Bands I sometimes forget exsist but are AWESOME #3- Rogue Wave

Rogue Wave was one of my first true musical loves. It started in grade 11, but back then you couldn't find their music in Canada (I have no clue how I found them, back then I was a machine because I had just realized all the good music there is out there). Anyhow, I had probably 5 of their songs from various locations (limewire probably...) and in grade 12 I went on a trip to Memphis with my high school band (yep... but really like 2/3 of the school was in band (maybe that's because of awesome trips like Memphis (where we went to a music festival that had acts such as: James Brown, B.B. King, 3 6 mafia, Bryan Adams, Jerry Lee Lewis, Train, basically the most random assortment) and an 11 day cruise to the Bahamas where we played once for 30 minutes), plus I really loved making music... still do) and I found my heaven. Tower records gave me access to millions of c.d.'s I had never seen in Canada. I spent at LEAST an hour in that store, had a stack of 20 albums I wanted to buy all for very reasonable prices. However, I decided to tone it down, and choose three. The results were: Sufjan Stevens, Matt Pond PA, and Rogue Wave.

Some (matching... although not on purpose) friends and I in 2006 in Memphis after riding the 'duck' in the Mississippi River

All of these were instant love. I still love all three of these bands. I rediscovered old Rogue Wave music yesterday when I realized that I hadn't uploaded 4 cd's to my computer, one being Out of The Shadow, Rogue Wave's first cd. I am listening to it now, and it inspired this blog (listen to End Game, Man-Revolutionary! (listen here from my music player to the right!), Falcon Settles Me, and Endless Shovel). Their second album Descend Like Vultures is also awesome (Catform, Love's Lost Guarantee , and Temporary is my claim to guitar tabbing, It was the first and only solo I've ever tabbed on the internet). Their third album, Asleep at Heaven's Gate, was released in 2007 and took on a much darker feel (due to several issues members were dealing with: organ failures and surgeries, deaths of close family members... it was to them what Funeral was to Arcade Fire). It was also a change in labels from Subpop to Brushfire.

Rogue Wave is a great band, and if you haven't heard them, they're worth a listen. They're kind of similar to The Shins with a little more... edge? They bring me back to high school in a good way. Simpler times, nostalgia, and the like.