Socialburn hails from the small town of Blountstown, Fla., and according to singer Neil Alday, it was living there that helped the band develop into what it is today.
“We were the only band in town so we could write whatever we wanted,” Alday said as he sat on his tour bus waiting to arrive in New Orleans, the next stop on group’s tour with Sevendust. “There wasn’t a fear of someone not liking a song and we felt we could do whatever we wanted to and it didn’t matter.”
Things changed when the group left Blountstown to hit the rock scene in Tallahassee, Fla.
“Once we got to Tallahassee we started meeting other bands and realized we had to step our game up and write better songs.”
As the band writes better music they are able to break away from their small town and become a bigger name in the music world, a feat the band once doubted they could accomplish. Socialburn was able to prove any naysayer and themselves, wrong. “Making it wasn’t our intent at the time and we were just really playing for the hell of it,” Alday said.
“Once we started playing shows in Tallahassee things started rolling and next thing you know we were making it, regardless of what other people thought.”
The band’s latest album, Beauty of Letting Go, is an emotional ride and Socialburn worked hard to give fans music that they could feel and connect with. Everything on the album, even the title, possesses a special meaning to Alday.
“The Beauty of Letting Go is basically [that] I was in a relationship where I thought it was going places and it wasn’t. So for eight months I was sitting around wondering what was going on that was wrong,” Alday said. “The truth of the matter is you shouldn’t worry about it at all, you should just let it go. It’s a no-win situation because you let go so you lost, but you win at the same time, so that’s the beauty of it.”
Sevendust and Socialburn recently visited the Electric Factory but will return to the area again to perform at the House of Blues in Atlantic City, N.J. on March 30.
“We’re not out here trying to outdo Sevendust,” Alday said. “I think we bring something to the table that a true music fan can enjoy. We are trying to have fun and play our music for people who have never heard it before. It’s going to be a good show for everyone as long as you’re open minded.”
Dan Cappello can be reached at daniel.cappello@temple.edu.
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