18 songs that influenced SeeYouSpaceCowboy’s killer Myspace-core split with If I Die First
Pick up a vinyl copy of the SeeYouSpaceCowboy/If I Die First EP in our store.
SeeYouSpaceCowboy have been leaders of a new crop of bands helping to popularize sasscore for a new generation, and If I Die First are a scenecore supergroup featuring three emo-rappers (Lil Lotus, Nedarb, and Zubin) and two members of From First To Last (Travis Richter and Derek Bloom), and today they've released the split EP A Sure Disaster on Pure Noise (order yours). The split features two new songs by each band, and one collaborative song from the two bands, and if you lived through the mid 2000s Hot Topic/Myspace era, the whole thing feels like slipping back into a pair of your old skinny jeans and a skintight band tee, looking in the mirror and saying, "hey, this still fits... and looks pretty good!" From the pairing of candy-coated clean-sung hooks with harsh screaming, to verbose song titles like "My Nightmares Would Do Numbers As Horror Movies" and alllowercasenospaces song titles like "bloodstainedeyes," to the over-the-top, theatrical, Fuse-friendly music video the two bands made together, SeeYouSpaceCowboy and If I Die First really went for it in a totally shameless way, and that's a big part of what makes this EP so effective. If you're gonna do this kind of thing, you can't hold back.
It's very easy to get caught up looking at it through a lens of nostalgia, but SYSC and IIDF sound too inspired to only look at it that way. And I'd argue that not only do they breathe new life into these mid 2000s sounds, they also do it better than some of the biggest bands did back then. SYSC continue to expand their sound, fusing together elements of sass, mathcore, death metal, emo-pop, and more, and always hitting the mark. IIDF are a little less aggressive and a little more on the emo-pop side, and it's good that each band has their own distinct vibe. With the collaborative song right in the middle, the EP's transition from SYSC's half to IIDF's half couldn't be smoother.
To celebrate the release, SeeYouSpaceCowboy made us a playlist of 18 songs that influenced it, and it includes a slew of gems from the 2000s, from big MTV bands to some of the most underrated and chaotic bands from the era, including Drop Dead Gorgeous, I Set My Friends On Fire, Underoath, Saosin, Me And Him Call It Us, Grace Gale, Test Icicles, Neil Perry, Norma Jean, Converge, Thursday, Heavy Heavy Low Low, Fear Before the March of Flames, The Chariot, and The Blood Brothers. It's an awesome playlist, and it gives you a great idea of where this band is coming from. "This playlist is a glimpse into what we were jamming during the writing of A Sure Disaster," drummer Ethan Sgarbossa tells us. "We pulled from early/mid 2000s aggressive acts of the time, with sass and post-hardcore roots. We wear our influences on our sleeves so we thought we’d put together a little playlist together for everyone." Listen and stream the full EP below.
Pick up a vinyl copy of the EP in our store.
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