“Emo – Genre of softcore punk music that integrates unenthusiastic melodramatic 17 year olds who dont smile, high pitched overwrought lyrics and inaudible guitar rifts with tight wool sweaters, tighter jeans, itchy scarfs (even in the summer), ripped chucks with favorite bands signature, black square rimmed glasses, and ebony greasy unwashed hair that is required to cover at least 3/5 ths of the face at an angle.” (UrbanDictionary.com)
Yes, I concur entirely with this definition. And yes, I was “emo” at one point (though I did smile and didn’t have greasy hair). In this time period, where my angst and anger ran my middle school days and part of high school, “emo” provided its followers with some truly genuine artists, at least for its genre. Enough with the introduction, let’s talk about TAKING BACK SUNDAY.
Taking Back Sunday – a quintet formed in 1999 from Amityville, Long Island, New York- shined in the “emo” scene with their emotionally driven songs, espeically found in their first LP Tell All Your Friends (2002).  Tell All Your Friends was not only an album that claimed a base for Taking Back Sunday, but almost set a standard of what the “emo” genre can or should be. But of course as the years passed, their sound naturally changed, probably due to its crucial lineup changes with its members.
Up to the present, the band has been through multiple changes, including through their guitarists (John Nolan replaced by Fred Mascherino in 2003, who was then replaced by Matthew Fazzi in 2007 ) and their bassist (Shaun Cooper replaced by Matt Rubano in 2003).
This did not stop the band though. Their efforts after Tell All Your Friends were huge successes, pleasing old fans to gaining new ones with their albums Where You Want to Be (2004) and Louder Now (2006). Unfortunately, a couple months after the release of their fourth album New Again (2009), the band announce that their most recent members (Fazzi and Rubano) have left the band. At this stand still, we can only ask WHAT’S NEXT FOR TAKING BACK SUNDAY?
Answer: a reunion.  This reunion comes in full circle for the band, as original members John Nolan (guitarist/vocalists) and Shaun Cooper (bassist) once again join Adam Lazzara (vocals), Eddie Reyes (guitarist), and Mark O’Connell (drums) almost a decade later. On the band’s website (takingbacksunday.com), a pop-up appears showing a picture of the original members with censors over their eyes (the picture shown above). One of the recent posts on the site is a short video where you see the members hanging out with Shaun Cooper and John Nolan present. At the end of the video, a quote streams “Sometimes it takes some time to remember where you were headed in the first place and the people you intended to to go there with. There’s no hard feelings, just the future.”
So yes, the original team that brought you Tell All Your Friends are apparently back with new material currently in the works. Now we can REALLY ask: WHAT’S NEXT FOR TAKING BACK SUNDAY…?
*A teaser “announcing” the return of the original members of Taking Back Sunday.
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