I am as bothered by the new Funeral for a Friend album, _Conduit, _as I am excited about the Tegan and Sara album that just came out. And I’m pretty happy with Tegan and Sara. So my question really is what happened to the guys from FFAF? I’ve always been a big fan of them because they match up fast, heavy rock with incredible melodies and great lyrics. This album just sounds like someone told them they were too emo and they tried to show them up and overcompensated. It’s near speed metal, and there’s more screaming than their old albums had. I’m a fan of well placed screaming in a song, but sometimes it’s just overkill. I’m really bummed out by that so I’m just going to listen to Casually Dressed and Deep in Conversation on repeat until I feel better.

I will spin this post positively though and say that Tegan and Sara’s new album, Heartthrob, is really well done! I never really figured I would like this kind of music all that much, but it really reminds me of the good 80’s music of that era. In my “old age,” I’ve become a lot more appreciative of different kinds of music. It’s kind of weird to leave some of the old punk rock stuff behind, but at the same time it’s really opened up my eyes to what is out there. I honestly haven’t heard a new punk band that I like in maybe 6 or 7 years. I still stick by the tried and true bands that I loved in high school, but most of that is because of nostalgia. Listening to those bands brings back memories.

I know I went off on a tangent, but this is better than reviewing an album. I think that the age between 12 and 21 are some of the most musically active of a person’s life. I know they were for me. You kind of spend that time of your life figuring out who you are, and two things drive that: friends and music. You’re so easily influenced by things around you, and it’s that time when your parents music just doesn’t do it for you anymore. I remember when I stopped listening to country and discovered Aerosmith, then went modern and found Everclear, then stumbled across my gateway drug, Blink-182. Blink opened up a whole new world of what music could be, and influenced everything about my guitar playing. I picked up the old six string today and played a bit and I could even feel the Blink influences in my playing then.

I think I’m going to make sure my kids know that if they want to do something with music, they need to do it while they are in high school/ middle school because that will be the time that they are the most driven, the most excited, the most eager, and the most connected with people that share interests. Once you head out into the big, bad world it’s hard to find people who share the same interests in music. You’re thrown from a small pond into a huge ocean of different personalities that didn’t grow up with you. I still feel like I will always connect with my buddy, Patrick, more than I will ever connect musically with anyone. Despite us not talking nearly as much and not being around each other, we’ve both stumbled onto the same types of music now. We both are really digging folky stuff right now and even manage to find the same bands, sometimes without ever talking to each other. We’re pretty much musical soulmates. I’m pretty sure we could sit down to play 20  years from now and still be able to anticipate each other. We learned how to play together, and by a weird twist of fate even bought our instruments on the same day without even talking to each other first. We knew it was destiny then. I love that story :)

Anyway, I think I’m in one of those “I miss guitar” phases again. I love being there, and I want to stay there for a while. I’m more driven to play and learn things. Sometimes I need to just let my fingers do something other than type, and playing some tunes satisfies that a lot. I can’t wait to have a house so I can just go out and knock out some songs on the big ol’ amplifier. Neighbors are going to love us ;)