Photo by Jeff Gros • Courtesy of Vagrant Records Holy apathetic poses Batman! Saves The Day are from left: Manny Carrero, David Soloway, Chris Conley, and Pete Parada.

Punk superheroes save more than the day
By Sarah Conway
sconway6@mscd.edu

   Saves the Day is known for being innovative, emotional, fierce and full of ballsy, graphic, lyrical assertion. They’re the talented New Jersey pop-punk quartet that writes songs about peeling back skin, digging out eyes and using bottles to catch blood in, but in the semi-romantic, deeply emotional, frustrated sort of way.
   Saves the Day owned the East Coast emo scene after picking up somewhere where Lifetime left off in 1997 and quickly became a staple in the CD collections of most punk-rock-loving, twenty-something’s. Their music mixed snappy beats and choppy bass lines, with twangy guitars and morbid lyrics, which separated them from the typical, overly-poppy sound that other bands with the same genre tag were known for sharing.
   In 2003 Saves the Day went from being on top of the world, to being in the middle of what Vagrant Records described as, “a shit-storm of the highest order.” They were signed to DreamWorks Records, had sold a career total of over half a million albums and had toured with Blink-182, Weezer, Face to Face, Green Day and Dashboard Confessional. They had just released In Reverie, their fourth full-length album and first major label release, when shortly thereafter DreamWorks went belly-up, and their contract was gobbled up by Universal Music Group.
   “ We battled some pretty serious demons getting these songs together,” singer Chris Conley said in a statement posted on the Vagrant records website about their new album, Sound the Alarm. “We spent last year without a label while dealing with personnel changes, building a studio, and trying to write and record an entire album -- I was filled with frustration and anger.”
   But instead of calling it quits, the band channeled that frustration by returning to their earlier style of music through fast, punk, chord progressions and enthusiastic vocals in their most recent release, Sound the Alarm. This comes as a gift and a relief to those long-time fans who had their hopes shattered by the band’s previous release, In Reverie, which was the most controversial release of their career. It introduced a new side of Conley—the whiney, unmotivated, immature side—which left a bad taste in the mouths of the early Saves the Day fans who knew that the band was capable of more.
   Fortunately for the band, their fans are a bit more lenient when it comes to ignoring a mediocre album, and have managed to maintain a certain level of respect from the general punk rock public.
   In support of Sound the Alarm, Saves the Day is currently hitting the pavement with Moneen, Circa Survive and Down to Earth Approach. Their live shows deliver music in its purest form: no frills, no flames, just straight-forward, good ol’ fashioned rock ‘n’ roll.
   The band’s current line-up features Conley on vocals and rhythm guitar, David Soloway on lead guitar, drummer Pete Parada (formerly of Face to Face) and their most recent addition, bassist Manny Carrero (formerly of Glassjaw). In appreciation of their true ‘til death fans, the band recorded a limited edition EP of acoustic re-workings of older songs titled, Bug Sessions: Vol.1, available exclusively at the shows on this tour.
   Along with a special version of the original Saves the Day fan favorite “Jodie,” Bug Sessions features acoustic versions of “Sell My Old Clothes, I’m off to Heaven,” “My Sweet Fracture,” “You Vandal,” “Certain Tragedy,” “In My Waking Life,” and “Freakish.”

Saves the Day plays 7 p.m. at Cervantes, Tuesday, April 18 with Moneen, Circa Survive and Down to Earth Approach. The show is all ages. Tickets are $15.50 in advance, $18.00 day of show. More information at www.sodajerkpresents.com