Fred Mascherino — guitar, vocals

Eddie Reyes — guitar

Mark O’Connell — drums

Matt Rubano — bass

From the high-octane drumming and blazing syncopated riffs that rain down on “What’s It Feel Like to Be a Ghost”—the opening track on Taking Back Sunday’s latest CD Louder Now—it’s clear that the album’s title couldn’t be more fitting. Faster, darker and harder than its 2004 predecessor, the best-selling Where You Want To Be – Louder Now is the album that bottles the lightning that this powerful, melodic hardcore band generates whenever they hit the stage.

“We love our first two albums [Where You Want To Be and the 2002 debut Tell All Your Friends], but we were always told that our live show had more energy than the records,” says guitarist-vocalist Fred Mascherino. “Our intention with Louder Now was to capture that energy. Keeping that in mind the whole time we made our record, we got some really intense results.” “It’s the record we have always wanted to make,” declares lead singer Adam Lazzara. “We brought in every element from every influence we’ve ever had. It completes the spectrum.”

Louder Now’s intensity was propelled by producer Eric Valentine (Queens Of The Stone Age, Third Eye Blind) pushing Taking Back Sunday to be better at every turn. “Eric brings to the table the rare ability to take a band that’s been playing for years to an entirely higher level,” says Mascherino. “He is a master of his craft,” adds Lazzara. “He hears and sees things that are nearly impossible to notice being so close to the songs. He pushed us to edge of our abilities and then a little further.” The band members knew they wanted to musically exceed their previous tracks, which were filled with pop-tinged hardcore anthems. “It was important to us when recording Louder Now that we give fans a full listening experience.” Mascherino says. “One of the ways we tried to accomplish that was to experiment with new and different sounds for songs.”

One example is the rollicking “Miami.” The drum kit was set up in the smallest room in the studio, giving Mark O’Connell’s drumming a tight ’80s sound, complementing Matt Rubano’s basslines and further topped with Cure-like guitar tones, and a scorching guitar solo. The end result is unlike anything the band has recorded to date.

The album’s first single “MakeDamnSure” relies on classic Taking Back Sunday Influence, with singer Adam Lazzara’s yowling vocals mixed with Eddie Reyes’ and Mascherino’s slashing guitars. The twin guitar assault and emotional point/counterpoint lyrics are still the lynchpin of their sound. The lyrics illuminate Louder Now’s overall themes of discontent and uncertainty. “A good example is ‘What’s It Feel Like To Be A Ghost?’” mentions Lazzara. “It touches on feeling like an apparition no matter what it is I try or do or where I find myself at any given moment. Simply being withdrawn to the point where the line between what is and is not real gets blurred. The album is about struggling to figure out where the hell we all fit in,” he adds. “It’s like a pre pre-midlife crisis.”

After releasing Where You Want To Be, the band played around “a bazillion” shows, by Mascherino’s reckoning (“You seriously forget your address and home phone number”), including the 2004 Warped Tour, British rock festivals Reading and Leeds, and a sold-out headlining tour. Things did not let up in 2005 when they did a co-headlining arena tour of North America with Jimmy Eat World and performed two sold-out shows in June at Britain’s Milton Keynes National Bowl with Green Day, each band playing to the biggest audiences of their careers.

Continuously inspired during life on the road, Taking Back Sunday wrote and recorded pieces of songs with gear stored on the bus. “It can be damaging to live like this—being away from home,” Mascherino admits. “The space and distance affects us so much it even seeps into the music. I feel like Louder Now is a much darker record than Where You Want to Be, especially on tracks like “Liar (It Takes One to Know One).” The overall tone, mood, and lyrics give you a deeper feeling.” But Lazzara has come to feel more at home on the road. “It’s when I’m home that I start to feel like a stranger in my own skin,” he says, adding “but it’s worth it. Being able to put out records period, is a dream come true. ”

The relentless touring paid off with sold-out arena tours and delirious fan support. Combined, Tell All Your Friends and Where You Want to Be have scanned more than 1.4 million copies and the latter debuted at Number Three on the Billboard Top 200, selling more than 163,000 copies its first week of release in July 2004. It has sold over 700,000 copies to date. Effusive praise in Rolling Stone, Spin, and Entertainment Weekly soon followed, and Taking Back Sunday appeared on the cover of Alternative Press for the third time.

They remained a staple on both MTV and Fuse; and in 2005, the band was tapped to record a theme song for Reed Richards, the lead character for the video game and hit movie Fantastic Four. “Error Operator” appears in the game, on the film’s soundtrack and a revamped version is also on Louder Now.

Determined to get their new album right, “we set out to create something that we considered timeless,” says Mascherino. “We didn’t want something that people would listen to in 10 years and say, 'That's from 2006 when all the records sounded like that.' We wanted people to listen to it in 10 years and say, 'Hell, yeah, turn that up!'

Taking Back Sunday originally formed in Amityville, New York, USA in 1999. The band has gone through several lineup changes. Their first release came in 2001 with the Taking Back Sunday EP, and featured Antonio Longo on vocals, John Nolan on guitar and backing vocals, Eddie Reyes on guitar (the original founder of the band), Jesse Lacey, Adam Lazzara and Mark O'Connell replaced Stevie D) they released the follow-up album Tell All Your Friends, which was produced by Sal Villaneuva. The album gave the band a first taste of success in the scene. After the release, they played with bands such as Brand New (formed by former bassist Jesse Lacey) and The Used, as well as performing as a short stint on the 2003 Vans Warped Tour. Another change in their lineup occurred when singer/guitarist John Nolan and bassist Shaun Cooper left the band and formed what is now Straylight Run. Because of these departures, the band's future was in doubt for some time. However, with the additions of guitarist/vocalist Fred Mascherino and bassist Matt Rubano, the band became stabilized.

The year 2004 proved to be a successful year for Taking Back Sunday, with the band opening for blink-182 and being one of the main headliners for the Vans Warped Tour. In addition, their second album, titled Where You Want To Be, was released on July 27, 2004 on Victory Records. This album had a different sound than Tell All Your Friends. Propelled by the single A Decade Under The Influence, Where You Want To Be went on to debut at the #3 spot on the Billboard 200 albums chart, with sales of around 163,000 copies. Taking Back Sunday received even more mainstream exposure by appearing (on the day of Where You Want To Be's release) on the late night talk shows Jimmy Kimmel Live and Loveline, and by contributing the song This Photograph Is Proof (I Know You Know) to the soundtrack for Spider-Man 2. They also contributed the song Your Own Disaster to the Elektra soundtrack, and the original version of Error: Operator to both the Fantastic Four soundtrack and tie-in video game, where it served as Mr. Fantastic's theme. An instrumental version is also used as background music within the game.

On April 25, 2006, Taking Back Sunday released their third album, entitled Louder Now, on Warner Bros. Records. It nearly mirrors the first two albums in style and message, yet delivers with a more polished sound. Louder Now was leaked onto the Internet in its entirety on April 19, 2006. Taking Back Sunday received mainstream exposure by appearing on the late night talk shows The Tonight Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live, and Late Night With Conan O'Brien.

In April 2006, Taking Back Sunday took part in the 2-day Give It a Name indoor rock festival in England. The band played at Manchester Evening News Arena on Saturday, April 29 and London Earls Court on Sunday, April 30. During the first song of their set at the Earls Court show, Adam Lazzara kissed Matt Rubano on the lips. Later on during the festival he hit Matt while swinging his microphone and knocked him out cold. He was rushed backstage for medical treatment. Rubano later returned to the stage sporting a large head-bandage and a noticeable amount of blood on his face. Following his return to the stage, Rubano continued to play while sitting down. In a less noted incident, during the band's last song at the MEN show, the pedal to the bass drum broke, and the band had to stall whilst a replacement was found and installed.

The band released the follow-up single to MakeDamnSure, Twenty-Twenty Surgery, on August 21 2006 in the UK. The video depicts Lazzara as Johnny Cash.

Taking Back Sunday embarked on their North American Tour on February 22, 2007 at Bryce Jordan Center in University Park, PA with supporting bands Underoath and Armor for Sleep. This tour was sort of a throw back where they featured older songs from previous albums, and they played the song Brooklyn (If You See Something, Say Something) for the first time live.

In April 2007, the band supported Lostprophets on their UK arena tour along with Aiden.

On May 6, 2007 the band was Linc's special guest for the Bamboozle Festival.

In October 2007, Fred Mascherino, the lead guitarist and backup vocalist left the band. He has recently started up his solo project, The Color Fred, and released an album at the end of October 2007, "Bend To Break" by EQUAL VISION RECORDS.

The band has currently recruited guitarist and vocalist Matt Fazzi formerly of Facing New York and have just released their fourth album, New Again.

In August 2009, Taking Back Sunday performed at the Virgin Mobile FreeFest at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland. This is their second year in a row playing at the festival with great reviews. The previous year the festival was held at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, MD.

In late 2009, Alternative Press Magazine named Taking Back Sunday's new album, "New Again", album of the year.

www.takingbacksunday.com

In early 2010 Matt Fazzi and Matt Rubano posted on the Taking Back Sunday official site that they were leaving the band and the site had an image reminiscent of an early promo shoot including original members John Nolan and Shaun Cooper.On March 30, 2010 Eddie Reyes did an interview with 103.9 WRCN and confirmed a line-up change; however, he did not confirm the new members. He also mentioned the band's intentions of recording soon.On March 31st, 2010, tbsnewagain tweeted a link to a video announcing the new lineup of the band. On April 12, the band made an official announcement confirming John Nolan and Shaun Cooper have re-joined the band. It was announced that they will soon begin the recording process of their fifth studio album with Louder Now producer Eric Valentine.[20] On the same day, Adam Lazzara did an interview with Alternative Press, in which he discussed how the original line-up got back together and how both Matt Rubano and Matt Fazzi were not fired, but rather "let go". The band has recently finished writing in El Paso with around 15 songs completed, according to Mark O'Connell's Twitter.[citation needed] In a live chat on May 5, John Nolan and Adam Lazzara revealed that their new album will most likely be self-titled

Taking Back Sunday is an American rock band from Amityville, Long Island, New York, formed in 1999. The current members are lead vocalist Adam Lazzara, guitarist Eddie Reyes, guitarist/vocalist John Nolan, bassist Shaun Cooper, and drummer Mark O'Connell. Throughout the band's history, they have gone through many lineup changes, with guitarist Eddie Reyes being the only remaining founding member.

They have released four studio albums, with their most successful being 2006's Louder Now which has sold over 900,000 copies and peaked at #2 on the United States' Billboard 200, closely followed by Where You Want to Be which peaked at #3 in 2004. They have also had twelve singles, one extended play, one live album and a compilation album. "MakeDamnSure" is their highest charting single to date, peaking at #8 on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart in 2006 and #48 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The band released their latest album, New Again, on June 2, 2009.