The Story So Far, The Starting Line, et ultra Q

California has produced some of the best punk bands of all time and The Story So Far is looking to keep that amazing reputation.

Coming out of Walnut Creek, California the band has been on a rocket ship of exposure as they began in the very sought after Warped Tour playing along with the greats such as Less Than Jake and New Found Glory. But I was able to catch them in Portland, Oregon where they brought punk to the home of grunge.

Hawthorne Theatre is not a large arena by any means but you couldn't tell that by the volume of the audience. Hundreds of fans singing along as the band pounded their way through hard-hitting songs. What amazed me is how much the band vibed with the audience. This was not a stiff show with people swaying to the songs they liked. It felt more like being at someone's house with your friends on stage, rocking out. To add to that feeling, the small stage was swarmed with audience members jumping up, running around and then diving into their fellow fans - all while front man Parker Cannon continued to spit lyrics and expertly dodge the oncoming rush of super fans.

By far one of the more intense shows I've been to and who doesn't like a guy jumping off the stage and falling right next to you?

During the early Noughties, Drive-Thru records were the kings of pop punk and emo. US pop-punkers The Starting Line were one of their bigger breakthroughs, with debut album Say It Like You Mean It (2003) becoming a smash thanks to the MTV-friendly single ‘The Best Of Me’ (surely one of the catchiest pop punk anthems from that era. They were, for a time, pretty huge in America, but that success never fully caught on here, despite ‘The Best Of Me’ dominating the music video channels in 2003.
They were unlucky to have arrived when post-blink 182 pop punk was at its most over-saturated, with similar sounding bands New Found Glory and Simple Plan proving victorious. With that said, Say It Like You Mean It remains one of a defining record of the Drive-Thru years. I actually saw them live during its touring cycle, when they came over to the UK in 2003 supporting Reel Big Fish – they rotated set times each night of the tour with fellow punk outfit Sugarcult. At this particular gig at the Astoria (RIP) in London they came on first and absolutely killed it, receiving a much wilder reception than Sugarcult who followed. Singer/bassist Kenny Vasoli’s clean vocals were just so perfect for teenage love letters and the young crowd connected so easily with the simple, melodic hooks and bouncy rhythms. I can still hear the near-deafening sing-a-along to closer ‘The Best Of Me’ now!
The band reformed a couple of years ago to play Say It Like You Mean it in full to celebrate the ten year anniversary and it was a real shame I missed out. Hopefully more shows will follow…