A little more than a year ago Bayside had a terrible accident when they were on tour. Their drummer John "Beatz" Holohan was killed when their van flipped after hitting a patch of ice somewhere on the road. Their bass player Nick Ghanbarian was seriously injured, but he’s back on the road again. After the accident the band recorded their songs as acoustic versions. That album was pure and very emotional as you might understand.

This album, called The Walking Wounded, is full lyrics that refer to the accident and to John “Beatz” Holohan. Pretty normal for a band or a person who experiences such an accident; you’re marked for life! For example in the song ‘They’re Not Horses, They’re Unicorns’ it’s very clear that they are singing about death.
The sound of the songs is very poppy, punky and catchy. When the lyrics aren’t about death I’ll remain quite happy while listening.

Compare it with Weezer (the sound though, not the lyrics).
Bayside is playing live these days and release an album every few years and every time I expect them to surprise me. But each time I’m a little bit disappointed. There isn’t really something wrong with the songs, but there’s also nothing really special with them.
The high expectations are partly to blame on the label. The label promotes them as: “The Next Big Thing”; when you put such a label on a band, they have a lot of pressure and I don’t think that’s a good thing for the creative process.

With their fifth album Bayside released a nice one. The melodies are so catchy that one of the songs must become a minor radio hit in the US. I don’t think this music is going to work in Europe, since Europe isn’t ready for all the emo music and emo looks the kids in the US have.