I know you're better than that

Dear Travis Barker,
I’m sorry, but you have been bumped from your previous position as my favorite drummer of all time by Chris Kamrada.
Yes, I know, it must come as a crushing blow to be knocked out of the running by a guy almost half your age and completely devoid of tattoos, but it’s true. Why? Because, Travis, I never saw you lick a drumstick.

Sincerely,
Blair

There For Tomorrow is a band made to be seen. I’ve been listening to them since May, and they are one of the few bands I’ve ever encountered where, upon one listen to any of their songs, I was hooked. And not hooked as in "I like that..." but hooked like spending the rest of the day muttering "when we turn these PA-GES!" under my breath. The Orlando-based quartet is all younger than me (quite a feat considering the majority of this year’s Warped Tour graduated high school the same year I did), but they’ve got what it takes to make it big: catchy hooks, addictive sampling, wicked stage presence, and perhaps most appealing for the mostly-high school age crowd at the show I caught, they’re all gorgeous.

What goes around comes around, I guess, right? We had the beautiful boys of the late 90's (Backstreet Boys and their ilk), the ridiculously unattractive men of the early millennium (Matchbox Twenty, anyone?), the emo bands with just enough ugliness to be credible (Fall Out Boy, Escape the Fate, and all the others with only one remotely handsome guy) and now, perhaps There For Tomorrow is bringing us full circle and back to the gorgeousness of yesteryear.

Anyway, how are these guys not signed? Never mind, I know how they are not signed, but the question that remains is: how long is it going to be before the entire audience of Friday night’s show is bragging to all their friends about how they were there "when There For Tomorrow played in a church youth group hall for free!"

I remember discussing the merits of There For Tomorrow with my boss this summer, and he said "what makes this band really good is that, even though they are so young, they are so in control. Especially the drums... they don’t let the music take over, they own it all." At the time I thought he was right, but it wasn’t until I saw the band play live that I realized that what makes this band really good is... well, the drummer. They’re a strong band, but as an avid concert watcher, I can tell you this– it’s hard to be a good enough drummer that you attract the attention of anyone in the audience who doesn’t happen to play drums. My eye usually never strays farther past the lead singer than the bassist, but over and over during Friday’s set I found myself entranced by the drummer’s antics instead of the lead singer, who was great but much less exciting than a drumstick-licking shaggy-haired nineteen-year-old beating the crap out of his sparkly drums.

So give it a year, folks. They’ve gotta get signed. And write some new stuff. And then record it and release it. But once they are touring the nation? They’ll be a household name and I’ll be the one saying I told you so.

Choice song: Taking Chances from the Pages EP.

Here for today,
B