The only “Facebook group” I’ve really don’t mind clogging my news feed is the “Defend Crabcore Group.” Why? I guess it takes me back to a simpler time. If you are a little foggy on what Crabcore is (or was) then let me enlighten you on something that changed my life:
http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/crabcore
Attack Attack!. When I first saw the “Stick Stickly” music video I did not know what to think. The metalhead in me that had been born through reading cranky youtube comments on Children of Bodom and As I lay Dying vids told me that it was a heinous and sacrilegious act to throw in a techno beat into anything that resembled heavy music. And yet, I found myself bumping my head, smiling, laughing ….and really digging it.
“Why not?” was the ultimate phrase that turned me into an Attack Attack! fan AND that turned me into a hopeless “Electronicore” or “Trancecore” or “Crabcore” fanatic for the rest of my high school career.
It all started my Sophomore year. 2010. The day my afterschool Youtubing lead me to “Stick Stickly” I grew an appreciation for not just what I appreciated since 7th grade with Metal’s in-your-face guitar playing, but a new curiosity for behind-the-scenes mixing/mastering of something that immediately left an imprint of glorious “what the...” challenging me to understand it’s origins.
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I grew an appreciation for six dudes from Ohio that said “Fuck it. Let’s do THIS.” Caleb Shomo, (their synth-player/later turned eccentric and electrically powerful frontman) was and is a genius.
The last thought that I had before “Stick Stickly” ended was something like “When you think about it...isn’t pissing off a bunch of Metalheads THE most Metal thing you can do?”
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| SO METAL |
It took a few days but after I found myself craving for the answers to all of my many questions that Attack Attack!’s music video gave me I came to the conclusion that Attack Attack! was in. This was something new. This music was different. This music was was fun. People didn’t understand this music but I couldn’t understand how they couldn’t be as curious as I was. This was MY music now.
Haters gonna hate. Attack Attack! where you at? I could type all day about how that band changed my perception on what music could and should be, but I would be remiss to not digress back to my point and talk about Of Mice & Men.
Yes. Attack Attack!’s soon to be arch-nemesis.
You see, AA! wasn’t just a band; it was a story in the making. There was drama and intrigue involved in that mixing and mastering. Nick Barham, the chipmunk-looking lad screaming in the “Stick Stickly” video was rumored by Youtube comments to actually NOT be the person who laid down the vocal tracks for the song and the entire album for which it is derived.
By now, any music lover in the rock world should have a feint idea who Austin Carlile is. The man has graced probably seven-too-many Alternative Press covers and has become THE poster boy for “Metalcore” or “Screamo” or what-have-you, at least the last time I checked.
Before all that however, Carlile was laying down the vocals to AA!’s EP and debut record Someday Came Suddenly and being accused by the Youtubian press of well….preaching too much on stage and conversely sleeping with underage girls.
“That’s why they kicked him out!” the feisty comments read.
I can’t say that these sources were exactly on their game, they were Youtube comments. but there were so many of them either confirming or denying that Austin did or did not invite some 16-year-old blonde groupie onto the tour bus on so many videos that, for a minute, Austin Carlile was something of what we might now call the Crabcore Bill Cosby.
Regardless, as rumors circulated that Carlile was working on a NEW band I couldn’t help but be curious about what they sounded like. The drama drew me in.
F*** days of our lives. The Attack Attack! vs. Of Mice & Men feud soon fueled my afterschool Youtube ventures.
Pretty soon it came to my attention that Austin’s replacement from the “Stick Stickly,” video, the chipmunk-esque Nick Barham was ALSO kicked out of AA!. Comments pondered if the problem was Attack Attack! OR Austin Carlile.
I responded with who cares; young Caleb Shomo (17 at the time) has stepped off of the synth and is currently previewing the sound of their upcoming SOPHOMORE album by upgrading himself to vocal duties on their current tour!
“Yeah he did all the low screams on ‘Someday Came Suddenly’ that Austin didn’t do” the comments informed me.
A clearer picture of who the brain behind Attack Attack! really was became evident.
But oh the hate. “He’s nowhere near as good as Austin!” some comments read, and at the time and first tour he screamed for them- he wasn’t. But there is something in me that rooted for the underdog when I heard just how LOW Shomo’s scream got on select live videos and agreed with the comments.
“Carlile could never get that low, dude.” That’s right. Austin’s scream is damn unique but I’ve never him do a Tim Lambesis-esque growl like Caleb can.
I had to join Team Caleb. With their old synthplayer/new screamer the band’s official Youtube released the single for their next album. Shit hit the fan when Attack Attack!’s “Sexual Man Chocolate” was done buffering on my slow-ass Acer computer one day after school.
Conversely, Of Mice had released their cheeky cover of Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” and it. was. Excellent.
Of Mice & Men’s debut self-titled album came out March 2010 (it was originally announced to be released on February 23, but was delayed until March 9 for “finishes on production”) shortly after I had just been introduced to the AA! vs. Of Mice drama.
Dropping the electronic “schtick” that AA! employed, Of Mice & Men came off like a more down-to-earth, honest Austin Carlile-fronted release. Still FULL of breakdowns, still even referred to nowadays as “Crabcore”, but a different take on the sound with that familiar and super distinguishable high pitched Carlile-scream.
My heart was with Attack Attack!, but I definitely flirted with Of Mice; spending my after school hours now also scouting youtube videos of that band’s songs. My Crabcore library had grown.
If Carlile’s new music wasn’t awesome enough, AA!’s sophomore record, rumored to be titled “Shazam!” was released in June of the same year and it did not disappoint. Both by heading in a HEAVIER direction rhythmically AND in terms of lyrical content Attack Attack!’s self-titled album Attack Attack! (dropping Shazam! because of some copyright infringement with Disney) became an instant favorite of mine. What did this release have to do with Of Mice & Men and Austin Carlile you ask? The heavy lyrical content I mentioned was DIRECTLY pointed at a one Austin. Carlile.
I give you… AC-130.
Besides totally tapping into how much Call of fucking Duty I was playing at the time, the live videos of AC-130 I discovered even before the album dropped, both showed the new direction the band was taking and how they felt about their ex-frontman.
They didn’t need him.
As much of a “unique” screamer Austin was, and arguably still is, Attack Attack! was surviving; and thriving. I had jumped on the AA!-conducted Crabcore train and was prepared to follow this group into the trenches of Youtube comment wars.
With my devotion to Crabcore kings Attack Attack! who's to say I couldn’t ALSO enjoy me some Of Mice & Men, though. In 2011 as Of Mice’s second album began to surface on the world’s favorite video streaming site-
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| No, not you Vimeo. Never you. |
Austin Carlile’s answer to AC-130 sent shivers up the Crabcore/Metalcore community’s spines. I give you June 14, 2011’s...Ohioisonfire.
OHIO- the place where it all started, where Attack Attack! is from...is on ON. FIRE.
“FUCK YOU ATTACK ATTACK!” - Austin Carlile.
“FUCK YOU ATTACK ATTACK!” - Austin Carlile.
Basically.
Oh man. It was on. It was so on. The great thing about both “AC-130” and “Ohio is on Fire” was that pretty much both bands were claiming the songs were “unrelated” to the beef and were actually about girls or something....
BUT BULL. SHIT.
While I can testify, that Ohio is on Fire is a GREAT breakup song (particularly when your ex is from Ohio) both it and AC were most definitely a middle finger to each respective band- and the listeners had front row tickets to the feud through the world wide web. It was an exciting time for me, for music, for Youtube, and most definitely for CRABCORE.
But what happened in the Crab Wars Grandpa?
Well, for a brief stint on Warped Tour Of Mice replaced Austin with ex-Sky Eats Airplane veteran Jerry Roush (whom I’ve written about before). First, because of surgery Carlile was undergoing and somehow semi-permanently, recording their only recording with Roush for Punk Goes Pop 3.
Roush, incedently, (at the "battle of Warped Tour in Bonner Springs Kansas) caught a lot of flak for deviating from the lyrics of "Second and Sebring" to "dedicate" the song to Carlile telling the audience "I don't fucking like you Austin Carlile." and "Austin Carlile is a pussy" at a brief time when tensions between Of Mice and Austin were high.
Myself, and many YT comments will tell you Roush was experiencing a minor lapse in judgement and that he is a lot "chiller" in person. He is, and I'm sure he regrets this performance. His current band Glass Cloud is pret-ty cool.
Meanwhile, AA! went through 23 more member changes, released an album that was a pretty killer stab at djent with Shomo handling ALL vocal duties after auto-tune legend Johnny Franck left after their Australian tour, and eventually disbanded around the same time that high school was about a mile behind me.
Eventually this Instagram photo from Caleb Shomo’s official account ended the Crab Wars and may or may not have brought tears to my eyes.
I got verklempt. ...Talk amongst yourselves...
The Crabcore war was over, but the golden age of Crabcore music was over as well. I actually opted not to see Attack Attack! at would would be the last time the band ever played in Memphis so that my local band could open up for Being as An Ocean (whom I’ve also briefly written about).
With Rise Records birthing AA! imitators like a queen bee with the libido of Kim Kardashian, the edginess of synth-laden Crabcore had died and bands like Being As An Ocean with their introspective, feelsy poet-metal were in.
Caleb Shomo’s newer band Beartooth is pretty much evidence of that if you pay attention close enough.
If I had a nickel for every asshole that commented that Beartooth is better than “anything Shomo did with Attack Attack!” I would have bought Shomo’s micro-korg off Ebay.
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| Alas, these guys have it and have started "Defend Defend!" There go the Grammys. |
So Attack Attack! disbanded, OG Crabcore seemed dead. What became of the great Austin Carlile and Of Mice & Men?
Well, they’ve put out a few more good albums since their self titled and The Flood, see: Restoring Force, their Flood followup after their incredible singer-singer Shayley Bourget left the band and formed Dayshell, but after my initial month-long binge of Force something Mice just didn’t keep me interested like they used to.
With the exception of “Another You” which hit me at a really pertinent time in my life and reminded me that Austin Carlile, though forte ing in a vocal technique that is often described as “indistinguishable” to some, writes some of the most brilliantly deep and rhythmically pleasing lyrics about love that can be found in heavy music period.
Of Mice still made me feel some type of way. Carlile, and their Bourget replacement Aaron Pauley tapped into the fact I honestly felt I was never going to find another woman like the one that had lost at the time. They obviously understood. They did, and they made me feel better by letting me know that. I woke up many a day listening to that song.
It’s not easy to make that kind of connection with music. Another fine example is how Carlile writes about his deceist Mother and his inner-yearning to make her proud with his musical success in “Second & Sebring.”
“Sebring” was definitely the hardest hitting song on their first album, but that’s perhaps why I have fallen slightly off loving Of Mice like I used to. I still believe their first album is their finest work.Whenever I give their new stuff a chance I do like it. I do. For a minute...but It isn’t quite.. .me anymore. They also seem to be going for a more commercial sound, which is most likely why they are playing Beale Street Music Fest in the first place.
I won’t call them sellouts, you can call me the Of Mice & Men hipster if you like, but when it comes to comparing Attack Attack! and Of Mice, Harvey Dent said it best.
Now, unless Carlile is Cosbying back to what he was accused of doing circa 2008...
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| Much like Shomo, this kid's a genius on the keys... |
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| And this sounds fun.
While it is interesting that Beale Street finally booked a breakdown band for me to jump around to, they’re just a little late. I went to Beale Street Music Fest 2011 in an Of Mice shirt. That would have been perfect. “The Defend Crabcore group” agrees:
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So no, I’m not going to see Of Mice & Men at Music Fest, but I’ll tell you this, Memphis.
If next year Caleb Shomo, Johnny Frank, Andrew Wetzel, Andrew Whiting, and Jon Hidalgo reunited to play some original Crabcore at Beale Street Music fest...I would tell my friends, work, and exams to fuck off. Forever.
Attack Attack! where you at?
