''Last Stop Suburbia'' is

Allister Allister is an American pop punk band from Chicago, Illinois. The four-piece formed in 1994 when the original band members were still in high school, and was originally named Phineas Gage. In 1998 Allister became one of the first bands to sign ...

's third release on

Drive-Thru Records Drive-Thru Records was a California-based independent record label owned by siblings Richard and Stefanie Reines. The label was partially responsible for popularizing the pop-punk/emo merger sound of the early to mid-2000s. After facing financi ...

and second studio album, released on October 8, 2002.

Recording

In November 2001, Allister played a few US shows with

Reel Big Fish Reel Big Fish is an American ska punk band from Orange County, California. The band gained mainstream recognition in the mid-to-late 1990s during the third wave of ska with the release of the gold-certified album ''Turn the Radio Off''. Soon af ...

. The band planned to enter the studio in December. The band was in the studio from February 18, 2002 and planned to finish on March 18. Instead, the band finished recording on May 9. Sessions were held at Standard Electrical Recorders in Venice Beach, California, with producer and engineer Chris Fudurich; Ryan Baker did additional editing. Steve Evetts mixed the recordings at Trax East in South River, New Jersey, before the album was mastered by Stephen Marcussen at Marcussen Mastering in Hollywood, California.

Release and reception

On June 9, 2002, guitarist John Hamada left the band. Between late June and mid-August, the group went on the 2002 edition of

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 touri ...

. On August 31, "Overrated" was made available as a free download through the band's MP3.com profile. Originally planned for a June release, before being pushed back to August, then early September due mixing delays. ''Last Stop Suburbia'' was made available for streaming on September 25, before it was eventually released on October 8, 2002 through

Drive-Thru A drive-through or drive-thru (a sensational spelling of the word ''through''), is a type of take-out service provided by a business that allows customers to purchase products without leaving their cars. The format was pioneered in the Unite ...

. Allister went on an east coast US tour with Don't Look Down and

Fall Out Boy Fall Out Boy is an American rock band formed in Wilmette, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, in 2001. The band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Patrick Stump, bassist Pete Wentz, lead guitarist Joe Trohman, and drummer Andy Hurle ...

. Between late August and October 2003, the group performed on the Drive-Thru Records 2003 Invasion Tour. In January 2004, the band went on a tour of the UK, with

Home Grown Home Grown was a North American ska punk/pop punk band formed in 1994 in Orange County, California. They released three full-length albums and several EPs before disbanding in 2005. Their music is often characterized as pop punk, lyrically f ...

the Early November The Early November is an American rock band from New Jersey, United States. The group formed in 2001 and signed with Drive-Thru Records in 2002. , they have released two EPs: ''For All of This'' (2002) and '' The Acoustic EP'' (2005). They have ...

, and

Hidden in Plain View Hidden in Plain View is an American five-piece post-hardcore band from northern New Jersey. They formed in 2000 and originally disbanded in 2007. During this seven-year run, the group released records with four record labels (most notably the ...

. In May 2004, the band toured the US with Split Habit,

Punchline A punch line (a. k. a. punch-line or punchline) concludes a joke; it is intended to make people laugh. It is the third and final part of the typical joke structure. It follows the introductory framing of the joke and the narrative which sets up ...

, and Hidden in Plain View. ''Last Stop Suburbia'' charted at number 9 on the '' Billboard'' Heatseekers Albums chart. The album would go on to sell 80,000 copies. Reviewing the album for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

, Kurt Morris said the album was full of "upbeat, poppy songs" matched with "nice melodies and songs about girls and rock & roll." Morris also said it was "typical Drive-Thru Records pop-punk" fodder. BuzzFeed included the album at number 30 on their "36 Pop Punk Albums You Need To Hear Before You F——ing Die" list.

Cleveland.com ''The Plain Dealer'' is the major newspaper of Cleveland, Ohio, United States. In fall 2019, it ranked 23rd in U.S. newspaper circulation, a significant drop since March 2013, when its circulation ranked 17th daily and 15th on Sunday. As of Ma ...

ranked "Somewhere on Fullerton" at number 74 on their list of the top 100 pop-punk songs.

Track listing

Writing credits per booklet. # "Scratch" – 3:11 (Hamada) # "Radio Player" – 3:25 (Rogner) # "Flypaper" – 2:12 (Murphy) # "Overrated" – 2:25 (Rogner) # "Better Late Than Forever" – 2:40 (Hamada) # "The One That Got Away" – 1:41 (Murphy) # "Racecars" – 2:39 (Rogner) # "Matchsticks" – 2:04 (Rogner) # "Camouflage" – 2:14 (Murphy) # "Don't Think Twice" – 2:52 (Rogner) # "Somewhere on Fullerton" – 2:39 (Rogner) # "Westbound" – 2:14 (Murphy) # "Know It All" – 1:45 (Rogner) # "Stuck" – 1:55 (Hamada) # "Waiting for You" – 2:29 (Rogner) # "None of My Friends Are Punks" – 2:34 (Rogner)

Chart positions

Personnel

Personnel per booklet. Allister * Tim Rogner – vocals, guitar * Scott Murphy – vocals, bass * Chris Rogner – vocals, guitar * David Rossi – drums Additional musicians * John Hamada – vocals, guitar *

Ariel Rechtshaid Ariel Rechtshaid ( ;) is an American record producer, audio engineer, mixing engineer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter. His accolades include three Grammy Awards for music production. Rechtshaid was the lead singer and guitarist of the sk ...

– additional guitar (track 15) Production * Chris Fudurich – producer, engineer * Steve Evetts – mixing * Ryan Baker – additional editing * Stephen Marcussen – mastering Design * Tim Stedman – art direction, design, interior photos * Matt Mahurin – front and back cover illustrations * Justin Stephens – band photo * JP Robinson – design assistance

References

{{Authority control Allister albums 2002 albums Drive-Thru Records albums