CM DUGAN: HOPE IS FOR PEOPLE

April 2nd Alkaline Trio comes out with their 9th studio album My Shame is True (Which I can only assume is a reference to Elvis Costello's My Aim is True, I guess that's why they call it pun-k rock... heh)

So they've been have a steady of release of tracks from the album the last few weeks, and for the first time in years (or last few albums) they feel like the band I use to know - the themes and tone are really hitting home. 

There's this fear I have that with getting older that I am becoming someone that I will eventually won't recognize. I didn't really like the last few albums that 'Trio has put out, and I chalked it up to this - I'm just getting old. I went as far as saying that they should just call it a day, their direction was so far off from where I was that I felt embarrassed for my fandom. I glad they haven't called it a day if the first 5 tracks off of MSIT are any indication. 

Sure, they still are playing up some of the horror-punk themes that have been doing since Good Mourning/From Here to Infirmary, but something about this go around feels much more authentic - more real. Maybe it's just better then the past albums, or maybe it's just finding me at the right point in time in my life. I don't know. 

This probably sounds all way corny, but I'm sure everyone one has a band  that they consider "their" band. The band that's been there for important moments. Alkaline Trio is that band for me. My first (and eventual best) friend of high school properly introduced me to 'Trio (I was aware of/enjoyed them through Tony Hawk soundtracks) and that was our connection/thing, and was able to re-connect with my life-long best friend doing the same thing. We stood hours in lines outside venues - hours in the rain to be first in line, blasted by drive-by firework mortars by immature anti-fans (they post-poned the show for an hour for that one, still have hearing damage, too), baked on asphalt in afternoon summer sun. It forged, strengthened, and concreted friendships. 

I'm not that person anymore, but I feel a bit better knowing it still exist in somewhere. For that same matter, they're not that band anymore. I'm just glad that for this moment in time I have my band back.