"Way Away" is the debut single by American band

Yellowcard Yellowcard is an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1997 and was based in Los Angeles beginning in 2000. The band is recognized for having a distinct sound in their genre, primarily due to the prominent use o ...

. It is the opening track of their fourth album '' Ocean Avenue''. "Way Away" was released to radio on July 22, 2003. The song and

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

both reflect the band's choice about leaving their hometown of

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the ...

to California in hopes of making a name for themselves in the Southern California music scene. The song was featured on the

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

soundtracks to both ''

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'' and ''

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''.

Background

In an interview, former Yellowcard lead guitarist

Ben Harper Benjamin Chase Harper (born October 28, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Harper plays an eclectic mix of blues, folk, soul, reggae, and rock music and is known for his guitar-playing skills, vocals, live perfo ...

said that "Way Away" is "about our band and facing the people who didn't believe in what we were doing. That's kind of like an ode to disbelievers." In another interview, vocalist

Ryan Key William Ryan Key (born December 17, 1979) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He is best known as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the pop punk band Yellowcard. He is the owner/operator of a recording studio in Jacksonvil ...

, in discussion of the song, said: "It's the story we have sort of been through as a band in the last couple of years, moving from our hometown in acksonville,Florida, out to outhernCalifornia and starting to tour really hard and just sort of following our dreams. Hopefully other people will take that song and apply it to their own lives and be able to kind of get out of whatever they are stuck in and don't want to be in." Key also revealed that the song was "harder than some of our other songs, hereas'Ocean Avenue' is kind of in the middle of the spectrum of where the record goes."

Track listing

#"Way Away" - 3:22 #"Hey Mike" - 4:01 #"Avondale" (Acoustic) - 3:37 #"Way Away" (Video) #Behind the Scenes Footage (Video)

Music video

Directed by Patrick Hoelck, The video starts out with the band members pulling up in a

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car in a vacant parking lot and begin setting up their gear and start playing in front of a supermarket. The band's frontman,

is shown in from several scenes of the video showing him loading his car and moving away from his job, family, and his girlfriend and writing the lyrics of "Way Away". The video ends after Ryan and band are singing to a self-image of himself and drives away in the distance. The video was shot in front of the "Super A Foods" Market store in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

on July 1, 2003.

Reception

Allmusic gave the song a positive review, by saying " ay Awaythrives on the basics of rock & roll — foliated guitars weaved in between high-speed percussion." Chris Conlon of the ''

Telegraph Herald The ''Telegraph Herald'', locally referred to as the ''TH'', is a daily newspaper published in Dubuque, Iowa, for the population of Dubuque and surrounding areas in Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Mi ...

'' said he was "dumbfounded" when he listened to the song. Conlon goes on to say, "The song basically says that you are the master of your destiny, that no one can stand in your way."

Weekly charts

References

External links

Official website

The Yellowcard Wiki
{{Authority control 2003 songs 2003 debut singles Yellowcard songs Capitol Records singles Song recordings produced by Neal Avron Songs written by Ryan Key