Saves The Day – 9 (2018)
Saves The Day is a New Jersey rock band that’s been making noise since 1994. The band is currently made up of Chris Conley (lead vocals and guitars), Arun Bali (guitars), Rodrigo Palma (bass) and Dennis Wilson (drums). They started when singer, Chris Conley, was thirteen years old and at the time were named Indifference. After another name change to Seffler, the group finally settled on Saves The Day. Today the band continues to make their own pop-punk/emo inspired sounds with singer Chris Conley being the only original member.
On October 26th, Saves The Day released their thirteenth album titled 9. This album has plenty of hard rock sounds and stays true to the album title with only nine tracks. The overall sound of the record gives off a hardcore rock vibe. Most of the lyrics explore the life and times of the band, and it’s easy to tell that they’re sharing a story about a different point in time during the band’s career. The perfect example is the song ‘1997’ – a track that is clearly about where the band was in 1997.
‘Twenty years ago, a couple kids playing guitars singing in a band. Still here underground hashing it out; still playing shows, hanging with our friends.’ – Saves The Day, ‘1997’
They weren’t signed to a label yet; they were playing local shows in underground bars whenever they could, and they were selling demo records to anyone who attended at a low price. It then goes on to talk about how they started to take off and became signed gaining popularity. What I didn’t realise, until I read the lyrics, is this song is a flashback. Over the last twenty years, everything moved so fast that it all became a blur.
My favourite song on 9 is ‘It’s Such A Beautiful World’. The song comes across as not caring what people say any more; whatever someone’s problem is, it doesn’t matter to us. People are going to say things and, well, just ignore them and keep doing what you’re doing.
‘It’s such a beautiful world. Sometimes it’s all such a blur. We wanna see you at our next show. We keep fucking up the chords. Gonna build our own stage, like back in the day. Let them say what they say. We’re gonna play what we play.’ – Saves The Day, ‘It’s Such A Beautiful World’
What I love about this band is that they still sound like a pop-punk band from the 90s; however, they can twist their music, so it sounds current but transports you back in time. When I listened to this album, I felt like I was actually at an underground rock show instead of in my bedroom. If you are a fan of bands such as Motion City Soundtrack, Bayside, The Starting Line or I am The Avalanche, I highly recommend this album.
In addition to 9, Saves The Day also has other albums and EPs that are available on Spotify and iTunes. To learn more about Saves The Day, check out their social media (Facebook, Twitter or Instagram).
