Photo courtesy of Fueled by Ramen
The Academy Is… comes to Newport Music Hall Sunday. The band is currently on Bill and Trav’s Bogus Journey Tour with We the Kings.
The band comes to town Sunday at Newport Music Hall in support of their latest album, “Fast Times at Barrington High.”
“It’s strange when you’re making a record because until you get it back, you don’t ever realize whether or not the record is any good,” bassist Adam Siska said. “Sonically, I think it’s our best record.”
TAI… spent the first half of the year writing and brainstorming in Los Angeles. Instead of hashing out songs on the fly, like on their previous album, the process went back to the band’s original writing style.
“Some of the songs were written on acoustic guitar with basic chord progressions, and then the band would build music around them,” Siska said.
The group then flew out to New York City to finish recording.
“[It’s] absolutely the best place to record an album. It’s a very fast-paced city; as soon as we got there, it was definitely creatively inspiring,” Siska said.
“Fast Times at Barrington High” comes only a year after their sophomore release, “Santi.” While some praised the group for its change in sound at the time, many fans were also put off.
“The second record turned out pretty dark. We felt like there was a little bit of negativity, for better or worse,” Siska said. “That’s something we were going through as a band, trying to cross that next step.”
As a result, TAI…’s latest offering returns to the band’s light-hearted pop-punk roots. As noted by the title, the album is chockfull of songs about teenage love and summer romance.
“We wanted to make something that was a little more upbeat,” Siska said. “We just wanted some songs that we knew would be really fun to play live, and really fun for our fans to listen to.”
The band plans on taking a brief break after their current tour before embarking on more shows in 2009. Although exhausting, Siska says the whole experience has been incredible.
“You take a step back and look at where it all began and where it is now, and all the places you’ve been and all the people you’ve played music for,” Siska said. “Needless to say it’s a dream come true.”
With so much behind them already, TAI… hope to keep playing and have another album out after more touring next year.
“It doesn’t look like we’re going to stop anytime soon,” Siska said. “I won’t stop until they make us stop.”
Jeffy Mai can be reached at [email protected]
