ARTIST: On The Last Day
TITLE: Meaning In The Static
LABEL: Victory Records
GENRE: Rock
BITRATE: 225kbps avg
PLAYTIME: 0h 43min total
RELEASE DATE: 2006-08-22
RIP DATE: 2006-07-27

Track List

01. Twelve CCs                      3:37
02. Below One Hundred               3:54
03. Leaving The Citadel             3:07
04. The Rescue                      4:04
05. Meaning In The Static           3:09
06. So Here Is Us, On The Ragedy    3:35
Edge
07. Missing Frames (Change Over)    3:13
08. At The Breaking Of The World    3:20
09. Initinal Deployment             3:09
10. A Welcoming Haunting            4:08
11. The Meaning And The Journey     8:01

Release Notes:

A noble attribute often ascribed to professional athletes is their
ability to play with pain. That certainly applies to the fiery Seattle
hardcore rock band On The Last Day. Consider this particular road
hazard: “We were playing in Charleroi, PA this last tour,” singer
Geoff Walker recalls. “And right at the end of ‘Leaving the Citadel’,
[bassist] Aaron Johnson‘s headstock and my face crossed paths. He hit
me and all I remember was thinking, "That‘s gonna bleed." I awoke a
minute later to Justin handing me a towel and a river of blood
meandering across the stage from my nose. I had to get a CaT Scan and
two X-rays because I had been knocked out. The doctor said I had no
broken bones, but some of the cartilage was detached at the bottom of
my nose.”

Nevertheless, the band played on. “We only missed one show two days
later, and only because, due to the medication I was on, I had
completely lost control of my diabetes and was admitted to yet another
ER, this time in critical condition. I played the next few shows
looking like I was turning into a werewolf because the swelling was so
bad. There were two more clinic visits for swelling and an infection.
After about eight days I started looking normal again, although it‘s
still extremely sensitive today.

There’s nothing normal about On The Last Day’s stunning debut album,
Meaning In The Static, where the quintet displays a remarkable ability
to create fierce, challenging music. with it. “Every song on the record
is some form of therapy for me,” Walker admits. “They aren‘t always
happy because sometimes I need to just get my most terrible thoughts on
paper.” That he does in often graphic detail, as the raw passion and
pain in his lyrics are reinforced by the slashing guitar work of Justin
Johnson and Frank Gross and a non-stop propulsive rhythm section of
bassist Aaron Johnson and drummer Drew Dowell. Together, On The Last Day
packs a monumental wallop that will resonate in hearts and minds of
hardcore rock fans the world over.

The title song, the first track to assault radio, typifies the band’s
search for truth through loss and confusion. “We had a concept for the
record that got a little lost in the process,” Walker explains. “This
song is one of the surviving themes; it‘s about searching blindly for
meaning where there maybe isn‘t any. It‘s about being terrified of
nothingness at the end, and looking for an escape.” There’s no escape
any of the raw edges in any of the songs, which often details real-life
events. “Twelve CCs” painstakingly details Geoffrey’s hospital ordeal
with diabetes; “Missing Frames” flashes back to the band’s van accident,
and “A Welcome Haunting” recalls the drunk-driving death of two of his
friends when he was 16. “I had a lot of trouble dealing with it for a
long time,” he asserts. “I had a dream where I was able to talk to them
and apologize for what I felt like I could have done to help them. It
was therapy. It was a welcome haunting.”

It was a welcome happenstance that brought them all together. Dowell and
brothers Justin and Aaron Johnson had known each other since grade
school, before forming a band in high school. At around the same time
they cut the original lead singer loose, Geoff Walker had moved from
Vermont to Seattle, looking for a bigger and better music scene. They
crossed paths in 2003, and it took only two practices before they knew
they should work together. That was the official birth of On The Last
Day, although second guitarist Frank Gross joined a year later. “The band
name came from a song we did close to our inception,” Walker notes. “We
liked it as a name because, much like our lyrics, it‘s very ambiguous. It
leaves a lot open to interpretation. There are a lot of last days in our
lives and they can mean a lot of different things.”

Before long, they were veterans on the Seattle club scene, playing bills
with the likes of Atreyu and Deftones. But their favorite peers on the
local circuit happened to be their oldest friends--fellow Seattle band
Aiden. “They were the first band we played with that fit what we were
doing,” Walker says. “And they felt the same way about us. It seemed that
we played every show together for about six months, so when they signed
to Victory, we didn’t feel jealous at all. We were happy for them.”

Aiden’s Wil tried to return the favor by setting On The Last Day up with
talent scouts from a variety of labels, but as fate would have it,
Victory picked them up as well. So it seemed only natural for On The Last
Day to use their Aiden connection to find the producer for their debut
album. “We actually met Steve Carter through Wil,” Walker recalls. “He
basically put a word in with Steve, gave me his number and we started
talking. He is really like a sixth member of our band, with a third-party
perspective. He‘s a very hands-on producer and he pushes us really hard.
The guy has a great ear for rock and really just helps us do what we do
better. We couldn‘t ask for anything more.”

Once hardcore rock fans get an earful of the passion and the fury of
Meaning In the Static, they won’t be asking for anything less.