Grandson on his tour, "Death of a Tour," in Salt Lake City on 3.4.2022. Grandson, a Canadian-American alternative rock artist, stopped by Salt Lake City last Friday night. I had the pleasure of photographing him during his set, which was amazing. He brought not only theatrics, but fury and raw passion. Grandson's music is political, dark, and honest. It touches the realities of life - from the personal side as in fighting addiction, to a worldwide scale, as in fighting for what you believe in. His energy onstage was matched by only the audience themselves, running, jumping around and singing his heart out. Mid-set, Grandson left the stage to change out from the hopeful, bright "Grandson," to the dark, intense character of "X," a persona he's perfected over the years. He donned a suit and on-stage used black paint to smear X's over his eyelids. Later on, he incited a mosh-pit and even jumped into the crowd, surfing on the hands of his many adoring fans. I've never attended a show like it before and it was brilliant. Grandson is a one-of-a-kind act, a creative & unique artist whose music is worth giving a chance. Check out the slideshow below for pictures from the show. Follow Grandson on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Mammoth WVH & Dirty Honey in Salt Lake City on night two of their Young Guns tour. I had the pleasure of seeing and photographing rock bands Mammoth WVH & Dirty Honey last Monday on their Young Guns tour. Mammoth WVH is Wolf Van Halen's band, name homage to his father's band which was the original name of Van Halen. Mammoth WVH play modern rock with heavy influences, while on the other hand, Dirty Honey is as rock 'n roll as it gets. If Greta Van Fleet are our modern-day Led Zeppelin in matters of sound, Dirty Honey are our modern-day Aerosmith. Mammoth WVH and Dirty Honey were both fantastic. The show they put on reassured my love for both bands and of my belief that rock is alive & not only well, but kickin' ass. Some memorable moments: 1), when Wolf Van Halen's guitar strap fell off right before a solo during a cover of Alice in Chain's "Them Bones," he kept it cool while a tech ran onstage to fix it, then later the second time it fell off and he kept playing his guitar. Total rockstar moment. And, 2) Dirty Honey's cover of Prince's "Let's Go Crazy." So utterly good. I miss them both already so much, I can't wait to see them again. I can't wait for future music from them both - the excitement of it all makes my heart pound. These two bands are the future of rock. Keep scrolling for slideshows of photos I took of Mammoth WVH and Dirty Honey. Mammoth WVH Dirty Honey

Shows & happiness. It's been a while since my last letter. I decided that writing these at the end of the month over the start would be a better idea, that way I could look back at the month that just passed. It's been a much better month for both this magazine and me personally. I started working the morning shift again instead of afternoons + nights, and was left with time to take care of myself and go back to working on creative projects, such as Wild Honey. I started shooting more shows, five in total this past month - Charlie Hickey, Allen Stone, Zachary Williams, Mammoth WVH & Dirty Honey, and Wallice. My favorite was Mammoth WVH and Dirty Honey, the pictures of which will be up on this coming Monday. They were my first rock show I've shot so far, and honestly, both artists are SO good. Mammoth WVH did a cover of Alice in Chains' "Them Bones" and mid-song Wolf Van Halen's guitar strap fell off twice but he kept cool & kept playing. Totally wicked. Dirty Honey were amazing as well, being in the pit for them with 4 other photographers was so much fun. I saw The Wonder Years, not for Wild Honey, for fun, courtesy of SLUG magazine, another publication that I write for. I had a great time - I heard the songs I've loved for years and I even made a friend. I also stopped drinking caffeine, so my hands shake less, I feel less irritable and more mellow overall. Who knew that it had been caffeine having such an effect on me. I have more energy and significantly less headaches. I still drink coffee, just decaf (with too much vanilla almond milk and sugar). I'm trying to write again. I still haven't picked up my journal. I don't know when I'll go back to the way I was, with constantly writing on here, for other publications, and in my journal, due to both the struggle it brings me and the fact that I prefer photography now. Photography is fun, an expensive embarkment, but still fun. I loved it since I was 16 years old. I had taken a film photography class that year in school and wanted to do it forever. My inspirations are Neal Preston, Paige Sara, and just all grainy, candid photographs that show snapshots of real life. I feel really happy most days than not now. I feel confident in my job, the city I live in, how I look, and who I am. My plans for the rest of the year just involve me working towards my long-time goals - one being "be a paid music photographer." But first, I need to get good at it. I miss New York. I miss my mom. I miss my dog. I miss my guitar. I miss the way the air outside smelled, of fresh pines and freshly cut grass, the scenery - everything outside of the city in NY is just trees & small towns, I miss the city itself with the Strand bookstore, the energy of the people, and the Union Square Farmer's Market in the summer. I miss it all, but...I'm okay with missing it. What I have here in Salt Lake City is good for me, and I'm finally starting to make friends, shoot shows, live my dreams. I think I will stay here for the foreseeable future. Unless, of course, I end up going on tour with a band and they want me to stay with them in California, who knows! with love, Cherri Cheetah

Zachary Williams of The Lone Bellows on his Dirty Camaro tour, 2.18.22. Zachary Williams, from indie blues band The Lone Bellows, stopped in Salt Lake City last week on his Dirty Camaro tour. The tour, named after his debut solo record of the same name, features him and only him, on stage with two guitars: a acoustic & a electric. The show was very imitate, only about 30 people, give or take. It was only 20-something degrees that night outside, but Zachary's presence on stage was very warm, a proper defendant against the temperature. I can't entirely remember the entire setlist, but it for sure was filled with tracks from Dirty Camaro, such as opening with "Airplane." He shared a sweet story of how he fell in love with his wife before performing "Anything." His sound isn't wholly rock, it's something softer, something quiet but powerful. It's for fans of The Black Keys and the Eagles. Dirty Camaro is a record I can listen to over and over, finding something new to love about it each time. Seeing Zachary Williams perform the tracks from his record that I love so much was a really great time, and I can't wait to see him again someday. Follow Zachary Williams on Instagram.

Allen Stone on The APART Tour, Salt Lake City, 2/7/2022. Branching out from our rock niche to bring you an artist with a voice that'll touch your soul - Allen Stone. Allen Stone, from a small town in Washington - Chewelah, grew up on gospel music by watching his parents sing in church. He first released music in 2010 and made a following with music that's reflective and emotionally charged. APART is his most recent release, a full-length album that was recorded "...during the pandemic over the course of three 10-day sessions at the fabled Bear Creek Studios: a converted barn on a 10-acre farm in Stone’s home state of Washington." It's one of the most beautiful records I've heard in a long time - nothing has touched me so deeply like APART has. I had a great time - even while waiting outside in the cold for two hours before the show. Stone's fans are proudly passionate and boastful of their love for his music & their appreciation for how much it's affected them. I overheard fans talking about listening to his music during long drives, during hard times - how it got them through the worst, how it gave them something to hold onto during the start of the pandemic. I was pressed against the barricade and was instantly blown away by his voice. The recordings aren't enough - he's a singer you need to hear live. His voice is louder than anyone's I've ever heard before and so, so beautiful. "Glorious" is the best way I can define Stone's voice. Click through the slideshow below to see some photos that I took during his set. Follow Allen Stone on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Charlie Hickey opening up for Samia at Soundwell in Salt Lake City on February 4th, 2022. Charlie Hickey, a 21-year old indie singer/songwriter from Pasadena opened for Samia in Salt Lake City last night. He played with just an acoustic guitar, his voice, and bandmate/tour manager Jacob Jeffries on keys. His music is emotionally charged, honest, and beautiful. It is a breathe of fresh air. He sings of growing up, heartbreak, and feelings of fear of losing one's self in tracks like "Two Haunted Houses," "No Good At Lying," "Ten Feet Tall." Check out the slideshow below for more photos from the show. Follow Charlie Hickey on Facebook and Instagram.

Hello, it's been a while. 2021 was very hard for me. I left New York in the beginning of the spring. I lived in Denver for a few months, then left in the summer for Salt Lake City (where I currently live). I joined SLUG Magazine as a music writer - SLUG Magazine is SLC's alternative music, arts, and lifestyle magazine. They've been around since 1989 and have always been a print, for free magazine. I saw Joyous Wolf play in Denver. I saw cleopatrick play on their BUMMER tour with Ready the Prince here in Salt Lake City. I bought a camera, a Canon Rebel T100, and the very next day I shot my first show - VALLEY, an alternative pop rock band from Toronto. I thrifted lots of clothes and old books (my greatest finds so far: a long, green, leopard print skirt in Denver, and a practically brand new edition from the 90's of Diana Di Prima's poetry collection, Pieces of a Song, in Salt Lake City). I drank a lot of bad coffee - discovered that instant coffee is always terrible, no matter the brand. I wrote a lot in my books and gave a couple of them away to some boys, to one of them who gave me a guitar pick (almost in return for the book) which hangs around my neck everyday. I read 290 books, beating my record of last year of 207. I fell in love with Joan Didion's work, who died a few days ago. In Joan Didion's book, The White Album, she has an essay about The Doors, primarily focused on Jim Morrison. There's a quote about it from the Netflix documentary about Joan's life and work, The Center Will Not Hold - "I like to sit around and watch people do what they do. I don't like to ask questions. Jim Morrison, I did a piece on. Rock n' roll people are the ideal subject for me...they will just lead their lives around you." I want this magazine to be more than what it is right now. Truthfully, I stopped writing almost entirely these past 4 months. I wrote the occasional review here & there, and a single personal blog post, but I stopped writing every day. I couldn't pick up a pen. I stopped carrying a journal with me. I lost whatever thrill writing gave me. I shut my friends out, even the ones I was closest to. I couldn't figure out why I was feeling such pain so heavy, so deep inside of me even though I had worked so hard to change my life for the better. I had a good job, a clean, quiet home, all the food I could eat & more, heat in the winter - everything I could need and want. I felt miserable. In my pondering of why misery enshrouded my brain, I've thought long about this magazine. I've come to the conclusion that I need change. I need a new creative outlet. I struggle writing anything at all now, and so I won't be writing reviews as much as before for this magazine, I will be taking photos instead. Some will still pop up on our site, written by others, but I'm drifting away from it. It is exhausting work. I don't want to feel obligated to write about anyone's music anymore. I want to be like Joan Didion, observing, not asking the questions, just letting the music be. I want to continue to shoot concerts, but also as well musicians backstage, on tour, in studios, wherever they may be. Music was my first love. Photography came second. And writing came last - but unfortunately it's become a passion I've burned myself out of. I want to say so much more about the musicians who make the music I love so much, say so much about the ones who have fell into my personal life and changed it for the better, but, my pen fails me. My camera hasn't. I've always said that I wanted to tour with a band, and I still do, but now I want to tour with a band just as a photographer, not as a writer. I'll still do interviews, gig reviews, and these letters, but mainly my words will be attached to the photographs I take. I've learned that I cannot force myself to write. This magazine, I've tried to take it like a job, run it like a business. I've tried to keep a schedule, tried to write reviews to fill a quota. Tried to keep up with all the other small publications like this one, but the truth is that I don't care anymore. Wild Honey isn't like the other publications, and even though I know I could make it be like them, I don't want to. I want to create pieces, make playlists, and take photos all without pressure, and I'm sure everyone else who contributes to Wild Honey wants to as well. I want Wild Honey to be something of substance that will be not a brand, not a trend, but a collection of experiences, feelings, moments. A ongoing memoir. I hope you'll stick around. I don't know what our content will look like this year. It might be sparingly, but each post hopefully a truer expression of creativity and love than before. with love, Cherri Cheetah

"BUMMER is the people's rock album." I met Luke Gruntz a few months ago, in the middle of October. He was very kind, quiet, and respectful. His band's music was very loud, honest, and good. cleopatrick's music has meant so much to me for almost 3 years - I love it because their music expresses how I feel. Their music reminds you that you're not alone in life or in what you experience. The following is an interview I did with Luke over email (also done a few months ago, so some of these questions are dated). I pestered him with my questions on the inner workings of BUMMER, cleopatrick, and himself. He answered them thoroughly, and what I can only assume, happily. 1) How was your summer? my summer was pretty good!! we put out our debut album!! 2) What was the journey to BUMMER like? we started writing the first BUMMER tracks back in 2018, from which it was a long, challenging, and exciting journey toward its release this past summer. we took a lot of these songs on the road with us over the course of the writing process. we wanted to make sure they felt right in the live setting before we tracked anything. recording BUMMER was an absolute blast. we learned a lot about our band in that studio. 3) What are your favorite tracks off BUMMER? i think my fav is 2008. that song means a lot to me. we all had so much fun producing it together, and i think it signifies a new energy to be explored by this band. 4) How did cleopatrick become cleopatrick? our friends liked the songs we made up, so we drove around playing them as much as we could. 5) There are film references in some of the songs on BUMMER like "Kubrick stare" and "Wilhelm scream," what influenced that? What are some of your favorite films? i like watching movies a lot. i get nearly the same thing out of a good film as i do out of a good album. though, i'm not sure i can say what exactly influenced those lines. those references just helped me get my point across in the way i wanted. oh and my favourite movie of all time is Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 2 6) What's been some of your favorite cities to play shows in, and why? What do you love about them? London, UK. hands down. every single time we have played London, it has been the most iconic cleopatrick show of all time. the energy in those rooms is unparalleled. i have no idea why. i think culturally they just love guitar music in the exact same way ian and i do. we are so grateful they have let us into their club. 7) Explain the tom holland thing. Is it an inside joke? we are big fans. 8) How do you feel about the response to BUMMER so far? it's been awesome. we finally got to get on the road and play these songs live for people last month, and every single night was absolutely epic. BUMMER is the people's rock album. 9) There's a line i love in "NO SWEAT" - "I'm tryna stay gold but it's getting hard," which automatically makes me think of the line, "Stay gold Ponyboy," from S.E. Hilton's novel, The Outsiders. Was that line influenced by The Outsiders, and has any other literature influenced your lyrics? good catch! yea that's an outsiders reference. truthfully, literature influenced nearly all of my lyrics on this album. growing up, i found a lot of myself through reading. so of course as i hyper-analyze myself across BUMMER, a number of literary references came out through my poetry. in a lot of ways these coming-of-age characters from my favourite books handed me huge parts of who i am today. infact, there's actually another novel that inspired my lyrics so much that, from the moment we started to write BUMMER, i had planned to name the album after this books protagonist. it was only within the last week or so of prepping the album for release that i decided such an obvious reference was corny, and we changed the title to BUMMER. 10) BUMMER was created with the help of friends ZIG MENTALITY, what was that like? those guys are wise beyond their years. i think making our first album by ourselves + with the help of our best buddies was the smartest decision we have ever made. together we made an album that is far from perfect, but holds this undeniably boysterous, underground, self-betting energy that is central to who we are as musicians and artists. BUMMER is the beginning of something special for this band. 12) Outside of your own music, what have been your favorite releases this past year? VINCE STAPLES by vince staples ALPHA by charlotte day wilson WILDS by andy shauf GLOW ON by turnstile TALK MEMORY by badbadnotgood 13) What have been some of your most memorable experiences so far in your musical career? Have you met any rock legends, like Mick Jagger or Tom Morello yet? lol we actually did meet Tom Morello at a festival once. our first big tour (the youth tour) is an incredible memory for us. same with our first shows in the UK and EU. yo actually another good one is meeting BROCKHAMPTON at lollapalooza. ian, sanjay, and i listened to them obsessively back in 2017. then when we played lolla in 2018 we were on the same stage as them, and got to hang a bit backstage. it was really surreal to go from blasting saturation 1 through a bluetooth speaker at sanjay's college apartment, to shaking merlyn woods hand and seeing them perform from backstage. 14) What are your tour essentials - stuff you absolutely HAVE to bring with you, outside of the basic stuff like clothes and IDs? well for 2021/2022 we are stocked up on hand sanitizer and extra masks. i personally like to have a couple books with me, my headphones, a journal, and my op-1. 15) What helps you overcome writer's block? What do you do when you're in a funk and can't make yourself write anything, how do you clear your head and get the ink flowing again? i haven't quite figured out a good method for this. i'm the kind of artist that really can't force creativity. so if i find myself hitting a wall, i will typically just step away and focus on something else. 16) What are some of your favorite places to eat at while on tour? yo ok we just went to this sandwich place in chicago called RAMMYS SUB CONTRACTORS and i am telling you right now this place made me the best sandwich i have ever had in my life. 17) If you could give new bands one piece of advice, what would it be? do stuff that you think is cool. don't try to be anyone else. fight that imposter syndrome: nobody knows what they're doing. do NOT look to the "industry" for approval / a golden ticket - they don't know what's going on either. you are an innumerable collection of vibrating particles, briefly coalesced and endowed with divine sentience as you float through nothingness, pinned down to a rock in a universe governed by a few fundamental laws that keep you locked in a cold, silent, relativistic dance around the very same ever-burning nuclear inferno in which your being, and everything you know was forged. all this, as you now attempt to comprehend, quantize, and ultimately deliver unto the cosmos a perspective of which, from the beginning, could have only ever been uniquely yours. just have fun! 18) Lastly, why did you choose music? If you weren't in music, what else would you be doing with your time? i chose music because it made me feel like myself. when ian and i play music together, i feel like i'm in the right place, doing the right thing. it's hard to imagine my life without it. in my spare time, i've always been really fascinated with science; stuff like cosmology, astrophysics, thermodynamics, quantum physics, and a bunch of other super nerdy shit. maybe without music i'd be poking around more in those fields. either that, or i'd be back to making macchiatos in downtown cobourg. not sure. Click here for all things cleopatrick.

Boston Manor opening up for Neck Deep on 11.16. Somewhere in the middle of their tour supporting Neck Deep, the five members of Boston Manor (Henry Cox, vocals, Michael Cunniff, guitar , Ash Wilson, guitar, Dan Cunniff, bass and Jordan Pugh, drums) made their way to the corner of 14th and Burnside in Portland, Oregon. The Crystal Ballroom is one of the best concert venues in the city and one that I’d frequented pre-pandemic. Entering through a small set of double doors and ushered up two flights of what seem to be original wooden stairs before you even see the stage, the lack of free parking is more than worth it when you step onto that floor. Even more so when you’re met with some of the best energy I’ve felt in a long time. Weekday shows have turned into some of my favorites to go to. They’re the ones that bring out the best crowd. People that love the music and people on stage so much that they sacrifice sleep on a work night to be a part of the experience truly are my kind of people. This Tuesday night gig was no exception. With two openers proceeding Boston Manor, the band made their way on stage for sound check around 8pm but when they did, counting the seconds stopped. There was no time to think about time. Experiencing the first three songs of their set with nothing between me and the stage was astounding. Dodging crowd surfers being thrown over the barricade on one side and an epic wall of sound on the other was a place I never thought I’d find myself, but has turned into a place I never want to leave. After what felt like the world’s shortest three songs, I made my way out of the pit to loiter at the back of the crowd. Watching the rest of the show from a distance really allowed me to take it all in; the band on stage absolutely giving everything to the people who’d come here in search of the solace raging at a show brings you. At one point lead singer Henry Cox split the crowd down the middle during the breakdown of a song and said “when it drops, you know what to do.” And they sure did. What had been the parting of the red sea quickly turned turbulent as both sides rushed together, collided and, and intertwined. This crowd had so much energy, seemingly as a direct result of the energy flowing off the stage. Boston Manor became one of the bands that left me feeling better than they found me, and as I made my way back to my car at the end of the night I couldn’t help but check to see if there might be a chance to see them again before they parted ways with the west coast and our grim weather. Keep scrolling for more photos. Follow Boston Manor on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

FOR FANS OF: State Champs, Dead Eyes, Stand Atlantic Boston Manor, a five-piece alternative band out of Blackpool, England, released Desperate Times Desperate Pleasures on October 29, 2021. This grungy EP is packed full of five tracks that just don’t let up. Continually driving forward, each song is a gem of its own but collected together they really make this EP shine. “Carbon Manor” propels us into this EP with a gritty riff reminiscent of the 90’s. With a heavily filtered guitar feature and lyrics screamed through one of the verses, that grit protrudes through the entire song. I feel like I just rewound a VHS tape to the anti-piracy ads that were prominent at the time, but in the best way. It’s nostalgic, but somehow refreshed. That refreshment continues into “Algorithm,” which boasts a more relaxed feel than the previous track, while still being upbeat. This song really showcases Cox’s vocal abilities, backed by the rest of the band his voice really shines. “Desperate Pleasures” kicks things back into high gear. This song sounds vengeful, like lyrics spit through gritted teeth at someone who’s done you wrong. It’s in your face, while the harmonies in the chorus give it a softer touch. It’s a balancing act between anger and hurt, neither one outshining the other but colliding and creating this absolute powerhouse of a song. “I Don’t Like People (& They Don’t Like Me)” drops a sepia filter over everything, with a grungy and dark sound. Where “Desperate Pleasures” felt angry, this song feels sad, anxious even. The track creeps in quietly, tiptoeing as if trying to avoid that one stair you know squeaks. Then, it opens up through the first verse into the chorus as you finally make it up the stairs to your room where you can shut the door and revel in being alone. The glitchy guitar you’ll find wedged between the chorus and the next verse is like finding an old journal tucked between other books on a shelf, one full of all the thoughts you can’t bring yourself to speak out loud to anyone. “Let The Right One In” has to be my favorite of these five songs. It’s chilling both musically and lyrically. “Your love is like diamonds/your past is like coal” is one of the most gripping lyrics I have heard in a while. There’s so much urgency throughout the music in this song, while the lyrics seem to hang on to every second, stretching themselves thin over the rest of the sounds surging beneath. It’s a beautiful dichotomy that gives the song a great deal of strength, even as the song is dying out. All the way up until the abrupt and final beat. Desperate Times Desperate Pleasures takes a step back in time in terms of influence. You can hear the tracks drawing parallels with late 90’s punk and early 2000’s post-hardcore, while vamping those nostalgic sounds up with their own Boston Manor flair. These five songs are well curated, flowing into one another while still remaining distinct and playable individually. Releasing this EP before heading out on a US tour in support of Neck Deep is surely bound to propel them forward as more people discover the brilliance of Boston Manor. Follow Boston Manor on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

Valley opening up for COIN on their Rainbow Dreamland tour, 11.06. Over the weekend, I saw Valley open up for COIN - and got to shoot photos of Valley's set. Valley are a band from Toronto, CA, consisting of Rob Laska, Karah James, Mickey Brandolino, and Alex DiMauro. It was my first time shooting a show, and I had a great experience. Being in the photo pit, meeting other photographers felt amazing. It was really nice. Valley play alternative pop music that is infectious and honest. Two of the tracks they played that night are some of my favorite songs ever - "Cure," and "Like 1999." At the beginning of last month, they released an EP - Last Birthday, which included those two tracks and five others through Capitol Records. They played phenomenally, and the energy from the crowd matched the music. They sounded even better than they do on their records. Their music is upbeat, with lyrics that are slightly sad and so real. It makes me feel happy, makes me feel good. Their music makes your loneliness go away by reassuring you that you aren't the only person who's ever been sad, heartbroken, or nostalgic for a time without social media. Keep scrolling to see more pictures from that night! Follow Valley on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

Track-by-track. It’s been 17 years since the release of their debut album, The Silence In Black and White, and Hawthorne Heights are still that band whose music you can cry in your car alone to. The Rain Just Follows Me is the band’s eighteenth album, released on September 10th, and it has that Hawthorne Heights sound that listeners know and have loved for almost 20 years. It’s a brilliant album, one any Hawthorne Heights fan will love. Hawthorne Heights are JT Woodruff (vocals, guitar), Mark McMillon (guitar, backing vocals), Matt Ridenour (bass, backing vocals), and Chris Popadak (drums). Hawthorne Heights formed in 2001, you might know them from their signature song, “Ohio Is For Lovers.” The Rain Just Follows Me is 11 tracks. It speaks of themes of physical & emotional distance between lead singer and guitarist JT Woodruff from his wife and daughter in Ohio, as well as of his struggle with his personal identity, as he is known for being the frontman of one of the most popular emo bands from the early 2000’s. I’m far too young to have ever experienced or heard Hawthorne Heights as they were in the early 2000s, but I did grow up with their music — “Ohio Is For Lovers” has always found a place on my playlists throughout the years, and The Rain Just Follows Me is a record which I have no doubt will be the same for me for years to come. The record is full of heartache and honesty, of the reality that comes with living in the industry Woodruff has. Being in the music industry - with a relative amount of fame such as he has - can form a life for you of uneasiness and long-distance everything. It’s fun, but not without its shadows, themes that are prevalent throughout this record. The Rain Just Follows Me also offers comfort to those who are caught in the rain — it lets you know that you’re not alone with whatever you are struggling with. The Rain Just Follows Me opens with “Constant Dread,” which sounds fresh and alive, while keeping with a traditional, emo- rock sound, the same sound Hawthorne Heights have they’ve had for almost 20 years. “The Rain Just Follows Me,” comes next, a track which is one of my top favorites off this record—, it’ is melodic and feels whole, feels familiar in a great way. “Holy Coast” is vibrant and upbeat, an almost instant-anthem. “Tired and Alone” is a strong track about the distance between lovers and the weight it brings. “Thunder in Our Hearts,” is unforgettable and a head-banger. It is about being together in darkness, that knowing everyone struggles but it’s okay, we have each other. “Spray Paint It Black,” brings on the prevailing feelings of distance that you experience as a touring musician. Living on the road, being on an entirely different coast from those you love the most for months on end is never anything easy, and this song easily one of the very best off the entire record. “Dull Headlights” details the narrator’s struggle with sobriety, of loneliness and of a changing personality. “We are who we’ve always been,” croons the singer with, a sound of self-doubt. “Palm Canyon Drive” opens with an iconic riff and leads into lyrics that remind me of early 2000’s emo rock songs with lines such as, “I'll be the dust if you'll be the wind / On Palm Canyon Drive / Where our love will never end, you are the color in my life.” “Seafoam” follows, a track about trying to get better and finding that you have to fail a little bit before you get there—, and while you can’t go back to who you once were, you can keep moving forward to get better. “Words Can’t Hurt” is a great track about growing up into adulthood and finding that everything’s changed. “Bambarra Beach (The End)” is the closing track to The Rain Just Follows Me. It opens with screaming vocals—, a sound known to long-time fans of Hawthorne Heights—, and goes into fast-paced guitar with lyrics that sing of failing but rising again like a phoenix from the ashes. Overall, this record is great, a gift to both long-time fans and new (and young) listeners. It has that same energy and similar sound their first record had back in 2004, but revised for 2021. It’s bound to become a long-lasting favorite, I know it’s already one of mine. Follow Hawthorne Heights on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.