The godfathers of Long Island post-hardcore set the record straight
By JULIA KAGANSKIY | July 5, 2006
Lifetime |
When Lifetime crawled out of the swamps of New Jersey in the early ’90s, underground music fans didn’t know what to make of them. Treading the line between hardcore and pop-punk, they didn't quite fit anywhere, and the majority of their seven years' existence was spent making their friends famous. Their opening bands, like the Bouncing Souls and Texas Is the Reason, blew up, while Lifetime’s popularity stayed stagnant. As is so often the case with bands ahead of their time, it wasn’t until after they broke up that anyone started paying attention.Since their breakup in 1997, Lifetime have become legends in the punk/hardcore community. They’re credited with pioneering the sound that MTV made famous with Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, and Saves The Day — just don’t call them the Pixies of emo. What in the ’90s seemed a no-man’s-land has become hardcore's all-access pass to the mainstream — a sound that's reverberating in garages and basements from Long Island to Orange County.
Older, wiser, with real jobs, families, and new bands, the members of Lifetime aren't the same kids they were 10 years ago. There's no pressure to succeed, no worries about selling enough merch to cover gas costs, and the rent will get paid whether or not their new record deal with Fueled By Ramen works out. This time around, all that Lifetime guitarist Dan Yemin — that’s Dr. Yemin to you: when he’s not playing with Paint It Black or Armalite, he’s a practicing child psychologist — wants is to have some fun and take care of some unfinished business.
As Lifetime prepare to embark on a July mini-tour with the Loved Ones and the Bronx, Dr. Dan took some time to talk to thePhoenix.com about what's in store for Lifetime.
Related:
Worst in breed: Music, The Big Hurt: Jammin’ with Nordstrom, The Interpreter, More 
- Worst in breed: Music
Who are the unsexiest music men of 2007?
- The Big Hurt: Jammin’ with Nordstrom
“I am stoked to collaborate with Nordstrom,” said Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz in a recent press release.
- The Interpreter
Emo blows. You know that. But what are you doing about it?
- Rock school
Pete Wentz wanted the kids to curse along with the chorus.
- The emo corps
Some young bands dream of the day they’ll write that one beautiful, searing bundle of truth that persuades parents to have kids, inspires armies to stop fighting, and conjures puppies and kittens from thin air.
- Such great Heights
Hawthorne Heights were into it, the kids were into it, heck, even the parents were into it. Slideshow: Hawthorne Heights, Halifax, and Hit the Lights at Axis, June 23, 2006
- The Big Hurt: Here come the summer fests
Look alive, alt-metal fans. Time to polish the wallet chain, spray some Febreze on the ol’ cargo shorts, and dye your goatee purple for maximum extremeness: festival season is nearly upon us!
- Never Too Late
Too Late the Hero’s tour kicked off in an auspicious way that can only happen to bands from northern climes.
- On the racks: August 15, 2006
. . . plus mothafuckin' snakes
- Ready for action!
It’s hard to say how many showers they’ve missed or how many T-shirts they’ve gone through in the month-plus they’ve been on the road this summer, but it’s safe to say that the van they’re crisscrossing the country in is rife with man-stink.
- The Big Hurt: Aussie asses sued off
MEN AT WORK — best known for their 1983 hit "Down Under" — have just had their pants sued off by a dead schoolmarm and her 78-year-old Girl Scout song.
- Less
Topics:
Music Features
, Entertainment, Pete Wentz, Music, More
, Entertainment, Pete Wentz, Music, Pop and Rock Music, Punk Rock, My Chemical Romance, Mudhoney, Alternative and Indie Rock, Fall Out Boy, University of Michigan, Less
