Against Me! As The Eternal Cowboy
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''Against Me! as the Eternal Cowboy'' (sometimes referred to as just ''The Eternal Cowboy'') is the second studio album by the
punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...
band
Against Me! Against Me! is an American punk rock band, formed in 1997 in Naples, Florida, by singer and guitarist Laura Jane Grace. That same year, Grace moved to Gainesville, Florida, which is considered the band's hometown. Since 2001, the band's lineup ...
, released on November 3, 2003 by Fat Wreck Chords. It was the group's first release for the label and their first album with bassist
Andrew Seward Against Me! is an American punk rock band, formed in 1997 in Naples, Florida, by singer and guitarist Laura Jane Grace. That same year, Grace moved to Gainesville, Florida, which is considered the band's hometown. Since 2001, the band's lineup ...
, who had replaced original bassist Dustin Fridkin the previous year. The album was produced by Rob McGregor, who had also produced their first album ''
Against Me! Is Reinventing Axl Rose ''Against Me! Is Reinventing Axl Rose'' (often shortened to ''Reinventing Axl Rose'') is the debut album by the American punk rock band Against Me!, released on March 5, 2002 under No Idea Records. It was the group's first release as a full band ...
'' (2002). Two singles were released in support of the album, " Cavalier Eternal" and " Sink, Florida, Sink", though each features different versions of the songs than those found on the album. ''As the Eternal Cowboy'' was Against Me!'s first album to reach the ''Billboard'' charts, reaching No. 36 on Top Independent Albums. In 2009 Fat Wreck Chords released ''The Original Cowboy'', a demo recording that the band had done in preparation for recording the album.


Background

While on tour for ''Reinventing Axl Rose'' in 2002, Against Me! asked their label,
No Idea Records No Idea Records is an American independent record label based in Gainesville, Florida which focuses on punk rock and its sub-styles and produces both vinyl records and compact discs. No Idea Records started not as a record label, but as a zine ...
, for $3,000 of financial support to help repair their tour van, which was broken and had no
air conditioning Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C (US) or air con (UK), is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior temperature, and in some cases, also controlling the humidity of internal air. Air c ...
. When the label refused, the band left No Idea and decided to sign to another label. The band then met Fat Wreck Chords employee Toby Jeg at a show in the
Mission District The Mission District ( Spanish: ''Distrito de la Misión''), commonly known as the Mission ( Spanish: ''La Misión''), is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California. One of the oldest neighborhoods in San Francisco, the Mission District's name ...
of
San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
, California. When Jeg offered the band the opportunity to record a 7" single, Grace asked if they could record a full-length instead; Jeg told Grace he would call the label head,
Fat Mike Michael John Burkett (born January 16, 1967), known professionally as Fat Mike, is an American musician and producer. He was the bassist and lead vocalist for the punk rock band NOFX and the cofounder and bassist of the punk rock supergroup cov ...
, to discuss the idea. Fat Wreck Chords had previously considered offering the band a contract, but had voted it down as they thought they would be "stealing" the band from No Idea. A few months later in late 2002, Fat Mike called Grace, and the band was offered a $25,000 advance, significantly higher than the $800 budget ''Reinventing Axl Rose'' was recorded with; Grace agreed to this, and bluffed their way onto the label by claiming they had already written songs for their next record; this led to the band having to rush and quickly write new songs before recording.


Recording

Against Me! announced plans to record the album in July 2003, stating that they would work with producer Rob McGregor, who had recorded their first album and two previous EPs, and that the album would be released November 4. The band planned to record at
Ardent Studios Ardent Studios is an American recording studio located in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. The studio was founded in the late 1950s by John King, Fred Smith, and John Fry. Over time, it has become a commercially successful recording studio. ...
in
Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...
, where they could make an all-
analog recording Analog recording is a category of techniques used for the recording of analog signals. This enables later playback of the recorded analog audio. Analog audio recording began with mechanical systems such as the phonautograph and phonograph. La ...
with very few
overdub Overdubbing (also known as layering) is a technique used in audio recording in which audio tracks that have been pre-recorded are then played back and monitored, while simultaneously recording new, doubled, or augmented tracks onto one or more a ...
s. Laura chose to record in Memphis as it was where The Replacements, who she was very into at the time, had recorded their albums. In order to ensure that McGregor would be familiar with the new songs by the time they went to Memphis, the band recorded demos for the entire album at his Goldentone Studios in their hometown of
Gainesville, Florida Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, United States, and the most populous city in North Central Florida, with a population of 145,212 in 2022. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, Florida, Gainesv ...
on July 15 in the span of a few hours. The rest of the album was recorded that August at Ardent. The version of "Cavalier Eternal" from the July 15 Goldentone session was used on the album, as Fat Wreck Chords head
Fat Mike Michael John Burkett (born January 16, 1967), known professionally as Fat Mike, is an American musician and producer. He was the bassist and lead vocalist for the punk rock band NOFX and the cofounder and bassist of the punk rock supergroup cov ...
preferred it to the version recorded at Ardent. The entire Goldentone demo session was released in 2009 by Fat Wreck Chords as ''The Original Cowboy''. ''Against Me! as the Eternal Cowboy'' was mixed and engineered by Pete Matthews and assistant engineer Adam Hill, and was mastered by Brad Blackwood at Euphonic Masters. Singer/guitarist Laura Jane Grace designed the album's artwork and layout, using photographs taken by Bryan K. Wynacht.


Composition

Grace described the record in 2003 as a
concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...
"that explores love and war", explaining an ambiguity with regards to the album's title's reference to its songs: an ''Eternal Cowboy'' can be "symbolic of the power structure" or of "someone forever wandering, lost and alone". Clocking in at 25 minutes, ''As The Eternal Cowboy'' is the band's shortest album, and borders on being classed as an EP. Laura Jane Grace explained the album's speed was due to the band's collective anxiety on making records after bluffing their way onto the label; "All these songs are too fucking fast. We were just nervous when we went in and were tracking, and we recorded them all too fast. At that point, we had never messed around with listening to a click or remembering the tempo we were in. It was just whatever the mood was." The album was originally 24 minutes long, resulting in the band having to re-record parts of the songs to make them longer. Fat Wreck Chords did not care about the album's short length, something which Laura Jane Grace attributed to the label's focus on their new signing, None More Black, instead of the band.


Release

The album's title and track listing were announced in September 2003, followed by news that the band's previous label
No Idea Records No Idea Records is an American independent record label based in Gainesville, Florida which focuses on punk rock and its sub-styles and produces both vinyl records and compact discs. No Idea Records started not as a record label, but as a zine ...
would release the singles for "Cavalier Eternal" and "Sink, Florida, Sink", using alternate versions of the songs from the recording sessions, including the version of "Cavalier Eternal" recorded at Ardent.


Critical reception

Critic Charles Spano of
Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
gave ''Against Me! as the Eternal Cowboy'' four stars out of five, remarking that "the Gainesville, FL, outfit may have embraced a slightly slicker production than with its fan favorite, ''Reinventing Axl Rose'', but no matter how you stack it, ''As the Eternal Cowboy'' is an accomplished record of country-folk-punk that would only qualify as over-polished by the most hard-lined, anti-bar code punk kids' criteria." He also called it "one of the few early-2000s punk albums that transcends its genre and has the rock & roll clout to storm the mainstream." Nick Greer of Sputnikmusic also scored the album four out of five, noting that "This CD is the first in their discography to include a more rock feel to the music. The drumming is slower, the background vocals less prominent, the singing less gruff and less like screaming. Some songs are riff-based instead of chord progression-based, which utterly betrays punk and folk alike for rock and roll. This change, an obvious turnoff for original fans, isn't terrible."


Track listing


Personnel

Band * Laura Jane Grace – guitar, lead vocals, art concepts and layout * James Bowman – guitar, backing vocals *
Andrew Seward Against Me! is an American punk rock band, formed in 1997 in Naples, Florida, by singer and guitarist Laura Jane Grace. That same year, Grace moved to Gainesville, Florida, which is considered the band's hometown. Since 2001, the band's lineup ...
– bass guitar, backing vocals * Warren Oakes – drums Production * Rob McGregor – producer * Pete Matthews –
mixing engineer A mixing engineer (or simply mix engineer) is responsible for combining ("mixing") different sonic elements of an auditory piece into a complete rendition (also known as "final mix" or "mixdown"), whether in music, film, or any other content of a ...
,
engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...
* Adam Hill – assistant engineer * Brad Blackwood – mastering * Bryan K. Wynacht – photography


Chart performance


''The Original Cowboy''

On July 7, 2009 Fat Wreck Chords released the entire July 15, 2003 demo session for ''Against Me! as the Eternal Cowboy'' under the title ''The Original Cowboy''. The recordings were mastered in 2009 by Emily Lazar and Joe LaPorta at The Lodge. Reflecting on the session, Grace remarked that "''The Original Cowboy'' was only meant to be a trial run, but, listening to it today, there's a part of me that feels foolish for ever recording these songs a second time." The label posted an
MP3 MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany under the lead of Karlheinz Brandenburg. It was designed to greatly reduce the amount ...
of the demo version of "Unsubstantiated Rumors (Are Good Enough for Me to Base My Life On)" for free download prior to the album's release.


Critical reception

Corey Apar of
Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
gave ''The Original Cowboy'' only two and a half stars out of five, calling it "one of those records that forces an important question – why was this released?", noting that the songs "basically sound the same" as on the original album, whereas "usually when demos surface, they're noticeably different than the finished songs – stripped down melodies on acoustic guitar, choruses missing harmonies, some of the lyrics might even be different. Yet 'Unsubstantiated Rumors' is the only song here with significant changes". He also criticized the lack of any extra material such as
B-sides The A-side and B-side are the two sides of vinyl records and cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a single usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or ...
or live tracks.


Track listing


References


External links

*
Against Me! as the Eternal Cowboy
' at Fat Wreck Chords *
The Original Cowboy
' at Fat Wreck Chords {{Authority control 2003 albums Against Me! albums Fat Wreck Chords albums Anti-folk albums Americana albums Country folk albums Albums produced by Rob McGregor