Taking Back Sunday loves a good Easter egg. If you've followed the Long Island emo band throughout their two-decades-long career, you've seen the number 152 quite a few times.
It's been featured on every album cover the band has made — eight, to be exact. 152 is the number of an interstate exit in North Carolina. Singer Adam Lazzara grew up in a small town in the Tar Heel State and had to drive long distances to see rock shows. The exit two hours away (about halfway to any music venue) was the meeting spot for his pals. From there they'd trek to see acts like New Jersey melodic hardcore band Lifetime, which changed their worldview and influenced what would become their musical careers.
152 was the unifier. Even today, that sentiment remains. And that's why the band named their latest album simply 152.
It's the kind of sentimentality that makes sense for a linchpin emo band like Taking Back Sunday. The band broke onto the scene during the early 2000s emo boom with genre classic albums like Tell All Your Friends and breakout singles like "MakeDamnSure" and "A Decade Under the Influence." With a 20-year-long repertoire, listeners have had the ability to evolve with the band. From angsty teen years to heartbreak, marriage and self-love, TBS has journeyed alongside its fans.
I began listening to Taking Back Sunday when I was 12 years old. I felt misunderstood in many aspects and found solace in their lyrics. They felt different and more relatable to a kid in all black working through all the feels. From blasting "Cute Without The 'E'" between class, crying over boys to "You're So Last Summer," and to this day rocking "A Decade Under The Influence" on road trips, TBS has been there through it all.
Following Taking Back Sunday feels less like a fandom and more like a fellowship, which is exactly what Lazzara strives to achieve. When I bring up how vital his band has been to helping me process some of my messier emotions over the years, the frontman completely gets it — because what is a TBS record if not Lazzara dramatically processing his feelings.
"I was too! I still have a lot of emotions," he says with a laugh.
The band's new album 152 doesn't showcase a new Taking Back Sunday, but it does represent an evolving one. The group began writing new material in 2019. When venturing to the studio in 2020, they found themselves in the midst of a global shutdown — and, well, we all know what happened from there.
Similar to the rest of us, COVID forced the group to take a step back. That is, until Lazzara received a call from what might seem like a surprising source: EDM party DJ Steve Aoki. Aoki initially asked Lazzara to track vocals on a collaborative project, but once the team started working, his involvement became much, much more. Lazzara asserts that Aoki opened the group's eyes to how they produce music; lyrically, rhythmically, collaboratively. Taking Back Sunday began a new chapter and thus, 152 was born.
Musically, the album is more pop and emotive than past works, with boppy-anthems like "Keep Going" and sweet, sweet tunes like "The One." Lazzara flaunts his sky-high vocal range, and Aoki drops in with laidback beats to complement TBS guitarist John Nolan's riffs. Lazzara himself is most fond of "Lightbringer," saying, "It's a cathartic thing. Our newer stuff is a bit more raw, and there's a lot of healing there."
152 isn't a full reinvention of Taking Back Sunday but a further exploration of what the band can be.
"One of the things I'm proud of is that each album serves as a snapshot of the people we were at the time," Lazzara says. "This is who we are now. We don't want to be repeating ourselves because we wouldn't be honoring the people we're growing into... I hope that people find something in there that they can make their own. It's like we're saying, 'That was a long walk. Thanks for joining us.'"
When a band rises to prominence on the strength of occasionally melodramatic teenage angst, it's perhaps somewhat of a surprise to look up and still be touring 25 years later. When chatting, Lazzara recalls highlights like playing to a crowd of over 130,000 across two days at Milton Keynes in the UK alongside Green Day and Jimmy Eat World. But even if they're not playing to seas of humanity every night, the fact that fans still adore coming out to see his band isn't lost on Lazzara.
"It was always like, 'Can you imagine if we just keep touring? That would be insane.'" he says. "I'm one of the luckiest guys I know... we're able to do it. This thing is a huge part of us."
Taking Back Sunday is in the midst of a massive North American tour, which stops at the Knitting Factory on June 6 — the band's first trip to Spokane since a rousing set at the Pavilion in 2021. With 45 shows between May and August, they're not slowing down any time soon, and rightfully so. Their fanbase ranges from "12 to 50," according to Lazzara, and that cross-generational connection isn't lost on the group.
"All these people are in different chapters of life. They're all going in different directions," he says. "But while we're on stage — the world doesn't matter to any of us for that period of time."
For someone who's been at it as long as Lazzara, it would be easy to fall into a greater-than-thou rockstar mentality. Taking Back Sunday approaches their acclaim differently. They still get the pre-show jitters, and they still truly care about how their music is received. This is particularly true now given the intimacy of 152.
"Hours before we play, I'm going over songs. Practicing something new we're playing. We just don't want to mess up," he says with a laugh.
While even Lazzara isn't sure what the future will hold — "We've never been good at long-term planning. For us, it's to keep doing what we're doing. To keep reaching as many people as we can" — there's sure to be plenty of emotional teens and elder emos turning out for Taking Back Sunday as long as they want to keep going. When asked what one message he would like the TBS fanbase to receive, Adam keeps it endearingly simple...
"Thank you." ♦
Taking Back Sunday, Citizen • Thu, June 6 at 8 pm • All ages • Knitting Factory • 919 W. Sprague Ave. • sp.knittingfactory.com
