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A Day To Remember aren’t exactly the new kids in the pit.
All of the band members had played in the Ocala music scene for years until 2003, when
the band in its current incarnation came together. Singer Jeremy McKinnon, guitarists
Neil Westfall and Tom Denney, bassist Joshua Woodard and drummer Alex Shellnutt knew they
had something special during one specific performance on a special day. “Two years ago we played a Fourth of July show in our home
town,” Joshua recalls. “The kids never responded
like they did that night; they sang along to every word in our songs, and everything just
clicked.”
The band soon embarked on lengthy DIY tours well beyond their local area, doing over 200
shows, and in 2005 they put out on album on Indianola Records. Even though it sold over
8,000 copies on word of mouth alone, the group wanted bigger and better things.
“A friend of mine said he had the AIM screenname of
someone at Victory Records,” Woodard says. “I
didn’t believe him, but I still started communicating with the guy. We IM’ed back and
forth for about six months, and it happened that we were playing with the band On The
Last Day in a town outside of Chicago—and this guy was going to be there filming it. It
was our first time we ever played in Illinois, yet the 50-60 kids there were singing
along to our tunes like they’d been fans all their lives. The guy asked if we’d do a
showcase for Victory, we said sure, and the rest is a new beginning for A Day To
Remember."
So the band went into Zing Studios in Westfield, MA, and created their best crop of
pop-mosh yet. “We’ve definitely grown as
musicians,” Woodard says. “We’ve always been
into hardcore music as well as pop-punk. It’s been our goal to mix the two as best as we
can, and only recently have we felt comfortable created the transitions in our songs. The
music flows better than it ever has, so while it hits harder than ever, it still sounds
more mature and professional.”
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