The Finer Things (album)

The Finer Things
Studio album by State Champs
Released October 8, 2013
Recorded April 9–May 9, 2013
The Panda Studios in Fremont, California
Genre Pop punk
Length 34:34
Label Pure Noise
Producer Steve Klein
State Champs chronology
Overslept
(2012)		 The Finer Things
(2013)		 The Acoustic Things
(2014)

The Finer Things is the debut studio album by American rock band State Champs.

Background and production

State Champs formed in Albany, New York in 2010.[1] The band consist of Derek Discanio on vocals, Tyler Szalkowski and Tony Diaz on guitar, William Goodermote on bass and Evan Ambrosio on drums.[1] The band released EP 2010 in August,[2] which was quickly followed up with the Apparently, I'm Nothing EP in January 2011.[3] In April 2012, interest in a demo of "Critical" helped the band gain a recording contract, a management company and a booking agency.[4] On April 19, it was announced that the band signed to Pure Noise.[5] The band released the Overslept EP[1] in September through Pure Noise.[6]

On April 9, 2013, it was announced the band had started recording their debut album with New Found Glory guitarist Steve Klein at The Panda Studios in Fremont, California.[7] Exactly a month later, it was announced the band had finished recording.[8] All of the songs that were to feature on their debut album were written in Discanio's bedroom.[4] The album has been described as pop punk.[9][10][11][12][13]

Release

On July 31, 2013, The Finer Things was announced for release, and the track listing and artwork was revealed.[14] On August 20, a music video was released for "Elevated",[15] which was directed by Rob Soucy.[16] The band supported Hit the Lights on their tour of Australia in September.[17] On September 17, "Nothing's Wrong" was made available for streaming.[18] On September 26, "Easy Enough" was made available for streaming.[19] On September 29, a music video was released for "Hard to Please".[20] On October 2, The Finer Things was made available for streaming,[21] and was released on October 8 through Pure Noise.[22] In November, the band supported Chunk! No, Captain Chunk![23] on The Truffle Shuffle Tour.[24]

Between February and April 2014, the band supported We Are the In Crowd;[25] the following month, the band supported The Wonder Years on their tour of the UK and Europe.[26] The band then went on the 2014 edition of Warped Tour.[27] In October 2014, the band released The Acoustic Things EP through Pure Noise.[28] The EP features acoustic versions of several songs from The Finer Things.[29] In October and November, the band co-headlined the Pure Noise Records Tour.[30]

Reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic90/100[31]
Review scores
SourceRating
AbsolutePunk8/10[9]
Alternative Press[10]
Punknews.org[11]
Rock Sound9/10[12]

It charted at number 131 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart[32] and at number 2 on the Heatseekers Albums chart.[33] It has sold 24,000 copies in the United States as of September 2015.[34]

The Finer Things was included on Rock Sound's "50 Best Albums of 2013" list at number 14.[13] Rock Sound also consider it one of the best pop punk albums of the decade.[13] The album was included at number 43 on Rock Sound's "The 51 Most Essential Pop Punk Albums of All Time" list.[35]

Track listing

  1. "Elevated" – 3:29
  2. "Deadly Conversation" – 3:08
  3. "Hard to Please" – 3:03
  4. "Prepare to Be Noticed" – 3:07
  5. "Over the Line" – 3:24
  6. "Simple Existence" – 3:45
  7. "Remedy" – 3:24
  8. "Nothing's Wrong" – 3:18
  9. "Mind Bottled" – 2:54
  10. "Critical" – 3:23
  11. "Easy Enough" – 2:59

Chart performance

Chart (2013) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard 200[36] 132
U.S. Billboard Heatseekers Albums[33] 2

References

Citations
  1. 1 2 3 Thomas, Fred. "State Champs | Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
  2. ↑ "Ep - 2010 - Ep by State Champs". iTunes. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
  3. ↑ Ilvonen, Keagan (January 18, 2011). "Featured Stream: State Champs". AbsolutePunk.net. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
  4. 1 2 Walker 2015, p. 45
  5. ↑ Ilvonen, Keagan (April 19, 2012). "State Champs Sign To Pure Noise Records". AbsolutePunk.net. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
  6. ↑ DiVincenzo, Alex (July 5, 2012). "State Champs Detail New 7"". AbsolutePunk.net. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
  7. ↑ DiVincenzo, Alex (April 9, 2013). "State Champs Begin Working on Full-Length Debut with Steve Klein". AbsolutePunk.net. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
  8. ↑ Ilvonen, Keagan (May 9, 2013). "State Champs Finish Recording New Album". AbsolutePunk.net. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
  9. 1 2 Gardner, Ryan. "State Champs - The Finer Things". AbsolutePunk. Retrieved October 28, 2014.
  10. 1 2 Kraus, Brian (October 4, 2013). "State Champs - The Finer Things". Alternative Press. Retrieved October 28, 2014.
  11. 1 2 RENALDO69 (October 30, 2013). "State Champs - The Finer Things". Punknews.org. Retrieved October 14, 2015.
  12. 1 2 Ritchie, Andy (October 4, 2013). "State Champs - The Finer Things - Reviews". Rock Sound. Retrieved October 14, 2015.
  13. 1 2 3 Patashnik, ed. 2014, p. 21
  14. ↑ DiVincenzo, Alex (July 31, 2013). "State Champs Announce Full-Length Debut "The Finer Things"". AbsolutePunk.net. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
  15. ↑ Wisniewski, Kira (August 20, 2013). "Videos: State Champs: "Elevated"". Punknews.org. Retrieved March 3, 2016.
  16. ↑ Pure Noise Records (August 20, 2015). State Champs "Elevated" Official Music Video. YouTube. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
  17. ↑ Ilvonen, Keagan (June 26, 2013). "Hit The Lights Announce New Australian Tour". AbsolutePunk.net. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
  18. ↑ Wagner, Christian (September 17, 2013). "Stream New State Champs Song "Nothing's Wrong"". AbsolutePunk.net. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
  19. ↑ Wagner, Christian (September 26, 2013). "ABSOLUTExclusive: State Champs". AbsolutePunk.net. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
  20. ↑ Flynn, John (September 29, 2013). "Viedos: State Champs: "Hard to Please"". Punknews.org. Retrieved March 3, 2016.
  21. ↑ Rock Sound (October 2, 2013). "Stream State Champs 'The Finer Things' In Full With Rock Sound!". Rock Sound. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
  22. ↑ Bird, Michele. "State Champs stream new album, 'The Finer Things'". Alternative Press. Retrieved October 28, 2014.
  23. ↑ Beringer, Drew (August 27, 2013). "Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! Announce North American Headline Tour". AbsolutePunk.net. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
  24. ↑ Paul, Aubin (August 27, 2013). "Tours: Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! / State Champs / Living With Lions / Counterparts". Punknews.org. Retrieved March 3, 2016.
  25. ↑ Wagner, Christian (December 3, 2013). "We Are The In Crowd Announces US And UK Headlining Tours". AbsolutePunk.net. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
  26. ↑ Nassiff, Thomas (December 10, 2013). "The Wonder Years Announce UK / Europe Tour with State Champs, A Loss for Words". AbsolutePunk.net. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
  27. ↑ Rock Sound (January 16, 2014). "Four More Bands Confirmed For Vans Warped Tour US". Rock Sound. Retrieved March 3, 2016.
  28. ↑ Rock Sound (August 7, 2014). "State Champs Announce 'The Acoustic Things'. It's An Acoustic EP. Obviously.". Rock Sound. Retrieved March 3, 2016.
  29. ↑ Emily (August 26, 2014). "Exclusive: State Champs Premiere Acoustic Version Of Elevated". Kerrang!. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
  30. ↑ Tate, Jason (August 5, 2014). "State Champs Headlining Pure Noise Records Tour". AbsolutePunk.net. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
  31. ↑ "The Finer Things by The State Champs". Metacritic. Retrieved October 14, 2015.
  32. ↑ Rodriguez, Adrian (March 20, 2014). "Berkeley's Pure Noise Records Celebrates Five Years of Supporting the Pop-Punk Revival". SF Weekly. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
  33. 1 2 "Heatseeker Albums : Oct 26, 2013 | Billboard Chart Archive". billboard.com. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
  34. ↑ "Upcoming Releases". Hits Daily Double. HITS Digital Ventures. Archived from the original on September 17, 2015.
  35. ↑ Bird, ed. 2014, p. 69
  36. ↑ "State Champs – Billboard 200". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media.
Sources
  • Bird, Ryan, ed. (September 2014). "The 51 Most Essential Pop Punk Albums of All Time". Rock Sound. London: Freeway Press Inc. (191). ISSN 1465-0185. 
  • Patashnik, Ben, ed. (January 2014). "50 Best Albums of 2013". Rock Sound. London: Freeway Press Inc. (182). ISSN 1465-0185. 
  • Walker, Jennyfer J. (October 17, 2015). McMahon, James, ed. "Passport to Fame". Kerrang!. London: Bauer Media Group (1590). ISSN 0262-6624. 
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