Taking Back Sunday Are Louder And Where They Want To Be

Taking Back Sunday's Where You Want To Be album debuted at #3 on the U.S. sales chart in 2004. Their new Louder Now album did even better, entering the chart at #2 south of the border following its April 25 release.

"We did beat The Boss [Bruce Springsteen]," says TBS bassist Matt Rubano while sitting backstage before their recent sold-out show in Toronto. "It doesn't feel good. It feels kind of like things are out of place."

Me and Adam [Lazzara, vocalist] in particular are big Bruce fans. But I guess to him it doesn't matter, and nor to us really either. It's just an afterthought when your record comes out. You don't put out a record with chart position in mind.

"I went to the record store the day that all of those records came out, and I always buy a copy of our record for good luck when it comes out. The Bruce record was playing in the store where I went to buy it. It sounded awesome and I wanted to buy it also, but I didn't. So maybe I personally affected that."

Louder Now possibly marks the beginning of a new era for TBS, as it's their first release on a major record label and they've introduced a new sound. Rubano feels that Louder Now is the best sounding album that the band have created thanks to the time they spent working on it.

But while the band's bio states that this album is darker and louder than anything they've done before, Rubano doesn't completely agree.

"I don't think the old stuff was any less dark, I just think this is more concentrated darkness. I think it's about different subject matter and maybe shows some signs of growing up a bit.

"I don't think any band can survive or sustain time by making the same record over and over again or having things equally compared to things you've done in the past. It's kind of hard to say.

"Everyone's gone through different things over the years and the music reflects that. So what's coming through on these songs is something more, well, even if it's dark or not, it's more calculated."

Taking Back Sunday are touring with Tom DeLonge's new Angels & Airwaves project this summer. They'll play Toronto's Molson Amphitheatre on July 5.