As consumers of music, we often attach memories to our favorite music. This often winds up being music from our adolescence, of which we have the most memories attached. Nostalgia can be a really powerful feeling in general, and that’s magnified with our musical taste, which causes a lot of anniversary tours. A lot of times we often look back and say music was better in the early-00’s, 90’s, or whatever your favorite period was for music. But, that isn’t always the case; there is still a ton of good music out there, just we don’t have as many memories attached so we don’t hold it in the high regard. This can be dangerous, because while there is nothing wrong with anniversary tours, you risk missing out on a lot of good music — some that even sounds like your favorite time period for music
Today, we’ll take the early-00’s alternative/pop-punk scene and use that as our example. A lot of us hold that in high regard; bands like Good Charlotte and Yellowcard broke through, while Drive-Thru Records ushered in an entire era of critically-acclaimed releases. If you look fondly back on that time, you’re certainly not alone, and we all have our reasons to hold onto nostalgia. But with music, it’s imperative that we also look forward and appreciate the people working hard to craft new music that makes us feel the way we did when we were younger.
Insert: Detour North and their new track, “Blackmail,” which we are very excited to be premiering for you today. The track – and it’s video – can be found at the top of this post, and from the opening pounding drums and guitar chords, you are drawn into a song that sounds like it would have fit right in during that Drive-Thru era. The chorus of the song only solidifies this to be true. “Blackmail” is proof that Detour North can write a song that musically calls back to the early-00’s without feeling rehashed, all the while still feeling very new and exciting.
Expanding upon the song and music video, Detour North’s Emmanuel Roldan explains that “The video for ‘Blackmail’ was a lot of fun to dream up and put together. We wanted the video to be just as in-your-face as the song is. Our friend Karl Pajak did an incredible job with all of the animation to achieve the look we were going for. It’s chaotic, it’s angry, it’s obnoxious, and it’s a hell of a lot of fun.”
“Blackmail” can be found at the top of this post, and if you like what you hear, there is more to come. Detour North’s new EP, It’s History, It’s Poetry, will be released on July 27th and can be pre-ordered here. You can keep up with them on Facebook, Twitter, and even Instagram for more updates regarding their band.
