You can’t really run a music blog if you are only interested in the music, if you don’t care about the process, that would be like running a food blog and not care about cooking.
Also, I don’t think people read a music blog if they’re not interested in what is going on behind the curtains and, in 2010, it is easier than ever to look behind the curtain.
And we do that all the time.
So my interest in Hey Monday , a band I really have not too much interest in musically, is all about form not content. For those of us who don’t know Hey Monday, they appeared a coupla weeks ago pushing a fairly iffy Paramore knock off sound with a fairly iffy chick lead singer. We’ve all been here before and I will be the first to admit this ain’t my scene at all, I tried em, didn’t like em, and unless they get big would be happy to leave em to their own designs. To each his own and god against all as it were.
But two things happened to the,
A) they had their sophomore album switched to an EP at the last moment by Decaydence label -owned by one Pete Wentz
And
B) Their bass player quit a month later.
Let’s deal with the question of independence first. Decaydence is distributed by ADA who are owned by Warners. Yeah, hardly a shocker to any serious reader of rock nyc.
Now let’s go to the MTV quotes by lead singer Cassadee Pope: “”It’s really, really hectic, but it’s a good hectic. With the whole Jersey (the bassist) thing, that really sucked and we were upset about it, but we were more upset about losing a friend, and we never really sat down and were worried about ‘Oh my God, is this the end of the band?’ Because the three of us [Pope, Mike Gentile and Alex Lipshaw] are so passionate about it, and we’ve talked about it a million times, about how this is our dream come true, and not to say any of us could quit tomorrow — you never know. But no one has to worry, the show must go on, and we’re really excited and nothing’s going to stop us.
“The album thing, that’s just a case of me loving to write. And since we have some months to spare, ‘Why not go and try to write songs that are better than the songs we have right now?’ We love the album, but if I can go in and write some ones that are better, why not? We want it to be the best album possible
“It was a little bit of a surprise, just because the record was about to come out, and we had done all the promo shots, we had finished everything. The timing was definitely the worst timing in the entire world, but something like quitting a band that you’re not happy being a part of can’t really wait You have to do it when you need to, and, you know, he made it very clear that this isn’t what he wants to do and, although we think this lifestyle is extremely easy and fun, to him maybe it was different, and he just wanted to go home and live a normal life.
“Jersey’s probably going to continue writing his own music, and maybe that was another thing too, because I do most of the writing and he’s also a writer and maybe that wasn’t sitting well with him. There’s a lot of reasons that we all talked about that we think had a lot to do with him leaving, but it’s not a bitter thing at all, we keep in touch and we’ll make sure that he’s doing OK.”
So all of which leaves us wondering what really happened. Why did Decaydence fuck em over? I think it was a good idea to release an EP, if a song hits, and another, you can always release another EP. One of my fave bands in the world, Drop The Lime, haven.t bothered with an album yet, neither have Holy Ghost!
But the answer is like a dim light on a growing band, the story has one hole after another. I don’t’t like Hey Monday but I would be surprised if there wasn’t an active market for it.
I wonder if WB have any say? I wonder if it was Pete’s decision. And I wonder how much Jersey must hate em to walk.