Driven Far Off

The latest on the indie, alternative, and rock music scene including news, music, contest, interviews, and more. Best described as your favorite place to find new bands.

VersaEmerge Announce New Album; Stream New Song

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VersaEmergeVersaEmerge have announced the title of their new album, Another Atmosphere. The album will be released on Fueled By Ramen and you can hear a preview of it on iTunes starting on Tuesday, July 31st. The preview will include three new songs from the full album. Listen to one of the songs titled ‘No Consequences’ and view the chords and lyrics in the player below. Also check out the track listing for the preview below. [Read more…]

Sublime With Rome Signs To Fueled By Ramen

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Sublime With Rome (former Sublime members with the addition of singer/guitarist Rome Ramirez) announced the signing of the group to emo/pop label Fueled By Ramen.

The group announced in the official press release that they will be conducting a live stream straight from the recording studio on Monday, March 21st at 9PM EST from Sublime With Rome’s Facebook page.

Fun Release “Walking The Dog” Video

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Fun, who recently signed to Fueled By Ramen Records, have released their music video for “Walking The Dog”. The song comes from the bands latest album,  Aim And Ignite, in stores now. Check out the video below and catch Fun on their US headlining tour this fall with Steel Train and Jarrod Grobel. Check out all their upcoming tour dates here. [Read more…]

Cobra Starship – Hot Mess

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Artist: Cobra Starship
Album: Hot Mess
Label: Decaydance Records
Purchase: Amazon
Release Date: August 11th, 2009

Overall: 7
Music: 7
Lyrics: 5.5
Production: 8

Cobra Starship have been on their way to becoming what they are for a while now, so it should come to no one as a surprise that their third album titled Hot Mess is a melting pot of electronically layered pop-punk with lots of attitude and neon. While this album will garner so much hate it is unprecedented by any other band in the scene with such a career, it is still an album that has its moments and shines through at just the right times.

Unfortunately there’s no excuse to make a song like “Nice Guys Finish Last” passable as a legitimate Cobra Starship tune (especially the opener), it leads the album off on a bad foot as it sounds like a rejected Britney Spears song (Blackout, not Circus…). Already one might be contemplating their purchase of the album.

The aforementioned track is probably the only one that really brings Hot Mess down to any bad level. The rest of the tracks are either great, good, or just kind of a letdown. Nothing else really screams terrible or bad. Songs like “Pete Wentz Is The Only Reason We’re Famous” and “Move Like Your Gonna Die” pay tribute to the sounds of their debut and sophomore album (more guitar and fast pacing) that make them shine on an album filled with electronic beats.

But the songs that do rock with a more mechanical song are also good. The falsetto led chorus of “Living In The Sky With Diamonds” feels good and dances along at a nice pace (also with probably the best lyrics on the album), and “Hot Mess” is anthemic in nature and really calls for some hardcore chanting at the chorus (don’t pay attention to the use of the word “boo” though).

It seems that Cobra Starship are genuinely happy with where they are at in music. And it just so happens that they are reaping the benefits with the lead single “Good Girls Go Bad” being played on radio stations nation wide. It’s good to see Gabe Saporta finally getting the attention he deserves, he’s come this far and the mainstream is his to call home now. While the lyrics aren’t really up to snuff most of the time, and the music can be overly obnoxious, it’s a fun record with catchy songs and a good time to be had.

The Friday Night Boys – Off The Deep End

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the-friday-night-boysArtist: The Friday Night Boys
Album: Off The Deep End
Label: Fueled By Ramen/The Party Scene/Photo Finish Records
Purchase: Fueled By Ramen Webstore
Release Date: June 9th, 2009

Overall: 9.0
Music: 8.5
Lyrics: 8.5
Production: 9.0

Pop-punk is a genre where it’s to easy to get written off and compared to another band, and to hard to stand on your own. This leads us to The Friday Night Boy’s debut album on Fueled By Ramen Records entitled Off The Deep End. This title is all to appropriate for what The Friday Night Boys are doing, they have already dived into a genre that is so filled with no-name, flavor of the week bands and positioned themselves at the fore-front of the genre.

Off The Deep End starts off strong with the track “Permanent Heartbreak”, this is the perfect track to start the album off with as it features everything The Friday Night Boys are good at doing: anecdotal lyrics, catchy rhythms, and an incredibly powerful chorus that begs to be screamed at concerts nationwide. It’s a recipe for success and one that the boys have spent no time perfecting in their own unique way (See: “Hollow”’s guitar riff and “Molly Makeout”’s chorus) with electronic beats and an impressive vocal showing from singer Andrew Goldstein.

At each and every turn of the record there is more reason to fall in love with the sound shown. Whether it be the quaking bass of “Suicide Sunday”, or the blistering electronic beats of “How I Met Your Mother”, each and every track brings its own hook or special something that makes it different from the other tracks and solidifies the ability to dance around the genre every which way.

Even when they slow things down like in the song “Finding Me Out” and “Can’t Take That Away”, and “The First Time” it’s all to obvious that the boys themselves hold with them a certain charm that makes them accessible to mostly everyone. Even though the occasional shameless plucking of heart strings is something you may have to hear, it’s all apart of the grand package.

While it might be easy for critics and haters alike to write off the Friday Night Boys as just another one of those bands that are here today, gone tomorrow. It is very plain to see that they have a lot to bring to the table as far as music is concerned, they are keen artists with a knack for catchy riffs, melodies and hooks galore. It will be beyond interesting to see where they take there music from here, seeing just how deep they can go.

This Providence – Who Are You Now?

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Artist: This Providence
Album: Who Are You Now?
Label: Fueled By Ramen
Purchase: Fueled By Ramen Webstore
Release Date: March 17, 2009

Overall: 9.0
Music: 9.0
Lyrics: 8.5
Production: 9.0

Listening to This Providences debut and sophomore efforts (Our Worlds Divorce and their self-titled respectively) it’s hard to believe that they have not risen to the levels of stardom that their unique brand of pop and cocksure attitude would imply them to be at. Now as they prepare to release their third album, Who Are You Now? They are posed to finally break out of that “next big thing” category and propel themselves to the forefront of the music scene.

With the album opener “Sure As Hell” it’s already apparent that This Providence aren’t your average pop band, they have created a formula that allows them to try different things and still come off incredibly charming. “Sure As Hell” for instance begins with a drifting guitar over singer Dan Young’s solemn lyrics; not the most upbeat of beginnings but a great start none the less, showing off their artistic integrity before all else.

It’s obvious in this release that This Providence are trying their best to appeal to the widest audience possible (if it wasn’t apparent from their employment of hook maverick Matt Squire), there are many hits on Who Are You Now? From the first rocking single “Letdown” that uses clever lyrics and catchy guitars to drive it into an obvious single territory. Also songs like “That Girl’s A Trick” and “Selfish” possess the same formula of catchiness that with proper exposure could explode.

Something that This Providence have always used very well is the performance of their bassist. This new album is no exception as bass hooks run rampant, such as in tracks like “Waste Myself” and “Keeping On Without You” use the bass so prominently at times, rather then hiding it in the mix like a lot of bands do. It’s great to hear such appreciation for an instrument that is more often then not overlooked in the music scene nowadays.

Listening to Who Are You Now? it’s hard not to hear some of This Providence’s charm and cocky-while-charming attitude evaporating in comparison to there previous releases. It’s as if they aren’t a band that have had two albums prior to this, but rather a band just showing up on the scene and executing a great release while still feeling unsure of themselves. Although this doesn’t mean This Providence are playing it safe with the same formula, songs like the beautiful “Chasing The Wind” and the experimental “My Beautiful Rescue (Renovated)” show that they are still not afraid to pull off something different even with a different outlook.

If this album was to achieve a certain goal it would probably be to expose This Providence to as many people as possible, an album that has turned this little indie band that could, into a group of artists poised to become bigger then they could have ever hoped for. While this will cause a lot of fans to turn their backs on This Providence and their loss of “indie cred”. It will no doubt bring about new fans that will appreciare This Providence and who they are now.