(Just once) let's blog something different.

Question: Whatever happened to Boys Night Out? Their website hasn't been updated in eight months, and their MySpace, although logged into today, appears equally as dormant, content-wise. One of the first big pieces I was ever assigned at AP was writing a feature about BNO and their awesome 2005 concept album Trainwreck, a record which I still think holds up almost four years later as an inventive take on the pop-screamo genre, with an incredible story (one of the few concept albums I own that I can actually understand what's happening) and killer tunes backing it up. Check out the video for "Medicating" below:



It saddens me that BNO have all but shut down after the release of their self-titled third album in 2007, a disc that was highly underrated -- I still don't care much for Lou Giordano's production on the album (the drums sound soooo wimpy, and the cymbals sound like they were recorded a mile away), but tracks like "Get Your Head Straight," "Up With Me," Hey, Thanks" and "Apartment 4" are successes in terms of sheer poppiness and clever lyricism. Watch "Up With Me" below:



For about a year between late '04 and late '05, the buzz around BNO seemed unstoppable. They were on the road with Saves The Day and Emery, did a stint on the '05 Warped Tour as the Smartpunk Stage headliner and were even tapped to open that fall's Nintendo Fusion Tour with Fall Out Boy (aka the tour that sent FOB, as well as curtain-jerkers Panic At The Disco, into the stratosphere). Yet somehow, all the positive press and word of mouth never caught on like it was supposed to, and it seems like the band members have more or less given up on the group. (I imagine I'd have a hard time staying motivated if I were in a band reduced to opening for Scary Kids Scaring Kids, too.)

It's mindblowing to me sometimes to see how quickly this scene can eat itself. In what world is dreck like Millionaires, Brokencyde or Hypercrush considered better or more enjoyable than Boys Night Out? How come Alesana can release, like, 15 albums in a nine-month period yet we're approaching the two-year mark for new BNO material? Why can't good music just prevail, once and for all?

But I digress. Boys Night Out, if you're reading this, give yourselves what you deserve: one more show, saying goodbye to those of us who still care. I bet there's more of us than you think.