What happens when a grassroots band like BOYSETSFIRE starts to get national attention? They do what they've always done: they play fiery live shows, strive to write the best songs possible and most important of all, they keep speaking their minds.
The Live For Today EP contains the Delaware quintet's first new music in more than two years and is the follow-up to their breakthrough 2000 album After the Eulogy. That album sold more than 50,000 copies, got BOYSETSFIRE pegged in Rolling Stone as a band to watch and led to their touring as part of both the Warped Tour and Europe's Deconstruction Tour last summer. Included on the six-song Live For Today EP are three new studio tracks: "Release The Dogs," "Bathory's Sainthood" and "Curtain Call" (the first two are a taste of the band's forthcoming album Tomorrow Come Today - "Curtain Call" is available only on Live For Today). Another new song, "Handful of Redemption," is included in an exclusive live version. Live For Today is rounded out with live versions of two standout After the Eulogy tracks; the title song and "Rookie."
Recorded before a packed house on July 19, 2002, at Club Krome in South Amboy, NJ, the live tracks clearly show the bond between BOYSETSFIRE and their audience. "At our shows we try to clearly communicate our beliefs to the audience," comments drummer Matt Krupanski. "Playing live is cathartic for us; a spiritual experience," notes guitarist Josh Latshaw. "Live shows are where we can really connect with…well, I hate to use the term 'our fans' because that sounds really condescending and that's totally not how we feel. Without those people we'd be absolutely nowhere. And we'd look pretty stupid playing if there was nobody there." "We just want to get our music and our message out to as many people as possible," adds bass player Rob Avery.
In fact the band has barely stopped playing over the past year, between their own headline gigs and sets at Warped and Deconstruction. "Sometimes I'm amazed at how people can see those tours and listen to so much punk/pop at once," laughs Latshaw. "But Warped was awesome and the European crowds at Deconstruction were great. We got along with all the other bands, got to play for a half-hour and then spent the day hanging out. So anybody who complains about those tours should be shot."
"I think we shine a little better onstage than we do in the recorded material," adds lead singer Nathan Gray, "so we thought it was a good time to give people a little taste of the live show and maybe keep them satisfied until the album comes out. 'Rookie' and 'Eulogy' are two songs that always work really well live; they're songs that everyone can get into and sing along with. And 'Handful of Redemption' is actually one of the poppiest songs on the new album, so we thought it would be fun to let people hear that one."
Yet a quick listen to Live For Today shows BOYSETSFIRE can have it both ways. They began life as a punk band and they've built on their hardcore roots without ever leaving them behind. But they've never been afraid of a real melody or a well thought out arrangement and Gray can take his place as one of the post-hardcore scene's most expressive, instantly recognizable singers. New producer Dave Fortman came in with an appreciation for what the band had done in the past. "He really kicked our butts, but only because he wanted the best songs to come out," says Latshaw.
Live For Today's lead-off track, "Release The Dogs," won't be anybody's idea of a sellout. With furious guitar-slinging by Latshaw and Chad Istvan, "Release The Dogs" is the band's response to the wave of militarism that followed the 9/11 attacks. Never afraid of making a statement, BOYSETSFIRE have produced some of the first real dissent heard in rock since then.
"I feel that the true form of patriotism is protest," says Gray. "And I personally feel that most people are scared out of their minds to say anything about it for fear of getting labeled as un-American. What inspired that song is that after September 11 it seemed there were a lot of conservatives-and even people who considered themselves liberals-who were waiting for something like that to happen so they could pass certain laws that would erode the basic freedoms in this country. We've played that song at some of our shows and it seemed that a lot of people had just been waiting to hear an outcry about that."
"Bathory's Sainthood" is equally hard-hitting. "We've caught some flak because the words 'bastard' and 'messiah' are in there right next to each other," admits Gray. "But it's not meant to be lashing out at God, only at people who think they're God. It's funny, we never think about how controversial a song is going to be until somebody comes up to us and says, 'Holy shit! Did you really say that?'"
The mix of energy and melody, memorable songs and serious messages, is what BOYSETSFIRE is all about and fans can expect many more new ideas when Tomorrow Come Today is released in April, 2003. "We get bored very easily, so we like to have it all," says Latshaw. "That's how we get our songs, from having very little attention span."
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