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''The Best in Town'' is the second album to by Welsh
post-hardcore Post-hardcore is a punk rock music genre that maintains the aggression and intensity of hardcore punk but emphasizes a greater degree of creative expression. It was initially inspired by post-punk and noise rock. Like post-punk, the term has been ...
band The Blackout.


Background

In August 2008, vocalist Sean Smith said the band had written six new songs, and were aiming to record a new album later in the year. They were in the process of discussing with a few labels. Following this, the group went on a UK tour in September and October, with a handful of Christmas shows in December. They recorded at Sonic Ranch Studios in Alameda, Texas with producer Jason Perry; he and Mike Morgan served as engineers. John Mitchell mixed the album at Outhouse Studios in Reading, UK. Tom Baker mastered the album at Precisions Masters in Los Angeles, California.


Composition

The title for the song "I Love Myself And I Wanna Live" is a play on the title of the
Nirvana ( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.' ...
song "
I Hate Myself and Want to Die I, or i, is the ninth letter and the third vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''i'' (pronounced ), plural ...
". The song "Save Our Selves" came about the Blackout had an untitled song for the untitled new album in 2008. They were not happy with the way it sounded, but Producer Jason Perry thought it resembled a song of his own, which he had written with friend and former bandmate Dan P Carter, and was initially given to the band "Area" that they were both working with, it was titled "Robot". Both song ideas were put together to produce "Save Our Selves (The Warning)", which ended up being the band's most commercial single from the album.


Release

On 24 February 2009, it was announced that the band had signed to independent label
Epitaph Records Epitaph Records is an American independent record label owned by Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, most acts signed to the label were punk and pop punk acts, while there are many post-hardcore and emo bands ...
. Smith said they picked this label as they "love their ethics", as well as being fans of albums Epitaph had released. "ShutTheFuckUppercut" was first played on
BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...
, where it was announced it would be released as a free download in April. This free download was actually offered for less than a week from 26 March but was released as a digital single from 30 March. "Children of the Night" was the album's lead single, and was played for the first time on Radio 1 on 13 April 2009. The music video was released on Wednesday 15 April on
MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
's website. The studio recording features vocals from the Year 6 class of Herolgerrig Primary School, Merthyr Tydfil, where the band is from. In late April, the group performed at Give it a Name festival. In May, the group went on a headlining UK tour. ''The Best in Town'' was released on 25 May in Europe and 23 June in the US. The track listing for the entire album was released by the band via their Myspace blog. On 27 May, a music video was released for "Children of the Night". Following this, the band headlined the
Slam Dunk Festival Slam Dunk Records or Slam Dunk Music is a British independent record label, promoter and concert organising company, founded in Leeds, England, in 2007. Some notable signees include You Me at Six and Decade. The label evolved from "Slam Dunk", a ...
, and appeared at the
Download Festival Download Festival is a British-created rock festival created by Terrance Gough, held annually at the Donington Park motorsport circuit in Leicestershire, England (since 2003); in Paris, France (since 2016); at Parramatta Park, Sydney (since 201 ...
. The band performed on the Kevin Says stage at
Warped Tour The Warped Tour was a traveling rock tour that toured the United States plus three or four stops in Canada annually each summer from 1995 until 2019. It was the largest traveling music festival in the United States and the longest-running touring ...
, before headlining the Festival Republic Stage at the
Reading and Leeds Festivals The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. The Reading Festiv ...
. The video for "This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things (I Don't Care)" was recorded at the Islington O2 Academy on 5 September. The video features Josh Franceschi of
You Me at Six You Me at Six are an English rock band from Weybridge, Surrey. The band consists of lead singer Josh Franceschi, guitarists Max Helyer and Chris Miller, bassist Matt Barnes and drummer Daniel Flint. Formed in 2004, the name for the group origin ...
, as well as members of
Kids in Glass Houses Kids in Glass Houses are a Welsh rock band from Cardiff. The band's name was inspired by the lyrics "not throwing stones at you anymore" from the Glassjaw song "Tip Your Bartender". The band achieved success on the strength of the singles " Gi ...
and Young Guns. The video was posted online on 16 November. In January and February 2010, the band supported
All Time Low All Time Low is an American rock band from Towson, Maryland, formed in 2003. Consisting of lead vocalist/rhythm guitarist Alex Gaskarth, lead guitarist Jack Barakat, bassist/backing vocalist Zack Merrick, and drummer Rian Dawson, the band too ...
on the
Kerrang! tour ''Kerrang!'' is a British weekly magazine devoted to rock, punk and heavy metal music, currently published by Wasted Talent (the same company that owns electronic music publication ''Mixmag''). It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one-o ...
. They played at Download Festival in June, before headlining the Rock Sound Cave stage at GuilFest in July. In December, the band supported You Me at Six on their headlining UK tour. "Save Ourselves (The Warning)" was nominated at the
Kerrang! Awards The Kerrang! Awards are an annual music awards show in the United Kingdom, founded by the music magazine ''Kerrang!'' and focusing primarily on rock music. The annual awards features performances by prominent artists, and some of the awards of mo ...
for Best Single, but lost to "
Liquid Confidence "Liquid Confidence" is the third single by British rock band You Me at Six, taken from their second studio album, '' Hold Me Down''. The single was added to BBC Radio 1's A-list during April 2010. It entered the UK Singles Chart at number 86 upo ...
" by
You Me at Six You Me at Six are an English rock band from Weybridge, Surrey. The band consists of lead singer Josh Franceschi, guitarists Max Helyer and Chris Miller, bassist Matt Barnes and drummer Daniel Flint. Formed in 2004, the name for the group origin ...
. In January 2014, the group performed the album in its entirety for a one-off performance.


Track listing

Track listing per sleeve. #"Shut-the-Fuck-Uppercut" - 3:14 #"Save Our Selves (The Warning)" - 3:35 #"Top of the World" - 3:28 #"The Fire" - 3:31 #"Children of the Night" - 2:57 #"Said and Done" - 3:22 #"Silent When We Speak" - 4:13 #"I Love Myself and I Wanna Live" - 3:14 #"This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things" (featuring Josh Franceschi of
You Me at Six You Me at Six are an English rock band from Weybridge, Surrey. The band consists of lead singer Josh Franceschi, guitarists Max Helyer and Chris Miller, bassist Matt Barnes and drummer Daniel Flint. Formed in 2004, the name for the group origin ...
)
- 3:33 #"We're Going to Hell... So Bring the Sunblock" - 3:10


Personnel

Personnel per booklet. The Blackout * Sean Smith – vocals * Gavin Butler – vocals * James Davies – guitar * Matthew Davies – guitar * Rhys Lewis – bass * Gareth Lawrence – drums Additional musicians *
Josh Franceschi Joshua James Alphonse Franceschi (born 7 August 1990) is an English singer and songwriter. He is lead vocalist of rock band You Me at Six. Early life Josh was born to parents Anne Franceschi and Christian Franceschi in Weybridge, Surrey. He is ...
– additional vocals (track 9) * Year 6 Heolgerrig Primary School – additional vocals (track 5) Production and design * Jason Perry – producer, engineer, mixing * Mike Morgan – engineer * John Mitchell – mixing * Tom Baker – mastering * Adam Fisher – artwork, layout


References


External links


''The Best in Town''
at
YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
(streamed copy where licensed) {{DEFAULTSORT:Best In Town 2009 albums The Blackout (band) albums Epitaph Records albums Albums produced by Jason Perry Albums recorded at Sonic Ranch