“5 Albums That Changed Our Lives” with Patrons

One of the great things about running a music-oriented website is discovering new bands. Today’s discovery, Patrons, is brand new to the scene, but don’t let their short time as a band fool you – they’ve already opened for Every Time I Die and Dads in the last year. The thing that caught me about their recently released self-titled EP, is this apt description of their sound:

Patrons make a noise that gives a nod to the expanse of bands like This Will Destroy You and Thrice, yet also a tip of the hat to the stop-start rhythms of bands like Reuben and La Dispute.

The band took some time out to discuss one album per band member (and one they mutually agreed on) that shaped their lives in some way. Check out their selections after the jump, and be sure to catch them touring in the UK and Europe! Be sure to follow the band on Facebook too.

Olly: ‘Hybrid Theory’ – Linkin Park

Back when Linkin Park could write riffs to blow your socks off, and had screams and hooks to compete with the best of them. This album introduced me into slightly heavier music from a very early age. I loved the way the band captured anger and angst but built on it and made it into this interesting thing, instead of a 3-minute shout fest. Great album, great songs, I’m not even slightly ashamed to admit this album changed my life.

Danny: ‘Deloused In The Comatorium’ – The Mars Volta

There have been many albums over the years that have changed my perspective on what music can be, but none have quite had the effect that this record did. It’s so creative and dramatic. Whenever I listen to it, my mind is filled with images, as if I was almost watching the album unfold. The fact that these images are conjured through some of the best rhythms, guitar lines and vocals I have ever heard, makes this one of my favourite albums of all time, and certainly one of the most influential.

James: ‘Ænima’ – Tool
I took ages to grow in to this album after buying it on a whim based solely on how the art work caught my eye. It took quite a few listens for me to even begin to comprehend what exactly is going on in this record and I didn’t warm to it straight away. Fortunately, I heard something I really liked and just kept listening to it over and over again, it’s since been an album that has stuck with me for over a decade and I still find it very interesting and liberating to listen to.

Mark: ‘Vertigo of Bliss’ – Biffy Clyro

It’s an album that does exactly what it wants. I remember listening to it for the first time from start to finish and being completely blown away by the journey I felt I had just been on. The album has such variety; the songs just don’t sit still. There are so many ideas on show but for me the whole record is still able to reflect a cohesive collection of songs successfully. I loved the loud/quiet dynamic, the guitar tones, the interesting time signatures; it was unlike anything I’d heard previously, a game changer. There’s also a rumour that all the instruments for the record were recorded in a day… which if true, is incredible!

Combined: ‘Racecar is Racecar Backwards’ – Reuben

Probably the only band/record that you’d be able to get us all to agree on. Such a great band and such a shame that they don’t exist anymore. ‘Racecar’ has everything we all want in an album; there’s a great balance between heavy and light, the use of melody is brilliant, it’s musically interesting, the lyrics clever but subtle, we could go on forever. It was a real eye opener to us; in the sense that there are bands out there pushing the boundaries without worrying necessarily about what’s ‘cool’ or ‘trendy’. They were just doing what they wanted to do, writing the songs they wanted to write, and it ended up being really unique. A testament to that would be that there is not really a band out there today who are like Reuben and there’s not a record that’s like ‘Racecar is Racecar Backwards’.