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A Cursive Memory
Posted by Laila Hanson on 30-May-08 @ 12:33 PM|
&HQ: Los Angeles, CA NOW PLAYING: Changes (VAGRANT; vagrant.com) WHY YOU SHOULD KNOW 'EM: These underage pop-punkers are guaranteed to be rocking as much Brian Wilson as Andrew McMahon in the tour van. Talk about good vibrations. YOU LIKE? YOU'LL LIKE: Something Corporate / the All-American Rejects / Motion City Soundtrack STORY: Sam Sutherland PHOTO: Ralf Strathman "'Man, get the fuck out the way! This ain't no fuckin' playground!'" In an uncharacteristically gruff voice, A Cursive Memory guitarist and vocalist Shaun Profeta recounts a night out in Hollywood clubland where, after wandering onto the red-carpet entrance of an upscale club, the boys from ACM found themselves on the receiving end of some serious paparazzi rage. The fact that they were holding an oversize boombox at the time didn't help. Welcome to the world of A Cursive Memory, and a project known as "Bandarazzi." "We bought this authentic, 35-year-old boombox that had been on the cover of a Run DMC album," Profeta explains. "[Then] we go to Hollywood at night, chill with the paparazzi, wait for celebrities to come out of clubs, get next to them and play our music. We film it, goof around and try to have as much fun as possible." The band has accosted everyone from Nick Carter to Britney Spears, posting the results at myspace.com/bandarazzi "It's basically a mockery. We have a love-hate relationship with the paparazzi. They can't sell a shot of Britney Spears with four kids and a huge ghetto blaster behind her." Gags aside, A Cursive Memory aren't planning to make a name for themselves as merely a novelty act for avid TMZ.com viewers. The band's penchant for ludicrous gags wouldn't be worth much without some great songs to back it up, and thankfully, ACM have those down. Profeta's relationship with guitarist/vocalist Colin Baylen. the band's other primary songwriter, started at a birthday party in the seventh grade. With Profeta on drums (following in the footsteps of older brother Chris from Hellogoodbye), the duo joined with bassist/keyboardist Mark Borst-Smith and guitarist Brian Bolen and spent the next couple years penning what would become the first ACM songs. When things started to get serious, though, Bolen jumped ship, allowing Profeta to make the leap from behind the kit and inviting another longtime friend, Dillan Wheeler, to play drums. "Being in a band and playing music has always been the thing we've wanted to do all our lives," Profeta says. "School was this thing I couldn't wait to be done with because I knew there was no other option." While the band was still working its way through the educational system, they began writing the songs that would eventually compose their full-length debut Changes. Recorded between curricular and extra-curricular commitments, it took a while for the album to come together as the band envisioned. "Your idea of how a record should sound totally changes as you mess around with songs," Profeta says. "It changed so much from the time we started recording to the end. That, along with all the changes within the band and within our lives is why we decided to call it Changes." Rife with the kind of earnest tales of love lost and found that only high school can foster, Changes is the album a young Something Corporate would have penned if they weren't so busy looking for some dude named "Jordan" during their sophomore year. "All The Weak" is a power-pop gem made for late-night drives, while songs like "Lions" and "A Different Kind Of Love" are proof the band's love of pop music goes beyond the Drive-Thru Records catalog, well back to the '60s and beyond. Look no further than the Beach Boys-inflected harmonies of album opener "South" for proof that Profeta Co. are playing with a different set of influences than many of their musical peers. "Being in a band, you never want to do something that's already been done," Profeta says. "We're just trying to play music we love and trying to do something a little different." ALT UNDER THE INFLUENCE What Album's Had The Greatest Influence On You? "As important as music is too us, we've never wanted to take it too seriously," says A Cursive Memory guitarist/vocalist Shaun Profeta. "Blink-182 were that band [who proved that] and Jimmy Eat World's CLARITY hasn't left my stereo since the day I got it." ALT |
