All Time Low 'So Wrong It's Right' album

After a year of winning over critics and fans alike with their breakout Put Up Or Shut Up EP, as well as their over-the-top, energy-filled live shows (including stellar performances on the Vans Warped Tour and Bamboozle), Baltimore four-piece All Time Low (singer/guitarist Alex Gaskarth, guitarist Jack Barakat, bassist Zack Merrick and drummer Rian Dawson) will release their debut full-length, So Wrong It's Right on September 25th via Hopeless Records. All Time Low's Put Up Or Shut Up EP has sold over 50,000 copies to date, a huge portion of witch is in digital sales, and has been selling between 1,500-2,000 copies a week all summer. The buzz around this band keeps on rising and the dudes of All Time Low are poised to be 2008's next big thing.

Members of the graduating class of 2006 (that’s high school), the Maryland boys have two EPs to their credit and tours with Plain White T’s, Sugarcult, Cute Is What We Aim For, The Early November, and Motion City Soundtrack under their skinny belts. Heralded by tastemakers such Alternative Press (who called ATL one of “100 Bands You Need To Know” in 2007), AbsolutePunk.net (who wrote, “Say hello to your new favorite pop-punk band”) and Metal Hammer, All Time Low has been taking the “pop punk” label back and wearing it as a proud badge of honor.

“A lot of bands that start out being called ‘pop-punk’ either shy away from the term or end up trying to force their sound in a different direction,” singer/guitarist Alex Gaskarth explains. “We’re proud of who we are, and we’re trying to take pop-punk back to where it used to be: a place that’s about having fun, being positive and building a community.”

Working once again with Producer Matt Squire (Panic! At the Disco, Cute Is What We Aim For) along with longtime collaborator Paul Leavitt (Over It), So Wrong, It’s Right is a mature step forward in the “pop punk” field. From the fist-pumping first single “Six Feet Under The Stars” to the SoCal-style punk volley of “This Is How We Do” to the acoustic lament “Remembering Sunday,” So Wrong, It’s Right manages to get it right every time, and singer Alex Gaskarth emerges as a very compelling storyteller/songwriter.

All Time Low are currently wrapping up their summer long stint on Warped Tour and will follow that up with a string of UK dates with Plain White T’s. Upon their return to the US, ATL will be supporting The Starting Line on a run of East Coast dates, after which they will head out as direct support on Boys Like Girls’ national fall tour.

biography
While sizable chunks of high school graduates received their diplomas at the end of the school year unsure on what sort of career path they'll embark, the members of Baltimore-area pop-punk quartet All Time Low have an exact idea of where they'll be headed — straight into the van and in the studio for a full-time career in music.

These class of 2006 high school graduates have spent most of their high school careers developing their sound, refining their live sets and gaining valuable recording experience through their years in All Time Low. And they're exiting their senior years with the talent and knowledge in hand to take their craft seriously, primarily via the release of their Hopeless/Sub City debut, Put Up Or Shut Up. Kick-starting with the melody-drenched opener "Coffee Shop Soundtrack," Put Up Or Shut Up winds the listener through the various hallways of All Time Low's musical safe house, including the seamless, stuttered chorus accents of "Break Out! Break Out!," the swaying, waltz-esque rhythms of "Lullabies" and the stunning vocal harmonies of "The Girl's A Straight-Up Hustler."

Gaskarth and guitarist Jack Barakat launched All Time Low over three years ago after gaining some initial inspiration from bands like Blink-182 and Green Day. With the addition of drummer Rian Dawson and bassist Zack Merrick, All Time Low found itself further refining its early sound. "We always set out to play pop punk, as that's always what we've wanted to play and write our music around," says Gaskarth. "Though there hasn't been a huge change in the style of the music, we've progressed and matured as musicians over the years."

All Time Low's Baltimore locale was instrumental in helping the act gain some quick recognition and experience in the clubs. "Baltimore has some really great venues and all the venues give young, new bands a chance to do their thing and play to as many people as they can," says Gaskarth. Some of those acts have included Motion City Soundtrack, The Early November, The Academy Is.., Acceptance, Gym Class Heroes and Cartel.

Touring between their high school commitments, the members of All Time Low managed to cover both the East Coast and Southern states, gaining some valuable road lessons during spring breaks and summer vacations. In addition to the touring life, All Time Low also released a pair of independently produced discs via local label Emerald Moon, including a four-song EP in 2004 and a full-length, titled The Party Scene, in 2005.

One of the bands All Time Low happened to share a bill with was Amber Pacific. After becoming friends with the Hopeless act, Amber Pacific passed All Time Low's music to Hopeless Records. The label immediately took interest and the band quickly became the newest addition to the roster. (All Time Low aim to release their full-length in late 2007.)

Put Up Or Shut Up features new recordings of some older material, refined and updated to meet the band's current standards. The self-produced EP was mixed by Zach Odom and Kenneth Mount at Tree Sound Studios in Atlanta (Outkast, Cartel).

And there are plenty of people around All Time Low at their live shows, which Gaskarth likens to a party of sorts, where Silly string, beach balls and crowd surfing aren't all that uncommon.

"We don't like to replicate the CD exactly," he says. "We make a thing out of being almost theatrical on stage. We try to turn the whole place into a party every time. We want to be everybody's friend. I think we try to keep everything really positive and have a good time. We've come to party!"

band members
Alex Gaskarth- guitar/lead vocals
Rian Dawson- drums
Jack Barakat- guitar/vocals
Zack Merrick- bass/vocals

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All Time Low - So Wrong It's Right