 |
  
 
 |
|
New Years Day
HQ: Anaheim, CANOW PLAYING: My Dear (TVT; tvtrecords.com) WHY YOU SHOULD KNOW 'EM: New Year's Day's bouncy pop-punk rhythms hold hands with dark, I-just-got-my-heart-unceremoniously-ripped-out lyrics sung by super-cute front-lady Ashley Costello. YOU LIKE? YOU'LL LIKE? Letters To Cleo / Fall Out Boy / Veruca Salt New Year's Day vocalist Ashley Costello is into comic books, Marie Antoinette and medieval torture devices. She even went to the San Francisco Academy of Art because she wanted to design her own graphic novels. Sounds like the Sally to your Jack Skellington, right? Before you fall in love and change your relationship status on MySpace, beware: Break Ms. Costello's heart and prepare to die-sort of. "I wanted to make myself feel better," says Costello about why she started New Year's Day-which includes Costello, guitarist Mike Schoolden, drummer Russell Dixon, guitarist Keith Drover and bassist Adam Lohrbach-on December 31, 2004, the night she broke up with her longtime love. "That night, I was like, 'Everything needs to change.' I also quit my other band and went to Keith's house because he's like my brother. There, I met Adam, who had just gone through a breakup and wanted to sleep on a friend's couch. I played them music I'd been writing, and we decided right then and there to do it." Rather than listen to the music of others who experienced the same emotional drama, Costello wrote her own songs. "The main goal of the band is about taking back your heart and having no mercy on the person who broke it! We've all been in bands for years, but my breakup inspired this type of music," she admits. "I wanted it to be catchy and have you singing along, and then you suddenly realize that you're actually singing along to lyrics about ripping someone's eyes out. I was so tired of having my heart ripped out, and I wanted to have the last word. It's very anti-Valentine's Day." With vengeful lyrics (i.e. "Your love is my heart disease" from "Ready, Aim, Misfire") woven through the songs on their debut album My Dear, Costello and New Year's Day aren't aiming for subtlety: They're pairing effervescent yet saccharine pop-punk melodies with "fuck-you" sentiments and "Dear Diary"-style lyrics-self pity be damned! "These songs are very vindictive," the raven-haired singer insists. "I wanted to make honest songs that would make listeners feel empowered and help them get over their own heartbreak. Every time I sing 'Ready, Aim, Misfire,' it helps me." As for the dude who inspired Miss Costello's ire, he knows who he is. "I wanted it to be obvious," Costello says. "When we made the video for 'I Was Right,' I wanted a boy who looked like him," and so the band recruited Test Your Reflex drummer Sal Cortez to portray the love disinterest. The two bands really bonded when they toured together last fall, mostly playing to half-empty clubs, but that didn't break NYD's spirit. "I've been singing since I was 14, so I'm used to playing shows where no one's there. I just think about who is there, and try to have a good time with them. Every person is worth a good show." The members of New Year's Day might not be rolling in dough just yet, but their day jobs aren't so bad. For example, when the band's not on tour, Drover works as a floor manager at the Playboy Mansion, handling special events. You might even make out his elbow or the side of his head on an episode of E!'s The Girls Next Door. Costello was offered a gig, as well, but declined-however, she hasn't turned down the party invites that get passed her way. "[The mansion's] smaller than you'd imagine," she reveals, "but you get a sense of history. So many generations, trends, styles and Bunnies have been through there!" Hugh Hefner aside, New Year's Day celebrate their status as a DIY band. Not only was My Dear recorded in a friend's bedroom before the band signed with TVT Records, but no changes were made after the ink on the contract dried. "Girl-fronted bands are often viewed as being 'put together' by the music industry, and that's not us," Costello acknowledges. "I want to reiterate that we're best friends, we shopped a finished record to the labels, and we're all about doing it ourselves." -Amy Sciarretto UNDER THE INFLUENCE What Album's Had The Greatest Influence On You? "It's a dark album, and it's totally unique and bizarre, but it's still really poppy," says Ashley Costello about MEW's FRENGERS, which had a huge influence on the sound of her band, New Year's Day. "That's my favorite band right now. The way they play live is so fluid and tight, and it sounds just like the album. The singer is like this little puppy you want to hold. He looks like he is crippled by shyness!" |
