lovely (Bedroom Talk, Surprise Surprise) and then has a lot of angry songs. Still very very good. Then I lost them in the 3rd album. Saves The Day really did that voice thing you talked about. 1st and 2nd album (which is not on streaming) has the "gentle" voice, also the 3rd album In Reverie. Then the band did a trilogy of albums that pretty hard and dark, my favorite of them Sound The Alarm. More of a post-hardcore + thrashy Beatles thing, hehe. Then there's been a bunch of albums only for the diehard fans. Frontman Chris has been involved in some weird #metoo stuff, not sure about the status of that right now. Yada yada yada, I love the early work of both of these bands, hurray and thank you Finn always for bringing them up. Lots of love from Sweden.
The Unwritten Law song Celebration Song was in Need For Speed Underground 2 and it was a great addition. They are still around and put out an album called The Hum last year
There is a hidden track on the Unwritten Law CD, after the track 418, called Father, Father (I think) , that is in my mind the best thing they ever did. The drums are phenomenal, all of the instruments are done well, singing is on point, the song has a solid groove and it has changes in tempo. Like I said, I think it's the best thing they ever did!
I think w/TSL, SILYMI, as great as it was, 'Based On A True Story, took way too sharp of a left-hand turn from that prior sound for people to be on board with it. They didn't ease people into their change in sound. Similar to Saves the Day. 'Can't Slow Down' was amazing, 'Through Being Cool,' same. Then they got lucky with the college-indie crowd embracing, 'Stay What You Are,' but then 'In Reverie' was like, "who the hell is this band?" UL's, 'black' album is an all-time favorite for me. I think the band's in-fighting and diving head first into drugs/alcohol/partying, etc., held them back from being bigger. Sorry, passionate rant over. I just love that you talk about bands I grew up with.
The Starting Line is the soundtrack for that time in your life where you're starting to come into yourself and really like cool music and have cool friends but you're not quite at the point where you have to be really responsible for anything serious. You and your best friend go to Kings Island with your mom and dad and crush on a girl you met there. Cookouts in the summer playing Tony Hawk vibe. No worries. The whole world is wide open. Great stuff.
Rye Coalition, KARP, that first Fallout EP with Peter Steele in 1982 before Type O Negative, and Harvey Milk are the most underrated bands I have come across. I hope this is useful for someone
Unwritten Law was always a band i thought people knew because of Seein' Red. I remember it was on the soundtrack to a dumb skateboarding comedy called Grind. But yes, apparently they are still a band, they released a new album in 2022. Called "The Hum"
Through Being Cool is probably the best pop punk album of all time for sure. Stay What You Are was a huge success of an album as well, the problem was their major label attempt In Reverie is their only bad album. So they kinda faded. One thing about Saves the Day was that for a few years half the band was Glassjaw when Manny and Durijah. I always found that funny given that I love Glassjaw. Now that I'm googling them...ya Chris Conley and the May 2021 allegations...wow. Funny Saves the Day story, one of their first shows after Can't Slow Down dropped I saw them open for Floorpunch and Bane. The hardcore nerds tried to boo them off the stage in Jersey and Bane and Floorpunch came out on stage and put the crowd in their place. Was epic. Holly Hox is hands down my fav song by them.
I feel like Cartel deserves a mention along with these bands. Along with Motion City they kinda mastered the upbeat song with super depressing lyrics. Their albums rip though it sucks they never got bigger.
Love this video and LOVE that you featured Unwritten Law. Scalding hot take, Finn: not only are they still a band (who are oddly still big in Australia/NZ), but last summer they put out what I think may actually be their best album. It's called The Hum, and for all the reasons you said you liked self-titled, Elva and Here's To The Mourning, I GUARANTEE you will love it. To be clear, I am not a member of their organization lol just a long time fan.
I loved Sworn Enemy. They put on great shows. Special shout out to Sick Of It All too. Me and a buddy helped them load their equipment in a venue in Philly and they let us in for free and gave us guest spots up on stage during the show (with Madball and Hatebreed.)
UL was so good and when Blink lost Tom, I thought Scott Russo would've been a way better fit than Matt Skiba. But they just lost steam.. not sure why. The Ataris too. I still think Kris Roe was one of the best songwriters of that era of pop punk.
Nickelodeon UK tried to market The Starting Line as the next "boy band with instruments" over here as Busted and McFly were doing really well, but when their song played on the station it was at 6.59 and the feed cut to Turner Classic Movies as soon as the chorus hit at 7 😂 I remember being so annoyed. British kids tv stations had a weird time schedule back then.
Dude back in the early 2000s 'Sworn Enemy', "Hatebreed', and 'Throwdown" were my favorite bands. Dude I would lose my shit in the pit whenever Jamie sang, "NOW IS THE TIME FOR ME TO RISE TO MY FEET!!!" You remember watching on Boston Beatdown how Mobi got attacked by an FSU member? That shit was epiiiic. Nowadays I listen to Bane, Have Heart, and Down to Nothing. But I'm in my 40s now so I don't mosh nomo. But it's always good to reminisce on the good old days, Thanks FM.
Dude, all the chicks went to scene shows back in the day regardless of what group at school they belonged to. If there was a scene band playing all the girls from every group were at that show. Scene/Screamo/Sass bands got all the babes.
Just knowing that Sworn Enemy is still putting out bangers makes me feel slightly less old...Gonna listen to SE, Mushmouth, and Terror for the rest of the day in a swoon of nostalgic, ignorant bliss...
Unwritten Law's 'the Celebration song' was in need for speed underground soundtrack. I still play 'rest of my life' in every acoustic guitar that cross my way. Great vid.
"What's the punk video with the band walking down a street and one of the dudes starts randomly beating on passers by?" Nearly 20 years me and a friend have been asking that question trying to recall the damn video, could never remember the lyrics as we'd only knew it from the limited airplay on Channel V in Aus, and we never got around to getting the album. Randomly watching this vid tonight though, mystery solved!
Grew up in the same town as the STD guys and they were locally huge but then bands like NFG came along and just ate their lunch in terms of gaining popularity outside of the northeast. STD went too hard into Beatles-worship at a time when people wanted harder-edged music.The consistent lineup changes didn't help. They were literally called "the pop punk Menudo."
Oh my god, Unwritten Law! I remember hearing "Seein' Red" a couple times back in the day, loved it but never knew the song name and could never find out who it was. Time went on and I completely forgot about it- till today! Imma check them out right now, after the vid ends of course.
Overlap, Supergirls and there were several bands in the early internet that you would find on websites: Mission 120, Slimer,Sloppy Meat eaters. You could probably also do a video on Christie Brigitte but man Darlington was awesome.
I remember when Unwritten Law were big, I remember going to see other bands that opened for them. Then I went to a pennywise show and Unwritten Law not only opened, but was the very first band on a 4 band bill. And it wasn't like the two after them were necessarily "big" bands either.
Bro! I love unwritten law! And they did get some AirPlay with up all night and seeing red rest of my life,save me. But I still feel like they never got the respect or credit that they deserve an awesome band! That I still blast on the regular!
It may be buried in the comments... But UL had a demo and two albums, Oz Factor and Blue Room, before the self titled... both albums released on Sony/Columbia Records. Decent skate punk a'la Bad Religion. Shallow and Superman are great tunes to check out from that era.
In Reverie was an album ahead of its time...or maybe just a step to the side outside of time. Not sure. I remember being so disappointed when it came out 'cause I was too young to get the music. It's very original sounding (maybe it sounds like other tuff but nothing I'm aware of) compared to the prior albums they released when that underground emo/hardcore/punk sound was growing and peaking. I think the reason for the change in direction was sparked by existential trauma from an bus crash with an elk. Chris said in an interview that after that all the lyrics changed in content from singing about relationships and girls to singing about deeper metaphoric themes of life and death. Of course the style of music changed with it. They could have kept making the same 'Stay What You Are' sound and stayed relevant a bit longer but I think they sort of proved what talented song writers they are by going a different path. They have a decent sized catologue now and I still will throw on some tracks from any and all periods of their disco. Including the Bug Sessions.
I feel this way about Painted in Exile. Prog deathcore with hip hop, jazz, and clean vocals. Wild ass band but they had a ton of problems with members and their debut album was pretty lackluster. But their Revitalized EP is so god damn good.
I got into Saves The Day after In Reverie dropped. True it was weird compared to their older stuff, but I found the song writing and soundscape amazing with the inclusion of weird jazz chords in a pop-punk setting. I've kept up with every release up until their S/T with the grapefruit on the cover. Unfortunately, their latest release (9) is a huge let-down with uninspired songs, a 20 minute rock opera that repeats itself too much, and feels like a boomer trying too hard to be their young self again.
Finn I saw Unwritten Law twice between 2004-2006, once with Sum 41 and another time with 311. They were awesome showmen, they even played a fugazi song. Thank you for the nostalgia drip. Great assessment, I always wanted more Unrwitten Law. Wish they didn't fall off so early.
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You should do the bands Fono & Virgos Merlot next. Both were highly underrated imo.
i thought this vid was great. i want to give all of these bands a listen, especially sworn enemy
Absolutely do not use Dave guys, they're a company that preys on vulnerable poor people
Finn, been listening to a lot of your videos lately. Very informative. You know your stuff.
Please help me, I have fragmented lyrics to a song stuck in my head. Can't find it on any apps or Google.
The lyrics, as I remember them "don't be anything without me, don't try anything without my"
Any ideas? Should be a band from the mid 2010s
Saw them a few weeks ago with the get up kids.
Expecting motion city soundtrack to be mentioned again. I picked up commit this to memory the other day at the flea market for a buck and realized later it was signed by the entire band. Criminally underated pop punk rock group
saw em numerous times. fuckin great 😎
It blows my mind Motion City Soundtrack wasn’t bigger than they were. I just saw them in Chicago last month and they still sounded so good, and they still are funny between songs. I have seen them at least six times.
Commit This To Memory is a top ten album of all time for me. I got to see them play the whole album last year.
I Am the Movie rules too
They are still amazing
I feel like finn has made a career talking about all the bands from the "MX vs. ATV Offroad Fury" soundtrack.
Kudos to you, good sir.
That was an excellent game.
OMG, MX Vs ATV Unleashed had that Unwritten Law song Called Celebration Song.
I absolutely love Unwritten Law! What an underrated band.
ohhhh I haven't gotten that far into the vid yet, but I caught them live with sum41 years ago, and it was fucking amazing. that concert was one of the best crowds I've ever been in... such a blast.
Saw them live a few weeks ago in Australia. It was a small venue but absolutely packed full of fans singing every word.
I saw them in Dallas in the mid-90s opening up for Bad Religion and they were excellent. Surprisingly, their best two albums, Oz Factor and Blue Room weren't mentioned in the video.
Love them in the movie Grind !!
Elva front to back. So much early 2000s nostalgia
I just saw The Starting Line open for All American Rejects and New Found Glory and they still sound great. I still love Say It Like You Mean it. It is a perfect pop punk album
Bro I saw the Offspring, Simple Plan, and Sum 41 in Noblesville Indiana last Friday. One of the greatest times of my life.
@@Leftturnaddict amazing! I saw the Simple Plan and Sum41 recently and it was great! I saw The Offspring at the 2005 Warped Tour and that crowd went nuts. Crazy pit!
@@Leftturnaddict I saw that tour at Darien Center, NY last week. It was amazing.
@@Leftturnaddict I saw Nonpoint, Coal Chamber, and Mudvayne earlier this month! I'd love to see Sum41 and Simple Plan though.
same here, in Boston, agree SILYMI is awesome!
Bands like TSL, The Early November, Jimmy Eat World, Boys Night Out and Saves The Day were the sort of bands who were just a couple steps ahead of now 30 something year olds at the time. They only “fell off” because we weren’t ready to hear the sort of maturity they were displaying through their writing. As I go back and re listen to all of these records like Futures, Based On A True Story etc. I love them even more than the initial records they put out that got me into them in the first place. These bands hit Rock/Alternative radio around the time when Sirius and satellite radio was booming. They all fell into the weird hole of being too immature for “adults”, and too mature for “kids”.
Very true. I know I didn’t like In Reverie when it first came out but now I think it’s a masterpiece.
I think about this a lot and agree. The band Fireworks is another great example.
💯
Allister
Finn, Unwritten Law are definitely still a band. I’m from Australia and they just did a tour this August.
Definitely an underrated band. I’m 30 years old and I heard about them when I was a kid because Seein’ Red was on the Grind movie soundtrack.
My only friend who listened to them is 35 and couldn’t come to the show because he had to look after his kid, so I went and saw them solo.
They were good live.
I was never a fan of the starting line's music. But I have to say that Kenny is a great guy. He was filling in on bass for a band that I ended up joining after him and he did literally everything he could for us. Got us on a bunch of warped tour dates, promoted us on stage at their shows, shouted us out in the thank yous of the starting line albums, mentioned us in interviews. He seriously couldn't have been cooler to us.
the unwritten law front man does have an incredible voice, and it's so so good live too. saw them in a tour with sum41 ages ago, and that crowd was epic... memorable show across the board.
UL was such a great band and were fantastic live. Saw them on warped tour back in 98 with Rancid, NOFX, Assorted Jelly Beans, Aquabats...
I loved the 'Seein Red' music video when I was a kid. That song was one of those catchy songs I could never get out of my head.
98 was possibly the best warped tour year ever. Instant Aquabats fan the moment I saw them, Fury of the Aquabats! Might be the greatest Ska album of all time, fucking banger.
All of the Starting Lines albums are great so underrated!
This! All 3 albums are amazing!
That’s what I’m saying.
Sworn Enemy was crazy! I loved those guys. Reminds me of Northside Kings, Hoods and all those other “Thug” core bands. I also think people forget, outside of Boston Beatdown, FSU was on Gangland on History or TLC or one of those channels. That shit was real and real violent back in the day. Brass knuckles wrapped in bandanas so you couldn’t see who smacked the shit out of you while crowd killing. Miss it and don’t miss it at the same time
The Starting Line are one of my all time favorite groups. Love to hear you talk about them
I'm gonna be that guy for a moment. Ready?
To make everyone feel even older, The Best of Me was released in 2002 just before their record in July of 2002. So even older than mentioned.
With that said, everyone should re listen to TSL's discography because it's underrated as a whole! Finn could also make a video on their story because it's a facinating tale from being called Sunday Drive before TSL, to their Geffen label issues to their Virgin records label issues to the fact that they are still selling out shows today despite their last ep coming out in 2013. It's been a Rollercoaster for them and for the most part they take it in stride. As a band and as individuals, they rise above so many artists even those who have mainstream success.
That 90’s New Brunswick/Princeton scene was so good (Saves the Day, Lifetime) which wound up producing an all time great Philly melodic hardcore band, Kid Dynamite ⚡️
Lifetime and Kid Dynamite are still 2 of my favorites
Starting line was from real close by my town, my wife always tell the story bout how they came in to her empty bar late on like a Tuesday to celebrate when the island music video got played on mtv. She said they were the coolest most wholesome guys. Bonus points the singer’s grandma was a lunch lady at my high school. 😂
It's hard to overstate how massive Through Being Cool was when it came out. Everyone was listening to it
They got the whole scene in the palm of their hands with that one, for sure.
Great album
About 20 years ago, I saw The Used headline a show that had the openers Finch, Days Away, The Starting Line, and Saves the Day. All in a 1,000-ish person little club and thought they were all going to flourish. This one hurt :(
What ever happened to Finch? There debut defined emo for me.
@@ltrskltrA lot of it had to do with Nate Barcalow. He's quit and rejoined the band multiple times. They also changed their style big-time on their second album, which hurt their momentum.
@@ltrskltr They have broken up 3 different times since 2006, or been on "hiatus," however you want to describe it. I think they played When We Were Young festival and were supposed to tour this year but I don't think they went out. Thought they were gonna be huge!
@@matthewp9569 my buddy saw Finch in Chicago like a month ago!
every time Finn makes me feel old I cope with remembering he is many months older than me.
Unwritten Law’s self titled black album was actually their third album (and probably their best) but their second album Oz Factor was a banger as well and leaned more heavily into their punk sound. I associate them more with the skate punk scene than the pop punk scene even though they came out of Poway like Blink.
UL is absolutely amazing. They’re still a band. They released a new album a few months ago. Scott Russo is one of my favorite songwriters. He made an album with Amee Allen (the interrupters) in 2007 called Scott & Aimee - Sitting in a tree. What a great album…
Yeah, they’ve been around a long time. Blink plugged them in “Josie” but UL already had a deal with SONY at the time. What are the odds that a small town on the outskirts of San Diego would produce 2 of the bigger skate punk bands in the 90s?
dude, i'm a huge UL fan and my kid loves the interrupters, i had NO IDEA they collaborated. i'll have to check it out
@@leftocastpunx83 scott & Aimee - Sitting in a tree. Amazing album. You will love it. Let me know what you think about the album!
@carlospavon83 first quick listen, did not love it...
Unwritten Law are currently touring Australia going to a bunch of small cities that never get bands like Gosford on the Central Coast and Torquay in rural Victoria. I saw them on the Gold Coast. Small venue but packed out show. One of the best shows I have been to in the last 10 years
Sworn Enemy is one of the best hardcore metal bands of all time. First time I saw them was on tour with Biohazard and Kittie. Changed my whole perspective on hard music forever.
I saw them with dying fetus...eventually, there was constant fighting between hardcore and death metal kids
I went to high school with the guitarist from Sworn Enemy. Great band! He was a hardcore metalhead then also. Makes perfect sense he chose the career path he did.
Sworn Enemy was/is great. Love that 2000s hardcore sound like Hatebreed, Throwdown, Bury Your Dead, On Broken Wings, pre keepers of the faith Terror, Lionheart, First Blood, Too Pure To Die etc.
One of the best eras ever for hardcore
@@FinnMckentyPRMBA should have added Flop from Seattle to this video or is that too much of a dad joke
I’m a huge Saves fan. And I even like their catalog after Stay What You Are. In Reverie was such a shockingly different album that it just didn’t fit anywhere. No genre base would claim it. And they fizzled. Chris also wanted to turn the band into the modern Beetles, and the departure from their roots was too much for most.
Yeah, too big of a departure from their previous albums…also, In Reverie just wasn’t very good. I think Conley was attempting to get into dreamier pop music (see: The Promise Ring). Maybe they could’ve pulled it off if the original band stuck around to round out the music, but it basically turned into a weird solo project.
In Reverie sounds weird because of the vocals but all the albums after that are great and sound more similar to Stay What You Are. One of their newest albums - Self-titled (or the grapefruit one) is up there with the best imo.
That was the era when he started dumping guys and the lineups started changing a lot. I have to believe that lead to some differences in the songs/sound.
Unwritten Law just finished a tour in Australia and recently released a new record which has some pretty great tracks on it. You should suss it out Finn.
Love Unwritten Law, and i still listen to them today. Elva and Here to the Mourning are absolute gems
same. have you listened to The Hum? it's great also
Through Being Cool and Stay What You Are, are damn classics. I always wish Homegrown was bigger than they were, same with Houston Calls.
Still love The Starting Line. Their other two albums are pretty good in my opinion, but I know most people aren't into them. Also, Unwritten Law's "Music in High Places" acoustic album is very underrated.
Also, honorable mention for No Motiv. How did they not blow up big after Diagram for Healing? Super catchy with a radio-friendly voice. Tremendous live.
And what about Fenix Texas?
Thank you for another bands that should have been bigger, always appreciate these videos. I remember seeing TSL in HS late 2002 right after Say it Like You Mean It, I was in the audience going " Damn these guys look like they are the same age as me"
Saves The Day was ALWAYS weird. Seek out the Lisa's Birthday Tape (EP?) on TH-cam, I'm fairly certain those were prior to Can't Slow Down and they're really dark songs. For better or worse, they've always been a progressive band and none of their records sound the same. In Reverie, the record which is pointed out as their nose-dive into obscurity, is now wildly fawned over and instantly sold out both times it was repressed on vinyl.
Never heard those songs before. Thanks for sharing! Yeah, STD always had weirdly specific lyrics (🎵let me take this awkward saw and run it against your thighs…🎵)
It was those deeply emo lyrics combined with the hardcore/pop-punk style that made it all so catchy. When Chris got into his dream pop phase it just became a little too… I don’t know what. But it wasn’t enjoyable to listen to 😅
In Reverie was ahead of it's time imo. They crushed that new emo/pop punk/hardcore sound on their first few albums and they just wanted to do something different. I think Chris said at one point that anyone could have made Stay What You Are, and it is prob their most mainstream sounding straight forward album they've made. But In Reverie just confused people too much and the scene wasn't ready for it.
I remember being super disappointed when In Reverie came out but took me a long time to grow on me and now looking back I see its genius, but of course even when a lot of people realized how great it really was too much time had passed.
Unwritten Law 100% still a band. Saw them a couple of weeks ago in Australia and I’m 2020 as well. Unlike a lot of older bands winding down and doing small club shows, they are a very tight band and Scott still sounds amazing.
i saw them twice on the Hum tour back in april. i'm so jealous you guys got to see Cailin too. Did she come out and sing 'Cailin' with him? i've been a fan of the band for over 20 years and i've always wanted to see her come out for that song. btw i was at the show where scott got arrested and missed it.
@@leftocastpunx83 she came out and sung with Scott at the Brisbane show.
I really dug The Starting Line's third album with Kenny embracing his curly hair for the first time. They had that acoustic album that was great as well that my late mother loved. Mark Trombino honestly has to be my all-time favorite producer in the music industry and he produced their first album. Just look at all the masterpiece albums he produced throughout the years including my all-time favorite album by Mineral, Endserenading. That will always be my favorite album until the day I die. He also produced Finch's debut, a bunch of Jimmy Eat World's best albums, and the underrated Denver Harbor album where 16 year old Ilan Rubin played amazing drums to the best pop-punk singer, Will Salazar on vocals. Oh and he produced Blink 182's Dude Ranch.
What It Is To Burn 🔥🔥🔥
mine is based on a true story. but directions is great too.
I still have a finch belt buckle I rock almost weekly. Lol! I still listen to Fenix TX (tearjerker) and Starting line gets rotation weekly as well. I loved anyways, but have been around since the very beginning. I heard startingline in my mall through the entire lobby at the start of the pandemic. Say it like you mean it. I'd say if you get played in the mall... like Jimmy eat world... you didn't flop.
Brooooo thank u so much for the sworn enemy shout out! My cousin is Lorenzo the og lead guitar. He left to go Hollywood n shit but im glad his work gets recognition. I got the pleasure of goin on tour wit him when i was 18 back in 06. On that tour was six feet under, animosity(another super underated band)n it was job for a cowboys first tour. Jfac only did the second half of the tour cuz they were seniors in hs still lol. Also rip pauly the og drummer. I miss that guy .....
STD basically dissolved after the 3rd album and Chris Conley carried on with the name even though it was more like a solo project. Whenever the style of the music changes so drastically, I wonder if it wouldn’t be simpler to go by another name instead of confusing fans.
Love all three bands!
The self titled Unwritten Law ‘black album’ was their third record. Blue Room and Oz Factor were solid.
My preppy rehab roommate stole my saves the day shirt back in 2010 and I’m still not over it. SHE DIDNT EVEN KNOW WHO THEY WERE😭
Unwritten Law are playing at a local pub down the road from me. FYI i live in suburban Melbourne, Australia 😅
Same, they are playing a pub 10mins from me, and I'm in Western Sydney!
I actually played in a band that opened for Sworn Enemy here in Manchester UK. The 2000s was a great time growing up in the alternative/underground scene.
Unwritten Law is still one of my favorites.
I am a 52 year old woman who used to go to Gilman over 30 years ago. There were probably twice as many guys as gals. Sometimes the skater types would bring their 'normal' looking girlfriends with them and they usually wouldn't mingle and would look at us like we were some kind of freakshow. LOL By the way I met Unwritten Law in a 7/11 parking lot around Oakland about 20 years ago. I was playing old Bad Religion with my windows rolled down when I pulled up and they were hanging outside of their van eating some snacks. One of them said they liked the song and I think he may have flirted with me but I wasn't sure. I said thanks then drove home.
Saves the Day is like the whiny pop punk sound version of the Descendants. So many bands in the following decade like Yellowcard, We the Kings, Simple Plan, Something Corporate, All Time Low, Paramore, and dozens of others all were clearly inspired by Saves the Day. Through Being Cool and Stay What You Are are incredibly iconic. The cover art for Through Being Cool is the single most encapsulating pop punk/emo image in existence.
Unwritten Law did their rounds for sure on Leno, The Carson Daily Show and MTV prime time concerts. I even saw them playing on the ESPY’s back in the early days. Unwritten Law is one of my favorite bands, for some unknown reasons they just didn’t catch on, but were well respected by other bands in the scene at the time.
Nice if you like them do you like mxpx? They played the new album on TH-cam is really good.
@@craigmahaney4369 yea I saw that about MXPX, but I haven’t quite got around to listening to the me album yet. I saw them live in 2000. “We ain’t got no place to go, LETS GO TO THE PUNK RAWK SHOW !”
@@craigmahaney4369 UL and mxpx are 2 of my favorite bands. The new mxpx is ok, the previous self titled album that came out in 2018 i think is my favorite album they've done and i've been a fan since 97. the new UL album The Hum is also really good.
Saw unwritten law in torquay Australia last Sunday. Put on an amazing show and cailin supported and she came on when they done the song cailin, and in wade fashion was just normal crazy and there was fight in the encore and wade got up threatening to fight em both. Etc etc haha
That TSL album should be in a museum as the epitome of pop punk. Not a single skip on that entire thing. This was back when Drive Thru Records basically ruled that genre. Would love to see a video about the rise and fall of Drive Thru. I’m sure the owners (Richard and Stephanie I want to say?) would be up for an interview if you could track them down.
Man this took me back I use to skateboard to these bands now I'm pushing almost 40 and would disengrate if I fell off a skateboard
It’s funny what you said about Unwritten Law’s Here’s to the Mourning, my friend described it as Deftones meets Sunny Day Real Estate
I’ll never forget watching a video of saves the day playing this is hardcore and a young person commented “is this title fight for old heads?”
Accurate
Remember all the 'Now that's what I call music' CDs? You gotta make a playlist series with all your picks from these lists lol
Also shout out ny hardcore. Qns forever
The Starting Line and Saves The Day - Great examples. I have listened to these band A LOT since they popped up. Both had really interesting arcs. Kenny Vasoli (TSL) was recently a guest on the Chris Demakes A Podcast picking a part a later song of theirs. The 2nd album has a few songs clearly written during the 1st album, which are lovely (Bedroom Talk, Surprise Surprise) and then has a lot of angry songs. Still very very good. Then I lost them in the 3rd album.
Saves The Day really did that voice thing you talked about. 1st and 2nd album (which is not on streaming) has the "gentle" voice, also the 3rd album In Reverie. Then the band did a trilogy of albums that pretty hard and dark, my favorite of them Sound The Alarm. More of a post-hardcore + thrashy Beatles thing, hehe. Then there's been a bunch of albums only for the diehard fans. Frontman Chris has been involved in some weird #metoo stuff, not sure about the status of that right now.
Yada yada yada, I love the early work of both of these bands, hurray and thank you Finn always for bringing them up. Lots of love from Sweden.
The Unwritten Law song Celebration Song was in Need For Speed Underground 2 and it was a great addition. They are still around and put out an album called The Hum last year
There is a hidden track on the Unwritten Law CD, after the track 418, called Father, Father (I think) , that is in my mind the best thing they ever did. The drums are phenomenal, all of the instruments are done well, singing is on point, the song has a solid groove and it has changes in tempo. Like I said, I think it's the best thing they ever did!
Always appreciate you carrying the torch for Unwritten Law, one of my faves
I think w/TSL, SILYMI, as great as it was, 'Based On A True Story, took way too sharp of a left-hand turn from that prior sound for people to be on board with it. They didn't ease people into their change in sound. Similar to Saves the Day. 'Can't Slow Down' was amazing, 'Through Being Cool,' same. Then they got lucky with the college-indie crowd embracing, 'Stay What You Are,' but then 'In Reverie' was like, "who the hell is this band?" UL's, 'black' album is an all-time favorite for me. I think the band's in-fighting and diving head first into drugs/alcohol/partying, etc., held them back from being bigger. Sorry, passionate rant over. I just love that you talk about bands I grew up with.
The Starting Line is the soundtrack for that time in your life where you're starting to come into yourself and really like cool music and have cool friends but you're not quite at the point where you have to be really responsible for anything serious. You and your best friend go to Kings Island with your mom and dad and crush on a girl you met there. Cookouts in the summer playing Tony Hawk vibe. No worries. The whole world is wide open. Great stuff.
Literally saw Unwritten Law last week in Adelaide SA. Absolutely killed it.
saw them twice on this tour in the US. jealous you guys got Cailin too
Rye Coalition, KARP, that first Fallout EP with Peter Steele in 1982 before Type O Negative, and Harvey Milk are the most underrated bands I have come across. I hope this is useful for someone
Unwritten Law was always a band i thought people knew because of Seein' Red.
I remember it was on the soundtrack to a dumb skateboarding comedy called Grind.
But yes, apparently they are still a band, they released a new album in 2022. Called "The Hum"
Sound the alarm by saves the day in 2006 is amazing.
As your 2000s racing game turbo nerd I feel the need to mention unwritten law having a song on nfsu2, burnout revenge and mx vs atv unleashed
Ohh I think Unwritten Law were pretty big down here in Australia!
will always love saves the day. a lot of people hated 'in reverie' but i really liked it. still have my tattoo from that albums artwork lol
God I remember the first time I heard teenage suicide by unwritten law and it hit me so goddamn hard
Through Being Cool is probably the best pop punk album of all time for sure. Stay What You Are was a huge success of an album as well, the problem was their major label attempt In Reverie is their only bad album. So they kinda faded. One thing about Saves the Day was that for a few years half the band was Glassjaw when Manny and Durijah. I always found that funny given that I love Glassjaw. Now that I'm googling them...ya Chris Conley and the May 2021 allegations...wow. Funny Saves the Day story, one of their first shows after Can't Slow Down dropped I saw them open for Floorpunch and Bane. The hardcore nerds tried to boo them off the stage in Jersey and Bane and Floorpunch came out on stage and put the crowd in their place. Was epic.
Holly Hox is hands down my fav song by them.
Glad to see Finn getting some advertisements to plug. Guy has been grinding on youtube for years, glad to see him getting paid!
I feel like Cartel deserves a mention along with these bands. Along with Motion City they kinda mastered the upbeat song with super depressing lyrics. Their albums rip though it sucks they never got bigger.
MxPx definitely belongs on this list! Bad record deals the reason they didn’t get bigger.
Love this video and LOVE that you featured Unwritten Law. Scalding hot take, Finn: not only are they still a band (who are oddly still big in Australia/NZ), but last summer they put out what I think may actually be their best album. It's called The Hum, and for all the reasons you said you liked self-titled, Elva and Here's To The Mourning, I GUARANTEE you will love it. To be clear, I am not a member of their organization lol just a long time fan.
Unwritten Law's acoustic album is soo good too
The Starting Line "DIRECTION" album was great album.
Happy to see Saves The Day and Unwritten Law get some love! They both made great albums for about a decade.
Latest Sworn Enemy album really is brutal af!!
I loved Sworn Enemy. They put on great shows. Special shout out to Sick Of It All too. Me and a buddy helped them load their equipment in a venue in Philly and they let us in for free and gave us guest spots up on stage during the show (with Madball and Hatebreed.)
I definitely had Alk3 in HEAVY rotation back when I was essentially drinking myself to death. Good one Finn. Cuts deep.
First time I heard Unwritten Law was the video for “Save Me” from Here’s to the Morning in line for a roller coaster at Six Flags
Unwritten law are so good. Found them because of need for speed underground 2 when i was about 7. Good Times
UL was so good and when Blink lost Tom, I thought Scott Russo would've been a way better fit than Matt Skiba. But they just lost steam.. not sure why. The Ataris too. I still think Kris Roe was one of the best songwriters of that era of pop punk.
Nickelodeon UK tried to market The Starting Line as the next "boy band with instruments" over here as Busted and McFly were doing really well, but when their song played on the station it was at 6.59 and the feed cut to Turner Classic Movies as soon as the chorus hit at 7 😂 I remember being so annoyed. British kids tv stations had a weird time schedule back then.
Dude back in the early 2000s 'Sworn Enemy', "Hatebreed', and 'Throwdown" were my favorite bands. Dude I would lose my shit in the pit whenever Jamie sang, "NOW IS THE TIME FOR ME TO RISE TO MY FEET!!!" You remember watching on Boston Beatdown how Mobi got attacked by an FSU member? That shit was epiiiic. Nowadays I listen to Bane, Have Heart, and Down to Nothing. But I'm in my 40s now so I don't mosh nomo. But it's always good to reminisce on the good old days, Thanks FM.
Dude, all the chicks went to scene shows back in the day regardless of what group at school they belonged to. If there was a scene band playing all the girls from every group were at that show. Scene/Screamo/Sass bands got all the babes.
To this day TSL "Say It Like You Mean It" is top 3 for me. It embraces everything I loved about the early 2ks pop punk.
I remember Unwritten Law being in an episode of Sweet Sixteen
Just knowing that Sworn Enemy is still putting out bangers makes me feel slightly less old...Gonna listen to SE, Mushmouth, and Terror for the rest of the day in a swoon of nostalgic, ignorant bliss...
Unwritten Law's 'the Celebration song' was in need for speed underground soundtrack. I still play 'rest of my life' in every acoustic guitar that cross my way. Great vid.
"What's the punk video with the band walking down a street and one of the dudes starts randomly beating on passers by?"
Nearly 20 years me and a friend have been asking that question trying to recall the damn video, could never remember the lyrics as we'd only knew it from the limited airplay on Channel V in Aus, and we never got around to getting the album. Randomly watching this vid tonight though, mystery solved!
Grew up in the same town as the STD guys and they were locally huge but then bands like NFG came along and just ate their lunch in terms of gaining popularity outside of the northeast. STD went too hard into Beatles-worship at a time when people wanted harder-edged music.The consistent lineup changes didn't help. They were literally called "the pop punk Menudo."
Oh my god, Unwritten Law! I remember hearing "Seein' Red" a couple times back in the day, loved it but never knew the song name and could never find out who it was. Time went on and I completely forgot about it- till today! Imma check them out right now, after the vid ends of course.
Overlap, Supergirls and there were several bands in the early internet that you would find on websites: Mission 120, Slimer,Sloppy Meat eaters. You could probably also do a video on Christie Brigitte but man Darlington was awesome.
Fun Fact: Adrian Young from No Doubt played drums on the recordings of "Here's To The Mourning" album by Unwritten Law
I remember when Unwritten Law were big, I remember going to see other bands that opened for them. Then I went to a pennywise show and Unwritten Law not only opened, but was the very first band on a 4 band bill. And it wasn't like the two after them were necessarily "big" bands either.
Bro! I love unwritten law! And they did get some AirPlay with up all night and seeing red rest of my life,save me. But I still feel like they never got the respect or credit that they deserve an awesome band! That I still blast on the regular!
It may be buried in the comments... But UL had a demo and two albums, Oz Factor and Blue Room, before the self titled... both albums released on Sony/Columbia Records. Decent skate punk a'la Bad Religion. Shallow and Superman are great tunes to check out from that era.
In Reverie was an album ahead of its time...or maybe just a step to the side outside of time. Not sure. I remember being so disappointed when it came out 'cause I was too young to get the music. It's very original sounding (maybe it sounds like other tuff but nothing I'm aware of) compared to the prior albums they released when that underground emo/hardcore/punk sound was growing and peaking.
I think the reason for the change in direction was sparked by existential trauma from an bus crash with an elk. Chris said in an interview that after that all the lyrics changed in content from singing about relationships and girls to singing about deeper metaphoric themes of life and death. Of course the style of music changed with it. They could have kept making the same 'Stay What You Are' sound and stayed relevant a bit longer but I think they sort of proved what talented song writers they are by going a different path.
They have a decent sized catologue now and I still will throw on some tracks from any and all periods of their disco. Including the Bug Sessions.
My friend Josh dobay did the vocals on the newer version of demolisher. From cleveland. I loved this band back in the day
I feel this way about Painted in Exile. Prog deathcore with hip hop, jazz, and clean vocals. Wild ass band but they had a ton of problems with members and their debut album was pretty lackluster. But their Revitalized EP is so god damn good.
Sworn enemy got a ton of hype in the NYHC scene back in the day
Saw UL and DHC opening for Bad Religion in 96 :P
I got into Saves The Day after In Reverie dropped. True it was weird compared to their older stuff, but I found the song writing and soundscape amazing with the inclusion of weird jazz chords in a pop-punk setting. I've kept up with every release up until their S/T with the grapefruit on the cover. Unfortunately, their latest release (9) is a huge let-down with uninspired songs, a 20 minute rock opera that repeats itself too much, and feels like a boomer trying too hard to be their young self again.
Finn I saw Unwritten Law twice between 2004-2006, once with Sum 41 and another time with 311. They were awesome showmen, they even played a fugazi song. Thank you for the nostalgia drip. Great assessment, I always wanted more Unrwitten Law. Wish they didn't fall off so early.