On October 13, the Front Bottoms released their fourth studio album “Going Grey” through Fueled by Ramen. As new and old fans listen to the songs, there are a lot of mixed emotions. Many of the old fans who have been listening to The Front Bottoms for years find that the tracks are poorly written, lazy, and boring.
Newer fans, ones who may have seen The Front Bottoms when they went on tour with pop-punk band Blink 182, find the album catchy, energetic, and worthy of being one of the bands best albums written.
Fan Lauren Turzanski has been listening to the Front Bottoms since their self-titled album released independently in 2011. After listening to the album, Turzanski found that the music sounded very similar to their older music, which was a pleasant surprise compared to the previous album “Back on top” which did not have the same nostalgic feel.
“I think the lyrics on ‘Going Grey’ are much more similar to their old stuff,” Turzanski said.
When the Front Bottoms were signed onto Fueled by Ramen many fans like Turzanski were worried about how it would affect the sound. When the label signed with emo band Twenty One Pilots, the duo began using electronic instruments and using different producers which changed their sound.
“It just doesn’t sound like them to me. I will love and support anything they put out, but songs like Trampoline, Far Drive, and Grand Finale just seem like they were very much influenced by Fueled by Ramen,” Turzanski said.
Fan Joe Cullum began listening to The Front Bottoms when singer Brian Sella and drummer Mathew Uychich were still making records in a dorm room, 2009. During this time, The Front Bottoms were locally known from New Jersey but didn’t have many fans outside of the East Coast.
“It's another album by them I feel I can listen to for years and find new meanings to the lyrics that are still delivered in the same quirky, cynical but funny way that they always have,” Cullum said about the new album. Cullum enjoyed the album as a whole but did find some problems, though none were bad enough to not recommend the album to other fans. Cullum specifically did not the track “Vacation Town.”
“There's just almost nothing catchy or memorable about it despite the fact that it's written and produced like a catchy pop song. It's just weird and hits a purgatory where it just brings out no emotion in me whatsoever, probably because of Fueled by Ramen,” Cullum said. He was glad to find the rest of the album wasn’t as flawed as “Vacation Town” and made a point to the band's maturity hindering their sound.
“I think since they're maturing it's like they're going through growing pains from them being more ambitious with their metaphors in their lyrics, as well as the more heavily produced, almost alt-pop at sounding times with splashes of indie as Brian learns to play full chords for the first time. I'm glad they're at least being more ambitious and I see more potential for their songwriting going forward,” Cullum said.
I also spoke to fan Nick Blum who began listening to The Front Bottoms after the release of their third studio album “Back on top” in 2015. During this time, the band was just signed to Fueled by Ramen and were experimenting with more premium recording equipment, better producers, and more money. All these factors changed the sound for old fans like Turzanski and Cullum but reeled in the attention of Blum, a fan of other pop-punk bands such as Neck Deep and Fall Out Boy.
“The pop-like sound mixed with [Brian Sella]’s voice made me feel like I was in some garage in the 90s,” said Blum, regarding seeing The Front Bottoms in concert during the Summer of 2017. Fans like Blum were attracted because of the new sound that Fueled by Ramen is influencing The Front Bottoms with, but older fans are seemingly split whether they like the sound or not.
Feeling nostalgic for the rough and underdeveloped sound that The Front Bottoms had in their older songs, fans just wish that they keep their original sound as much as they can.
“I just hope The Front Bottoms is actually happy with the album and wasn’t pressured by Fueled by Ramen to change their sound,” Turzanski said.
