Five reasons The Academy Is should stick around
What’s that?! TAI are back!? Playing Almost Here in full!? A reunion and a farewell….huh?
It’s a huge bummer that they are choosing to play one show and then go their separate ways once again. I personally think they can thrive in today’s music scene and here are five reasons why.
1: DIY/Crowd funded album
If they decide to record a new album they could easily raise money within weeks or less. The fanbase is still there and they really don’t need a label in this day and age. However, I can see labels such as Hopeless or Equal Vision picking them up. It’s highly doubtful that they would return to Fueled By Ramen.
2: Their albums haven’t aged a bit
William Beckett is an absolute wordsmith. There is no denying that. His words and voice provide a fine line between angst and poetic. Add Mike Carden’s incredible guitar hooks and a beautiful rhythm section provided by Adam Siska and Andy Mrotek and you have some instant classics. Even songs from Fast Times such as Beware! Cougar! are still as wonderful and honestly, more relatable as I got older.
3: They can gain a ton of new fans
TAI are the type of band my peers love listening to without saying “I can’t believe I used to obsess over them” or “I remember when I was a kid.” They can easily win back their older fans. As I stated before, their songs haven’t aged a bit. The mature and relatable lyrics can easily win over younger kids. Take a band like Transit on tour and they can easily gain new fans.
4: Festivals/Support for bigger bands
Why stop at Riot Fest? I can see them getting a spot at Summerfest or even headlining Warped Tour again. A band like Fall Out Boy would love to take them on tour again. They can co-headline a tour with The Maine. The possibilities are endless with TAI.
5: The return of TAI TV
This is wishful thinking but this could blow up big time since youtube is everywhere now. Not only is this band talented but they’re also pretty hilarious. Instead of posting the usual tour diary, they opted to make weekly sketches and on occasion, album updates. With the exception of Cobra Starship, no other band was doing something like this at the time and honestly, ever since. It wasn’t till recently State Champs started to do something similar. If TAI TV was around in 2015, it would be HUGE and of course, it would be a hit with tumblr.
