THE FALL OF TROY

An unflattering picture NAVE took of this prototype Gibson guitar.

I have little perception of how many of my 21-25 year-old friends enjoy The Fall Of Troy. I’m almost certain none of the damaged-artsy noise kids do. Same goes for the post-damaged-artsy kids who moved showering up on the prerogative list about the same time as Clap Your Hands Say Yeah overtook Xiu Xiu as the show-to-wear-a-party-dress-at. I think most of my math-rock friends probably enjoyed TFOT back when the band played basements for free, though I’m unsure they’d admit it now. I’m sure that my “post-hardcore” friends like TFOT, and I’m certain that all my 15-20 year-old friends love (or are about to love) TFOT.

I know pigeonholing doesn’t make or keep friends, so let me be clear: I don’t care who likes TFOT and I’m stoked for whatever they’re liking instead. But a lot of people love TFOT and I think these people—though younger—have amazing, significant reasons for their appreciation. I think the qualities of the appreciation—it’s pretty fervent and viral—make TFOT a new yardstick in an industry changing so fast it’s psychedelic. TFOT farmed a cult of fans from the ground up. The band toured incessantly since all the members were under 18 (they are now 21-ish). The trio easily outshined the zillion-watt lights burning out the decade’s first international music scene. Instead of doing this by innovating mascara usage, pissing off an Osbourne, or rehashing Mötley Crüe, TFOT succeed by updating the progressive swirl of Rush so that kids into My Chem could compute. In fact (and here's a big compliment), I'm sure TFOT is a gateway band for a lot of kids, leading them to music outside of the mentioned "scene." That scene—like a totem with only one repeating face—had become profitable, popular, and largely disposable long before TFOT entered the pit. It remains that way today. Really, it's stronger than ever, as we’ll see next Tuesday when Fall Out Boy bury The Used with an album of songs that Robert Edward McCracken should have purchased the rights to years ago.

Don’t read into this too much: I’m not saying this scene of scream/sing after-emo produced TFOT. Nor does TFOT sound remotely like FOB (hopefully you're still with me). I am saying that I’m impressed that this scene allows for a band like TFOT, and I’m especially impressed with TFOT’s ownership over its career within the homogeny that helped foster its success. The case-in-point is the seemingly hand-selected lineup for the band’s current headlining national tour. All the bands are exceptional in their own way: Portugal. The Man, one of Fearless Records’ recent stabs at remembering a better past, are as progressive—if softer—than TFOT; Damiera, labelmates with TFOT, take Cap ‘n Jazz-style math rock and give it a dose of contemporaneousness; and Tera Melos, the love of my life, provide the purest, unhinged artistic integrity that I’m arguing this tour is full of. It’s a big deal that a band like TFOT, that will end up selling out a majority of the shows on this, its first national tour, is willing to assure this sort of musical quality succeeds in its wake. And succeed these bands will: I’d feel like Judas by mentioning just how much income all the bands are generating, but be assured, the numbers across the board are very high.

That should mean that the audience will grow and (hopefully) sustain for every band on the tour. I went to the kick off for the tour, a show in San Francisco that might have sold out twice over. The line was enormous. Half the attendees (myself included) missed most of Melos waiting outside. I’ve seen a bundle of sold out shows at the 250-ish capacity Bottom Of The Hill. I’ve noticed types of sold out shows: Minus The Bear sold out the night of, so it seemed fairly packed, but not too crazy. The Mars Volta (on their first tour ever) and Thrice (way back in the day) were much fuller. Or maybe the crowds had more panicked energy, as if they knew it wouldn’t be like this again.


This kid, upon finding out that the show was gonzo-sold out, decided to try and jump the razor-wire fence. We have no idea what happened to him, but rumor has it he’s trapped in the maw.

TFOT’s crowd had that energy, as if next time ‘round it would cost $45 to see TFOT open with Circa Survive for Coheed And Cambria at the 3,500-capacity Warfield on the “Equal Vision Records Just Made Another $50 Million This Year Tour.” But at BOTH, people went apeshit for every band. Melos’ music, peerless as it is, earned polite applause and confusion, which usually means that everyone’s brains were (understandably) about a minute behind what was happening on stage. Damiera and Portugal. The Man had more and more people singing along. And TFOT had 200 fists raised for an hour straight. TFOT ringleader Thomas Erak could step into the crowd like a Jesus-in-girls-jeans and walk all over his fans, who looked even happier than when their guitar hero wasn’t touching them. Erak shreds phenomenal riffs, and this is what gets me wettest about this whole salad of screamo, prog, math-rock, and pop: it’s founded on incredible, thoughtful musicianship.

As songwriters edging their way into the centrifuge of pop culture, TFOT bring more to the table than most bands of comparable size: key changes, timing switches, riff after riff, solos, jams, all captured by wicked musical choreography. The band represents many things, the most important of which—from where I’m standing and singing along—is the proliferation of technical audacity in the mainstream marketplace. I think that cultural tastes seem to change when cults outgrow themselves. Rarely does music this complex cause a cult audience to outgrow itself, and rarely still does that growth even begin to take over the scene itself.

TFOT will release an anticipated album in just a few months. They know there’s an army of interest. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m wordy when I’m excited, and I’m excited that music this creative can make such an impact. It gives the future a lot of purpose.

Click to download “You Got A Death Wish, Johnny Truant” by The Fall Of Troy, from the album Doppelgänger.

Click to download “Marching With 6” by Portugal. The Man from the album Waiter: "You Vultures!".

Click to download “Lessons” by Damiera, from the album M(US)ic.

Click to download “The Werewolf And Ben” by Tera Melos, from the vinyl-only release Drugs To The Dear Youth.


This is a new song, probably my favorite I’ve heard. Live at Bottom Of The Hill. No one is holding it together.


“I Just Got This Symphony Goin’” live in Italy.


Tera Melos playing at The Door in Dallas. There were over 800 people at this show.

The Fall Of Troy’s WEBSITE.
The Fall Of Troy on MYSPACE.
The Fall Of Troy on PUREVOLUME.
The Fall Of Troy on LAST.FM.
The Fall Of Troy on WIKIPEDIA.
The Fall Of Troy on HYPEMACHINE.
The Fall Of Troy on AMAZON.
Support The Fall Of Troy’s (and Damiera’s) LABEL.