Don’t be misled by the title of Bayside’s new album, The Walking Wounded. The overall theme of this Long Island band’s fourth release on Victory Records is not one of cynicism, pessimism and negativity. Rather, it’s about overcoming the emotional and physical scars in life. “What we mean by ‘Walking Wounded’ is to reflect on all kinds of survivors, not necessarily what we survived,” singer guitarist Anthony Raneri explains. “Everybody gets wounded at some point or another as they go through life. Most of this record is about keeping your head up and getting through tough situations. Everybody has to get over being wounded.”

Bayside certainly has. A van accident while on tour took the life of drummer John “Beatz” Holohan. While bassist Nick Ghanberian recovered, Anthony Raneri and guitarist Jack O’Shea finished the tour as an acoustic duo, which led to the recording of Bayside Acoustic, with guest Josh Caterer of The Smoking Popes. Once drummer Chris Guglielmo joined the fold, Raneri refocused his energies back on the music. “I really wanted to step it up,” he says. “So I listened to everything from Broadway tunes to classical music, and I noticed how much thought goes into all this music. I wanted to try my hand at creating all the extreme highs and lows, with lots of changes in the songs, instead of just churning out quick-to-the-point pop songs. Certainly some of those songs are on the record, too, but I definitely wanted to bust out creatively, too.”

One such song is the title track. “It really explains what the record is about lyrically,” he states. “Musically, it was first song I started writing a year-and-a-half ago, but it’s also the last song we finished. I just went at it for a long time, making changes here and there practically every day.
“We’ve been working on a lot of songs for over a year now,” Raneri continues. “I’m really proud of this record. I feel that by working on half of the album’s songs for an entire year, really working on them every day and listening to them over and over in my head, I’ve created what I feel are my masterpieces.” Capturing those masterpieces in the studio were producers Shep Goodman and Kenny Gioia (Mandy Moore, Hall & Oates). Goodman and Raneri both agree that the best way to introduce the new release is the track ”Duality.” “We feel it’s the most immediate song on the album,” Raneri explains. “I looked back at singles that have instantly turned people on to the new bands, something that says, ‘Here we are, get ready!’ Singles that had such an effect on me are Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ and Foo Fighters’ ‘Monkey Wrench.” They’re attention-grabbers that instantly kick in and make people feel they’ve been missing the boat by not listening to the bands.”

Here’s what you’ve been missing if you haven’t caught onto Bayside yet: “I feel like our first record had a very morbid outlook on life,” he says. “The second record was more about looking into yourself, figuring out why everything is morbid and why such things are happening. This record is the next progression in the story of our lives. We already figured out what went wrong and why. Now it’s about discovering what makes you happy, then going out and doing it.”

Time heals all wounds, and The Walking Wounded is the perfect time to catch Bayside at their best.