HEAVY MUSIC HISTORY: Bayside – A Kickoff To The Next 25
Rewind to February and in the cozy, yet luxurious confines the of BAYSIDE tour bus we sit down ahead of their show in Birmingham, commemorating 25 years since their formation. Despite waking up at noon and having great difficulty finding The Simpsons café in the labyrinth that is Primark, Anthony Raneri and Nick Ghanbarian are excited ahead of their show tonight.
As elder statesmen of the scene they’ve gone through plenty rites of passage to get to where they are now, 25 years deep into their careers. However, it’s not often that you hear them being cited as a young band’s influences or inspiration for starting out. BAYSIDE deserves more than just a participation medal, they’ve done more in this scene than just hung around for a quarter of a century. Nine full-length records, approximately 2,176 gigs played, and what’s most impressive about their lengthy careers so far is their consistency.
After such a tenure within the scene, you’ve got to think about how once remarkable moments might not be so remarkable anymore, not growing stale but becoming more of a given and expected. Thanks to the dedicated fans and die-hard BAYSIDE lovers, the Queens outfit still find things to be surprised at. “It’s definitely not lost on us, how crazy it is to be a band for 25 years and still be growing, and to come back here and have more people coming to see us than the last time is huge,” Anthony says with gratitude.
Nick follows with, “people are actually a little bit more reactive to our newer stuff like the last 10 years of our records, here [the UK], which is excellent.” Anthony adds, “to be playing these shows and have people sing along to new songs and old songs is not normal. You know what I mean? And it’s not like every band gets that, you know. So, that is certainly significant. I’ve been saying on this tour that it’s not just a celebration of the last 25 years but it’s a kickoff of the next 25.”
That sentiment itself is remarkable, to be in a space of reflection which feeds on nostalgia and commemoration, but then to be thinking about what comes next. BAYSIDE have no intention of slowing down or becoming stagnant, or even staying as this iteration of their band. On this UK leg of their tour, instead of playing each venue twice, one night playing old material and another playing more recent material, they play two sets a night where the likes of their beloved self titled album goes into battle against something that is receiving its flowers more recently like There Are Worse Things Than Being Alive.
Driving home how grateful they are for the development of their fans, the life cycle of a BAYSIDE fan so to speak, in a moment where he seems to speak genuinely from his heart in adoration for those fans, Nick says “we’ve been a part of people’s lives like a significant chunk. When you’re a band for 25 years and someone finds you when they’re 15 and they’re still coming to your shows now, they’re married and they have kids now and they’re bringing their kids to the show.” He pauses and thinks up, “like, some people literally are making new BAYSIDE fans!” To which Anthony laughs.
Whilst the looming threat of an adolescent BAYSIDE army is hilarious, it’s warm reminder that even when BAYSIDE as a band doesn’t exist anymore, or your PARAMORE’s or MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE’s are dead and buried — the scene’s next generation are sure to be the lifeblood of what comes next. Nick says “There’s like an emo revival happening now, right? I’m like ‘We never stopped.’ you know, and also we weren’t more popular 20 years ago than we are now and that’s not the case for the scene.’ This rejuvenation of the scene has seen events capitalise on a modern day renaissance with the likes of When We Were Young and Warped Tour.
There’s a certain set of bands that fit into the slot that BAYSIDE themselves were in this time 20 years ago. The likes of KOYO, ONE STEP CLOSER, ANXIOUS and more come to mind. It’s interesting to think where the two different iterations in this broader concept of “the scene” interact and consider each other beyond supporting one another on tour. “Those bands like ONE STEP CLOSER and ANXIOUS, they’re doing the right thing. There was a time where we didn’t understand young bands. Not that we didn’t like them or we hated the young and the new generation or anything, but l bands seemed for a while to get impressed by shiny things.”
At risk of sounding like an elder emo with a superiority complex, Anthony continues. “Our generation, not just our band, but our generation, NEW FOUND GLORY, ALKALINE TRIO, for example. We all went out and just grinded, that’s how those long careers build because you build these die hard fans by just going out and playing and being working class, you know?”
Thankfully, Anthony credits these younger bands for doing just that, and almost following in their footsteps – almost. “What’s crazy about those bands is they actually are probably a couple steps ahead of what we were because they had a scene to fall into, we didn’t. We were touring with screamo bands back then because of who we were on a label with. KOYO, for example, kind of stepped into the hardcore scene, you know, so they had a home right away. We didn’t have a home for like 10 years basically.”
It seems the pair have a lot of hope for who will be taking centre stage in the foreseeable future, who’s going to nurture this next wave. “Bands like SCOWL you know like all those bands they just like seem to just want to go play for anybody who wants to hear them play,” Anthony says. There’s a lot of pride loaded in that sentence, as if Anthony is paying his respect to the new blood with that sentence.
Even though this year for BAYSIDE is heavily tied to the past, it’s not something that has become an anchor for them, or even if it has, they can raise it at any time they want. Just as Nick says, this is just as much about the next 25 years of the band as it is about the previous 25, who’re they next? “Sonically, our mission has always been to make sure we sound like BAYSIDE and try to innovate within that.” The pair agree. At this point in their careers, legacy is definitely something that is coming into question, and each step from now that they take will likely dictate that legacy they leave behind. Luckily, they have in their sights the vision of that legacy.
Anthony finishes by saying, “we want to be METALLICA, we don’t want to be MÖTLEY CRÜE, you know? For now, we’re gonna make a new record next year. Next year, we’ll have a really light touring schedule and we can just focus on the next 25.”
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