Feel that sharp sensation as the paper slices like a saw scraping through your skin- you’ve done it again. A paper cut. At times like these, your friends may not be as supportive as you would like, but The BandAGES, are here for you. Coming out with their latest album, Healing Your Wounds, these three tall, thin and tanned boys harp on daily life occurrences bands tend to overlook. Yeah, we’ve all heard songs about the heartbreaks and -aches, but what about the stubbed toes and rug burns?
Think about those mornings you roll out of bed- no literally- roll out of bed, while your legs have failed to catch you. And then half-awake, cursing the morning, you bump into the recently placed in-your-way furniture, in addition to the doorframe, before making it out of the bedroom. Head pounding, you just wish someone understood your struggles.
Well, have I got a band for you. I’ve discovered them ever since the first time I tripped on my way to school. I was a freshman in college at Rutgers University and I just happened to be walking on a narrow cement, winding path. I had just taken my beats headphones off of my head and looped them through the side strap of my backpack, so they hung by my side. Well, wouldn’t you know it, not a minute later I tripped on a large, bulky, invisible rock sticking out of the ground. And for the real kicker, I slid forward using my hand and forearm to break my fall, and landed on my right side- same side as my beats. Flustered and embarrassed, I ran to class that I was now late for, to realize later in the day that my new beats snapped in half. Piecing back together my headphones, this band did more than that. They made me feel whole again. The wounds on my arms healed nicely, and I finally got over that sad day.
Starting up the band a year ago, lead vocalist, James Smith, goes by the name of “Ace”. Once a wrapper, he decided to make a bold switch and tear off his old bondage. Starting fresh with a new roll, he gathered two other boys named AIDen and Frank, he has turned heads, hearts, legs and arms everywhere, taking on a soothing country feel. Their guitars and drums have replaced their soundboards and mechanical rhythms.
One of the songs on the track, titled, “That hurt” is about how painful it was to see their song idea be ripped right off of them and placed into Brooks & Dunn’s hands to form the song, “You’re Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone”. Apparently, their version was too painful to bear, getting into gory details of dirt and blood on their skin from a stumble while they were on a jog. This new track, however, is new for them, while it talks about a different pain. A more emotional pain. They show how hard it was for their hard work to be crushed right in front of their eyes. Taking on a new edge, this may be the new foundation for their past bumps and bruises to blend in just nicely, or this could be a slippery track, just waiting for the band to fall.
Another one of their songs is titled, “Don’t Cry Now”, and is another stray from their norm. We are thrown into a story of a young boy in the car with his parents. It is unsure of what exactly happened in that car, “maybe it was just in His plan”, but next thing we know they are all in the hospital, the parents hanging on by a thread, while the boy is broken beside their beds. Narrating through the lips of the doctor, this man comforts the boy in an immeasurable way, telling him to wipe his tears and to stay strong. They aren’t gone yet and he has to keep fighting, keep praying, keep on going.
Never wanting to get deep, this band has found some courage in the cracks of their studio. It is known that these country guys are not the toughest. Yet they seem to have what a lot of other artists do not. And that is a sense of realism that is normally overlooked. Starting off with trivial, daily pains, they have expanded into pains we cannot see, but definitely can feel, and even pains we may not want to see. Let’s see if these knew twists and turns are what the bandAGES really need.
jennasbeenthinkin 