What inspires a band to make the music that they do? This time Reckless Intentions take on our desert island discs challenge and let us in on those all time favourite records. There’s some great choices in there.
1 – American Idiot – Green Day
It was difficult choosing between a few different Green Day albums, to be honest! But this is the record that defined who I was growing up, so it’s got to be American Idiot. There’s something about it that just resonates with me in a way that I’d never experienced when I was younger, and even having listened to it thousands of times it still feels just as good now as the first time I heard it. Musically, it’s got the perfect blend of melody and aggression – the guitar tones are so iconic, and the concept behind the album inspired me to be someone I’d never have been if this record didn’t exist.
2 – The Black Parade – My Chemical Romance
Another Rob Cavallo album, but The Black Parade has to be on the list. I only started listening to My Chem properly in the last few years, but the imagery and the individuality of this album just puts it on another level. There’s not a single weak song on it, and again it’s got a really strong concept behind it. I think for a lot of people who didn’t quite fit in wherever they grew up, this record was a really important thing – it’s every musician’s goal to write a song that actually means something to people, and this album did that on a huge scale.
3 – All Around The World And Back – State Champs
I was so surprised when I first heard this album, it’s one of the most underrated ones around. I think the first song I heard was “All or Nothing“, and the songwriting in that track is just so strong, it could easily have hit number one if the charts were based on actual quality. It’s just got songs that make you want to dance and scream along, and keeps true to the State Champs sound. So many pop-punk bands have started falling into the same style, but this album is State Champs just playing hit after hit.
4 – Same Trailer, Different Park – Kacey Musgraves
I came across this track “Merry Go Round” when I was watching some random documentary on country music a few years back, and went on to find this beaut of an album. I grew up listening to Johnny Cash, The Eagles and a lot of old rock ‘n’ roll/country bands, so I’ve always been fond of this kind of sound, but this is my favourite country album by a long way. The lyrics are really unique, she basically just points out the stupid stuff that’s wrong in our day to day lives and then kind of says “who the fuck cares?” – it’s quite punk in a weird, not-punk-at-all kind of way. It’s definitely top of my list of albums to listen to after a stressful day, there are some great songs on there to mellow you out.
5 – Don’t Panic – All Time Low
Every song on Don’t Panic is a single. I can’t even begin to comprehend how Alex Gaskarth managed to write so many strong tracks for one record, but this literally doesn’t have a single ‘filler’ track on it. For some reason, I went off bands like All Time Low when I was 16/17 and was with an incredibly boring girlfriend, but rediscovered my love for them when I heard this album. Tracks like “Backseat Serenade” and “Somewhere in Neverland” just have this huge level of nostalgia with them, I really don’t think I could ever get tired of this album.