''Berkeley's on Fire'' is the fourth album by the American punk rock band

SWMRS SWMRS (formerly Emily's Army), pronounced 'swimmers', are an American punk rock band formed in Piedmont, California in 2004 by Cole Becker and Joey Armstrong, with Becker's brother Max Becker joining only a few weeks afterwards. They drew on a m ...

, released on February 15, 2019 through

Fueled by Ramen Fueled by Ramen LLC is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group and distributed by 300 Elektra Entertainment. The label, founded in Gainesville, Florida in 1996, is now based in New York City. History John Janick conceived of the lab ...

. It is the band's second studio album and third overall release under the name SWMRS after changing their name in late 2014. The album has been described as more mature and politically charged than the band's previous records. The album sees the band embrace wider musical influences including hip-hop and

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Background

The band started recording the album in early 2018 with producer

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who has previously worked with artists such as

Muse In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the ...

Franz Ferdinand Archduke Franz Ferdinand Carl Ludwig Joseph Maria of Austria, (18 December 1863 – 28 June 1914) was the heir presumptive to the throne of Austria-Hungary. His assassination in Sarajevo was the most immediate cause of World War I. F ...

Jane's Addiction Jane's Addiction is an American rock band from Los Angeles, formed in 1985. The band consists of vocalist Perry Farrell, guitarist Dave Navarro, drummer Stephen Perkins and bassist Eric Avery. Jane's Addiction was one of the first bands from t ...

Frank Turner Francis Edward Turner (born 28 December 1981), is an English Punk rock, punk and Folk music, folk singer-songwriter from Meonstoke, Hampshire. He began his career as the vocalist of post-hardcore band Million Dead, then embarked upon a primar ...

Death Cab for Cutie Death Cab for Cutie is an American rock band formed in Bellingham, Washington, in 1997. The band is currently composed of Ben Gibbard (vocals, guitar, piano), Nick Harmer (bass), Dave Depper (guitar, keyboards, backing vocals), Zac Rae (keyboar ...

Biffy Clyro Biffy Clyro are a Scottish rock band that formed in Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire, composed of Simon Neil (guitar, lead vocals), James Johnston (bass, vocals), and Ben Johnston (drums, vocals). Currently signed to 14th Floor Records, they have r ...

and

At the Drive-In At the Drive-In was an American post-hardcore band from El Paso, Texas, formed in 1994. The band's most recent line-up consisted of Cedric Bixler-Zavala (vocals), Omar Rodríguez-López (guitar, vocals), Paul Hinojos (bass), Tony Hajjar (dru ...

. The first song to be released from the album was the title track "Berkeley's on Fire" which was released as a single on August 17, 2018. The song was inspired by an incident in early 2017 where "150 masked agitators" rioted at

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of Californi ...

over a planned appearance from British polemicist

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. The release of the track coincided with the band announcing the third of their "Uncool Halloween" festival performances. The album was announced on November 28, 2018 alongside the release of the second single "April in Houston" as well as a UK and Europe tour in February/March 2019. The album's third single "Trashbag Baby" was released on January 15, 2019 and debuted as Annie Mac's Hottest Record on

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. Fourth single "Lose Lose Lose" was released on June 14, 2019, with the music video being released on July 9.

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added it to their 2019 edition of the "NHL" series of video games.

Critical reception

''Berkeley's on Fire'' received almost unanimous praise upon release with critics praising the band's maturity and improvement since their previous record. Neil Z. Yeung with

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compared the albums use of "cool grooves and jangly bounce" to English musician

Rat Boy Jordan Cardy (born 21 February 1996), known by his stage name Rat Boy, is an English musician from Chelmsford, Essex. Early life Cardy was born in Chelmsford, England on 21 February 1996. He studied at Chelmer Valley High School in Chelmsford a ...

. Yeung also described the album as sounding "like a band that's hitting their stride with a catchy blend of punk-indebted styles delivered with the conviction of a more seasoned act." Stephen Ackroyd from

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described the song "Lose, Lose Lose" as being "Mentos in Diet Coke levels of explosive." Jake Richardson from

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praised the album's diversity from "the riffy, Hives-esque rock of Hellboy, Bad Allergies' acoustic tenderness" to "the all-out mania of Lose Lose Lose." ''

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'' named it one of the 50 best rock albums of 2019.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from the album's

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are desce ...

. SWMRS * Cole Becker – vocals, rhythm guitar, art direction, design * Max Becker – vocals, lead guitar * Seb Mueller – bass guitar * Joey Armstrong – drums Additional personnel *

– producer, mixing *

Howie Weinberg Howie Weinberg is an American audio mastering engineer with over 2,257 mastering credits, three TEC Awards, 21 Grammy Awards, two Juno Awards, and one Mercury Prize. Career Weinberg mastered Herbie Hancock's 1983 album ''Future Shock''. Other m ...

–

mastering engineer A mastering engineer is a person skilled in the practice of taking audio (typically musical content) that has been previously mixed in either the analog or digital domain as mono, stereo, or multichannel formats and preparing it for use in distr ...

* Will Borza – mastering assistant * Martin Cooke –

recording engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, ...

* Derrick Stockwell – mix assistant * Billy Centenaro – mix assistant * Mark Obriski – art direction, design

References

{{Authority control 2019 albums SWMRS albums Fueled by Ramen albums Albums produced by Rich Costey