If undeniably catchy, exultant choruses are any indication of a pop-punk band’s potential, The Press War sounds primed for success. After reshuffling its core members and recording their forthcoming sophomore release twice, the Boston-based crew of Anthony Rainville (vocals/guitar) and Cedric Wager (guitar) return armed with a new LP’s worth of instantly memorable hooks as they dive further into their influences (Brand New) to showcase the results of an evolution as songwriters and a sound Rainville describes as “a little bit harder, faster, and more aggressive.”
On the importance of a killer chorus…
As I’m going through ideas and trying to find the best material, I’m usually trying to focus on a chorus first. When they do come and we think that they’re good, we try to build around that. With the new album, four out of five songs were based around a chorus idea that we thought was good. When you have something strong to build around, it’s very helpful and it gives you a lot of confidence in what you’re doing with the rest of the song.
On recording the album twice…
It was a tough process, because I started writing about and putting stuff together a year ago. Some of the ideas were even older than that that we ended up using. We started the recording process ourselves, and it ended up going months over schedule. We got about 80 percent done, and then we split ways with some of the members, and we had to do it all over again, basically. We recorded the whole album twice. Through the course of that, stuff got rewritten and changed and moved around, so I think what we have is the best of two worlds of production: doing it ourselves and then going to producers [Steve and Chris of The Color & Sound] for the rerecording of it.
On measuring success…
I think a measure for us, at least initially, is just the response that you get. Hopefully it’s positive and it’s measurable, and it starts growing and expanding and more people start coming out to the shows. I think if you do something right musically and people react to it and relate to it, in my experience, I’ve seen a surge in people coming out and supporting what you’re doing. Hopefully that happens with this release.
THE PRESS WAR W/ DREAMCATCHER, FOR THE YEAR, SILENT STORIES, + STEVE KNECH. SUN 1.25 Middle East Upstairs, 480 Mass Ave., Cambridge. 617.864.3278. 1pm/$10/All Ages. facebook.com/thepresswar
