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Published: July 22nd, 2007
Charlotte's This Waking Moment has come a long way since winning the local Warped Tour battle of the bands in 2005. "Say It Loud" is smart, introspective rock that straddles the line between pop-punk and emo. It's more layered, thoughtful and angst-ridden than pop, but the strong vocal harmonies and songwriting make it accessible to a larger-than-indie audience. Dark sentiments, tortured romanicism, intricate guitar work that simultaneously flutters and crunches, and restrained vocals portray a gamut of emotions without collapsing into emo whininess or self-flagellation. "The Wake" is the disc's most powerful track, with swimming, subtle metallic guitars and a soldiering drum cadance, but the disc is filled with standout tunes.
3.5 /4 stars
-Courtney Devores: The Charlotte Observer
- The Charlotte Observer
This Waking Moment - AP's Unsigned Band of the Month
Published: February 5th, 2008
You Like? You'll Like: Relient K, Paramore, Hit the Lights
The Story So Far: This Waking Moment have experienced plenty of growing pains since forming in 2003 as juniors in high school. Member changes (including losing original vocalist Justin Petty this past December) are one thing. Choosing between post-harcore and poppier rock is another. "We orignally started out playing heavier music, but always had poppy influences," says guitarist/vocalist Garrett Leister. "We made the decision to break away from the harcore scene that we felt was dragging us down."
Why you should know 'em: TWM have hit up Warped Tour twice ('05 and '07) and shared the stage with From Autumn To Ashes and Hopesfall. With their EP, the band also feel they're avoiding cliches. "We're a fairly young band and often listeners feel that young bands struggle with immaturity in their music," says Leister. "We believe we do not fit this stereotype. We are fun dudes who play honest music, and (bassist) Cam McLean's ears detroy all onstage." - Alternative Press Magazine
"Say it Loud, Make it Known" CD Reviews!
This Waking Moment - Say It Loud, Make It Known
Published: April 10, 2007
The Waking Moment has created a CD in which every song features catchy beats and lyrics that are easy to learn and to relate to. The first time listening to the CD I found myself feeling as if each song was quite similar, but by the second time, the differences in each song immediately began to jump out, and the similarities certainly are not a bad thing.
Every track on the CD is so incredibly addicting, which makes it almost impossible not to just burst out singing the words, which I was surprised to find I knew so quickly. This Waking Moment is able to hold their music together in a way that it can appeal to an audience that appreciates both a lighter style of music and that crowd of people who want something slightly heavier. In a generation of music where a lot of the energy in bands these days relies on screaming or yelling, This Waking Moment has managed to maintain that energy through their music without "giving in" to the trend. Listen to the second track on the EP, "The Way We Are" which is full of breakdowns that satisfy that need for energy and just make you want to dance at the same time. Where other bands will sacrifice all their energy to do away with the "cliche" of screaming, this band is able to overcome that obstacle many bands will face without even having to acknowledge it's existence.
The tracks "Open Eyes Under Lights" and "The Wake" also stand out from the rest of the disc, providing music that is a bit slower than the rest of the CD. Here is a band that is capable of playing music that sounds different, and sounds good, without giving up any of the elements that make you say "Hey, this is This Waking Moment!".
In less than one week of listening to this album, This Waking Moment has managed to re-invent the way I look at an entire genre of music. Overall I feel that the band has succeeded in creating an album that is appealing, and exciting. Each track holds itself together well in itself and also in context to the rest of the album. Many times I will listen to a CD and immediately feel as if the band is trying to hard, or just simply not getting their point across. In fact, this has happened so often that I will rarely even listen to music of this genre by choice any more. Yet, this is not the case with this band, and I find myself choosing to listen to this album to the point where the songs haunt me in my sleep. This is definitely a CD worth giving a listen, just be aware, you might not be able to STOP listening once you start.
8 / 10
This Waking Moment's "Say It Loud, Make It Known" - Out April 20th, 2007
http://www.myspace.com/thiswakingmoment
-www.lostinreview.com Boston, Massachusetts - -www.lostinreview.com
Discography
"Say It Loud, Make It Known" EP
Release Date - April 20th, 2007
Track Listing:
1. It's Better to Ask For Permission Than Forgiveness
2. The Way We Are
3. Open Eyes, Under Lights
4. Questions
5. The One That Got Away
6. The Wake
7. The Difference Between
"Foundations of Love and Ruin" EP
Release Date - Febuary 12th, 2005
Track Listing:
1. Strength In Forgetting Our Names
2. The Dying Season
3. Open Eyes, Under Lights
4. Farewell For Now
5. Beautiful Betrayal
6. Faults Against the Word
Songs "Beautiful Betrayal" and "The Way We Are" have gotten and do get radio airplay on 106.5 The End, Charlotte's top rock radio station.
Photos
Bio
This Waking Moment understands change. The young men that make up the Charlotte-based pop-rock quintet have all been involved with
Charlotte’s music scene for several years, since their early high school days. They come from humble beginnings, forming a grassroots following in their hometown of Indian Trail, where their first shows
were High School talent shows and backyard house parties. Rallying the enthusiastic support of their hometown friends and fans, This Waking Moment set their sights on bigger things.
Bigger stages is one thing they landed. Within their first 2 years as a band, This Waking Moment had moved from back porches and birthday parties to sharing stages with Charlotte’s finest rock bands. They even accomplished such huge goals as playing the monster punk rock festival Warped Tour in 2005, and opening for post-hardcore veterans From Autumn To Ashes, as well as the bands The Ataris, Hopesfall, and The Forecast. These feats are seemingly impossible to attain for most young rock bands, which leads to many premature band breakups. This Waking Moment have had their fair share of stress and strain. They’ve been pushed to the limits and questioned the future of their band on more
than one occasion, but they have showed nothing but relentless perseverance in capturing their dreams of playing music. Enduring a few difficult lineup changes involving lifelong friends, ever-impossible to please music scenesters, critics, and the tough balance between full-time education, part-time work, and huge musical aspirations has
proven to be no easy task. Thus, change is a force that has worked both for and against this band multiple times in their short history.
In a little under three years, the band has recorded about 20 songs that have been split between 3 records - a demo in 2003, "The Foundations of Love and Ruin" EP in 2004, and a demo in 2005. When
listening to the changes between earlier recordings, the listener will find a group of young musicians searching for their identity and sound, but the listener always finds a band that is growing and changing for the better. With "Say it Loud, Make it Known", This Waking Moment’s newly released fourth recording, it is evident they have found the dynamic the members have been looking for. Through member changes and much time
spent writing diverse material in order to pinpoint the best musical expression possible for them, they have come to deliver some of today’s finest pop-rock with an intelligent demeanor, lacking any and all cheesiness that can be found bogging down many of today’s young musical acts. Sincerity and maturity is something that seems to have come
naturally with the most recent batch of tracks.
This Waking Moment have released themselves from the world of trivial cross-genre classifications, scene aesthetics, and musical inhibitions.
They’ve created a record that plays to their strengths, accentuates the extraordinary dynamic between the musicians, and is easy to listen to
at any given time. Rather than playing to one musical extreme or the other, they’ve cut ties with the musical boundaries previously placed
on them and given listeners a great, catchy, personable rock and roll record. It seems they have finally found the place they have been
fighting for the past few years.
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