As the COVID-19 pandemic spilled into 2021 and THE WORLD IS A BEAUTIFUL PLACE & I AM NO LONGER AFRAID TO DIE wrapped their fourth album, ILLUSORY WALLS, the Connecticut-formed indie/post-rock quintet had no idea when – or if – they’d get to bring their most ambitious set of songs to audiences. “I actually assumed we wouldn't play this stuff live,” guitarist Chris Teti says matter-of-factly. “Being a live band is really important to us, but we still felt like we had to make this record as personal fulfillment.” So they waited, watching the calendar as tours got scheduled, postponed, rescheduled and canceled. Eventually, the band (Teti, vocalist David F. Bello, keyboardist and vocalist Katie Dvorak, bassist Joshua Cyr and drummer Steven K. Buttery) knew they had to take matters into their own hands, setting out on a headlining tour in October 2021 amidst the greatest personal and professional uncertainty they’d ever faced. The resulting Epitaph Records live album and documentary, THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE (Live), is a revealing look at a band hailed by Pitchfork as “a generational voice” in the underground and by Alternative Press as one of the greatest Epitaph Records bands of all time. It’s a rock doc, yes, highlighting the band’s raved-about live show – a blissfully cacophonous swirl of energy, anxiety and catharsis – but also a historical time capsule, capturing America’s tentative re-awakening from the most surreal events in modern times as well as the lengths TWIABP is willing to go to continue their life’s passion.
At this point, the Menzingers are an absolute institution. The Philadelphia punk legends’ multi-decade reputation as road warriors with an unbeatable catalog is cemented as hard truth—and their seventh album, Some Of It Was True, stands as their most immediate-sounding and energetic record to date. The follow-up to 2019’s sensational Hello Exile accomplishes the daunting task of capturing the Menzingers’ distinctive live energy in the confines of the studio, resulting in a sound that’s both rich, raw, and complementary to the group’s increasingly prismatic songwriting approach. More than 15 years in, the Menzingers are still holding their listeners square in the immediate present, and Some Of It Was True documents that power in thrilling fashion.