When Senses Fail roared out of New Jersey five years ago, the quintet couldn’t drink in the bars where they were booked to play. The group’s 18-year-old vocalist James “Buddy” Nielsen had posted a band recruitment ad on the Web in 2002, attracting 15-year-old drummer Dan Trapp and his two guitar pals Garrett Zablocki and Dave Miller (17 and 18, respectively). Former Tokyo Rose bassist Mike Glita, the fledgling band’s elder statesman at 20, joined a few months later.
The band took its name from a Buddhist belief that dissociation from material concerns, human relationships and one’s own senses is necessary to see God, while fashioning its sound from an amalgamation of Punk, Metal and Hardcore influences. They booked every imaginable gig, from skate parks to churches, before assembling From the Depth of Dreams, a six-song EP that cracked the Billboard album chart.
Senses Fail’s 2004 debut full-length, Let It Enfold You, drew lyrical inspiration from historian/philosopher Joseph Campbell, poet/drunk Charles Bukowski and the Dao De Jing, and has to date sold more than 300,000 copies. The following year, Miller was ousted from the band and replaced by Midtown guitarist Heath Saraceno, leading up to their sophomore album, Still Searching, where Senses Fail dialed back their snarling aggression and offered more introspection. But they still brought the rage onstage for their appearances on the Warped and Taste of Chaos tours.
Last year, Glita departed to join Love Automatic and to concentrate on his Knights in Paris side project; since then Hot Water Music bassist Jason Black has filled in until a permanent replacement is installed, although his appearance on the new Senses Fail album, the just-released Life Is Not a Waiting Room, would suggest he’s in to stay.
Nielsen says that the new album is about change and evolution, and sonicly it represents a shift to their earliest Hardcore influences. Buckle your mosh-belts — it’s going to be a wild show.
Buy tickets, check out performance times and find nearby bars and restaurants here.
This article appears in Nov 5-11, 2008.
