The unclassifiable quality of The Already Proud, and their latest album, Even Angels Fall, did not come easy. Heavy rock and electronic indie, acoustic songs and punk songs, and catchy choruses with allusions for the well-read are all pieces of the one complete sound that The Already Proud has perfected in the year it took to make their new album. They have always had their own unique style since they assembled in 1999 in the suburbs that lie between the strange musical triangle of Dallas, Denton and Fort Worth. Emerging from the influence of West Coast new school punk rock and late nineties post-grunge alternative, the group created their own brand of what was shortly after labeled “pop-punk” by radio hungry record labels such as Drive – Thru Records. The Already Proud’s first release, The Best Looking Kids In School, combined melodic and fast punk music with serious and mature themes – something markedly absent in many of their peer’s concurrent releases.
The Best Looking Kids In School gained local critical acclaim and earned them a tour in California where they sold out of the first DIY pressing of their album. In California, they played for several record labels and earned an opening slot for soon – to – be – huge emo acts Dashboard Confessional and A New Found Glory. As soon as the tour was over and “pop-punk” bloomed into something huge and mainstream, The Already Proud felt that along with the success of the genre they had helped create came a severe commercial exploitation that diluted the honest and musical aspects of the music they came to love. Therefore, The AP decided to hole up in their studio and create music that defied genre.
It took over a year for The AP to put together a group of songs that would comprise Even Angels Fall and solidify the style that characterizes their new catalog of sounds. In those years they witnessed pop-punk rise and fall, emo and screamo gain posture as a solid genre, and indie rock capture the hearts of counter culture fans and music critics alike. In Even Angles Fall you will hear how The AP decided not to follow the influence of any single genre, but to incorporate in its style something that competes with many of the current genres. The AP creates a blend of art-punk that, although it combines so many distinct genres of music and art, remains cohesive and consistent song after song.
Even Angles Fall was recorded in two different studios on the budget of struggling musicians, but the people The AP worked with were hungry to work and play and made the album sonically and musically excellent. The album is released on Infiniti Records, drummer and producer Anthony Accardo’s own record label. The AP is currently shopping the album around, playing shows, and building a fan-base. The band is looking for fans, critics, clubs, and labels that desire to be challenged, will stay loyal to ever-changing artists, and remain concerned with great songs and art rather than genre and trend.
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