Something Corporate - 'A Year In The Life'

March 03, 2020 in Liner Notes

Today's treasure of Drive Thru Records' past is a 2002 Something Corporate documentary called 'A Year In The Life.' This captures a really interesting point in the band’s career.

Something Corporate (or SoCo) formed in 1998 and released their first full length, Ready… Break, in 2000 with funding from a local venue called the Coach House. In 2001, the band signed with Drive-Thru and released the Audio Boxer EP with all new material (save “Hurricane”). That was followed by Leaving Through The Window the following year which was made up of a mixture of tracks from Audio Boxer and rerecorded songs from Ready… Break.

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In a half hour, A Year In The Life documents SoCo during the recording of, and subsequent touring for, Leaving Through the Window. It takes you behind the scenes of recording with Jim Wirt (The Rocket Summer, Jack’s Mannequin, Alien Ant Farm), the recording “If U C Jordan” and “I Woke Up In A Car” music videos, their early days of Warped touring, and writing what might be the most beloved b-side ever recorded, “Konstantine.”

Unlike The Starting Line Acoustic DVD released by Drive-Thru the following year, this one came in a standard 19х13.5cm case. I’m not sure how necessary that was, really. There are no inserts or booklets to accompany the disc inside. I supposed MCA just had the money for it. I’ve included here a cleaned up scan of the front cover.

I haven't seen this one posted online previously for what I'm assuming is the same reason I had to recut it today. UMG puts out claims on any video containing footage from the "If U C Jordan" and "I Woke Up In A Car" videos, both of which this documentary goes behind the scenes. I’ve trimmed the videos from the documentary and posted the documentary below.

While "If U C Jordan" was directed by Drive Thru's own Richard Reines, "I Woke Up In A Car" was directed by renowned Canadian producer Harvey "Harv" Glazer who went on to work with acts like Kendrick, Drake, Rihanna, and more.

Production credits:

Produced by Tim Stedman
Co-Produced by Brent Kidwell
Edited by Buzz Chatman
Filmed by Brent Kidwell, Hadi Salehi, Buzz Chatman, Jeff Jackel, and Andrew McMahon
© MCA Records

The Last Scene: A '00s punk and emo documentary →

October 15, 2019 in Links

The Last Scene aims to be the definitive film about Punk and Emo at the dawn of a new millennium. The documentary, a project by filmmaker Kyle Kilday, was just funded on Kickstarter.

From Kickstarter:

The Last Scene will be the FIRST comprehensive chronicle of what many believe is the LAST underground, DIY music scene. One forged in VFW halls and community recreation centers across the United States in the Late 1990's/Early 2000's.

The filmmaker’s initial goal was $10,000 with stretch goals that would allow them to extend the scope of the documentary. The final pledge count was $14,036.

So, what are we getting? According to the campaign description, at $10k, Kilday will produce “a 20-30 minute documentary for digital release about the origins and formation of the scene (up until mainstream breakout).” These funds will allow them to conduct interviews in southern California, source archival stills and footage, and set up a workflow for producing the film.

At $15k, a 30-45 minute documentary could be produced with some additional travel for interviews. They just barely missed that goal, but I’m told travel is already in the works with some vital voices in the scene. Even if the film caps at a half hour, I’m anticipating a great result.

You can watch the trailer above and follow the project as it builds on Instagram.

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The Starting Line - 'The Make Yourself At Home' Acoustic EP/DVD

October 13, 2019 in Liner Notes

In November of 2003, The Starting Line released The Make Yourself at Home EP which featured 6 acoustic tracks. “The Best Of Me,” previously released as a full-band track on Say It Like You Mean It (2002), was given the acoustic treatment. The 4 remaining songs were new.

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Tracklist:

Make Yourself At Home 03:57
Selective 03:35
Playing Favorites 04:02
The Night Life 04:01
The Best Of Me 04:45
Lasting Impressions 03:17

From the liner notes:

Thank you to all of our families and friends. We would list everybody but it would be longer than the lyrics.
Everyone,
Thanks so much for checking out our acoustic EP, we hope you enjoy it. I just wanted to clarify what this recording is, for anyone who is curious. The first three songs of this EP were written while touring in the summer of 2002. With some time off we spent at home, the songs were recorded by my good friend Bob Jones of The Prize Fight in his bedroom. For convenience, the songs were recorded from an acoustic guitar and the beats were taken from an 80's Casio keyboard. Between the positive feedback we received from our friends and our desire to get the new songs out, we decided to release a five song EP including a new song and an acoustic version of The Best of Me. The last two song[s] of the CD were recorded in my basement during March 2003 and this EP was completed. It was a great experience to work on this recording as independently as we did. So thank you again, we hope you enjoy listening to this as much as we enjoyed making it.
Love, Kenny and The Starting Line.
P.S. We added Lasting Impressions on quite awhile after the EP's completion. This song was recorded on my own in the back of the bus. It will appear on our next album as a full band song.

“Lasting Impressions” was demoed with the rest of the band during the Geffen Sessions, but would never see an official full-band release.

In addition to the EP, there was a lesser known companion DVD as well, The Make Yourself At Home Acoustic DVD. This release contained a live-recorded acoustic performance with a slightly different tracklisting. The set on the DVD was recorded at the Skate & Surf Festival in late April of 2003.

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Tracklist:

The Drama Summer 03:18
Make Yourself At Home 04:50
Playing Favorites 03:45
The Night Life 04:21
The Best Of Me 05:28

As far as I am aware, this DVD has been out of print for a long time. On Discogs, the number of Wants exceed the Haves and, although it's not historically expensive to pick one up second-hand, the opportunity to do so is fairly uncommon.

So here's the video. I hope nobody associated with the group will mind. It's a fun set that those who have attended the band's 20 year anniversary tour this year should appreciate.

You can purchase The Make Yourself At Home EP digitally on Bandcamp along with the rest of The Starting Line’s discography.

As a bonus, here's a ~6 minute tour bus interview with Kenny Vasoli that came on the DVD, as well as two enhanced CD live videos of “Classic Jazz” and “Surprise Surprise.”