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Taking Back Sunday and UnderOath are co-headlining the Mullin Center on Thursday night, April 5th. With the demise of the boy bands and nu-metal, Taking Back Sunday has sprung into the mainstream in the past couple years with their emo lyrics, but hardcore edge creating a hybrid sound unlike many of their contemporaries on the pop charts. For those unfamiliar with Taking Back Sunday, they are a five piece band based out of Long Island, N.Y. Led by vocalist Adam Lazzara the band has been an underground favorite for the past few years. Band-mates Fred Masherino, Eddie Reyes, Mark O'Connell and Matt Rubano round out the present line up of Taking Back Sunday. Masherino and Rubano joined the band in the summer of 2003 after original guitarist John Nolan and bassist Shawn Cooper left the band after a bitter fight with Lazzara, neither side will tell the complete story leading to the split, but different rumors are all over the internet. Their second album "Where You Want To Be" debuted at number three on the Billboard Charts in July of 2004. This continued where the band musically left off from their first album "Tell All Your Friends." The only major difference between the albums besides Nolan's vocals being replaced by Masherino's is the polished production. "Where You Want To Be" went on to be a success. Since the release of "Where You Want To Be" the band has signed to the major record label Warner Brothers and released a third album titled "Louder Now" and started touring mid-sized arenas and outdoor theaters such as the Tweeter Center in Mansfield Mass. "Louder Now" strips Taking Back Sunday from their hardcore influences and polishes their sound even more then the sound on "Where You Want To Be." Lyrically the music is still the same, but slightly more mature. UnderOath's road to the Mullin Center was different than Taking Back Sunday's. While the band has been together in a sense since 1998, the line up has changed dramatically causing the band to change musically over the years. Original lead singer, Dallas Taylor, left the band in 2003 after a disagreement with bassist Grant Brandell. Taylor was then replaced by Spencer Chamberlain. Chamberlain led the group to more of a post-hardcore style instead of a melodic metal sounding. The band also grew to be influenced more by Christianity with Chamberlain.
In 2004 the band released their fourth and most successful album "They Are Only Changing Safety." To date the album has sold more then 350,000 copies. In 2006 the band released their latest album "Define the Great Line." The album was well received among fans and critics alike. The success of the album led the band to be invited back to the Warped Tour, but this time as one of the tour's headliners. Unfortunately towards the end of the tour, UnderOath dropped off the tour due to an ongoing feud with the band NOFX. NOFX disagreed with many of the members of UnderOath politically since they are one of the most liberal bands in the music scene today and UnderOath is one of the most conservative since they are a Christian band. Their music is influenced, but they do not lecture their audience about the Christian lifestyle they choose to live. Unlike NOFX who lecture anyone who will listen to them about why it is better to be progressive then conservative. Although to date the band denies NOFX's words being the reason they left the tour, instead they insisted that it was the fact they needed a rest since they have never headlined the entire tour before. New Jersey's Armor For Sleep will be opening for UnderOath and Taking Back Sunday. Tickets are $25 for both reserved and the general admission floor. Doors open at doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the concert should start around 7:30 p.m. Tim McCall can be reached at TMcCall@student.umass.edu.
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