Too Long; Do Read is back, and our June feature highlights Make Do and Mend and its phenomenal new album, Everything You Ever Loved. Check out No Place Feels Like Home Anymore, the story of how life on the road helped Make Do and Mend write its best record yet, where vocalist James Carroll opens up about his struggles with heavy touring, the band's shift in sound, and what it's been like working with Rise Records. We've got some songs for you to stream in the article while you read.
Today we are excitedly teaming up with our friends in The Wonder Years and Stay Ahead of the Weather, along with Hopeless Records, to bring you a brand-new song stream from each band. The songs make up the Punk Is Dead. Get A Job. split, which comes out April 24. Head here to listen to the songs or check the replies, which accompany my Too Long; Do Read article for April -- entitled If You Get A Chance To Win, Take It, the article traces how The Wonder Years have grown steadily from the release of The Upsides to their first "big-boy headliner" on the GK Tour. It also talks about haircuts and tattoos. Leave your thoughts on the article and, of course, the new songs in the replies.
A lot of folks around these parts have been clamoring for a more in-depth look at Kickstarter and other crowd-funding models. I did some research, interviewed a couple dozen people and ended up with my Too Long; Do Read article for March, called Kickstart This: Crowd-Funding Websites Help Creators Bypass Traditional Forms of Investment. As you'll see from the beginning of the article, it's not just about music - crowd-funding websites are used by many different types of people, so the article is a more business-oriented look into the increasing popularity of these models and offering some insight from bands like The Narrative and Five Iron Frenzy as to what their Kickstarter experiences...
The February edition of Too Long; Do Read finds us catching up with Silverstein before the band's release of Short Songs on February 7th via Hopeless Records. The record contains 11 original songs and 11 covers of punk bands that influence Silverstein, with none of the tracks topping 90 seconds. Head here to read my feature on the band, titled "Keeping Punk Rock Elite: How Looking Back Is Helping Silverstein Move Forward." In the article, you can find two exclusive song streams - one of album opener "Sick As Your Secrets" and one of a cover of Gob's "236 E. Broadway." Thoughts welcome.
Today I am excited to bring you guys a new type of feature (called Too Long; Do Read) we'll be doing on the site every month. As part of a project I'm working on, I'll be writing these lengthy, cover-story, feature-typey articles once per month. January's feature is about Mixtapes, which is now recording its debut full-length for No Sleep Records. So if you are down for some morningtime reading, grab a coffee and pull up my feature on the band, titled "Cut the Bullshit and Get To Living: The Story of Mixtapes." Included in the feature are a few photos exclusive to AP.net and the exclusive premier of the group's music video for "You'd Better Bring More Dudes." Please leave your thoughts...
