Reclaiming The Feeling

It was a move that made every Taking Back Sunday fan smile – the band subbing out guitarist Matthew Fazzi and bass player Matt Rubano for former members John Nolan and Shaun Cooper in 2010. Practically overnight, the New York group's story had been given an incredible plot twist, and suddenly the title of 2009 record New Again seemed prophetic, with Taking Back Sunday's Tell All Your Friends debut line-up from 2002 back together.

The band have bettered those former glories, however, by kicking on for a second consecutive recording, backing up their eponymous 2011 release with this year's Happiness Is. In doing so, vocalist Adam Lazzara says that Taking Back Sunday have really found their groove.

“When we were doing the self-titled record, I feel like we were still feeling each other out because there were all those years between us,” he explains. “It was really awesome to be making music with one another again, but there were still times where one person wouldn't be as vocal about their ideas. With Happiness Is, everyone had both hands in it.”

Using Taking Back Sunday as a launch pad to see if the chemistry was still there, the bandmates were happy to consume themselves in new music this time around, knowing full well the group was reinvigorated on a personal level. Two years of writing went into Happiness Is, with the five friends – who now all live in different states – scheduling the songwriting sessions in a neutral location, a setting which made sure every idea got a fair chance.

Another situation that helped the creativity flow was the fact they were independent for a period, having cut ties from Warner.

“When we started writing and recording we didn't have a label, so there was no outside influence, nobody looking over our shoulders as we were making it,” Lazzara says. “We were really free to try whatever we wanted, and through that that's how we ended up with songs like All The Way, which is one of my favourites on the record, Nothing At All, Better Homes And Gardens, stuff like that. That's stuff that only the five of us could do.

“In the past we weren't in this relaxed state,” he adds. “With this one we just went in and threw everything at the wall, and just tried to make the best songs we could, and push ourselves. Having come out the other end of that experience, I think that that's when we write our best.”

But what would happen if someone left now? Lazzara doesn't even want to humour the idea. “Man, I don't even know at this point,” he ponders. “We've been through the ringer, and if there's anything we're good at it's adapting to our surroundings. But if somebody left at this point I don't even know what we'd do? That would probably be it – I don't know if we could survive another line-up change.”

That's a worry for another day though. Right now, we've only got positives to look forward to, with Taking Back Sunday coming Down Under on a co-headliner with The Used. The two bands were sharing stages earlier this year around the US, and “the response was just so great” that they had to share the experience with Australia, no doubt encouraged by The Used frontman Bert McCracken, who these days calls Sydney home with his Aussie wife.

“Both bands are kinda in the same place as [far as] like our perspective of everything goes,” Lazzara smiles. “We've come out the other end as far as any kind of egos or anything like that, and I think we're all at a point where we just really appreciate the fact that we're able to bring our music to people and get a large amount of people in one place to forget whatever it is they're going through.”

And after plenty of behind-the scenes movements and dramas in both camps, getting that good vibe on tour with like-minded peers is more than essential. After all, Happiness Is...

“I think that's important just across the board,” Lazzara enthuses. “For me it's not just being on tour, it's my everyday life. You just want to surround yourself with people that appreciate what they're doing when they're doing it.”