the academy is... is an american rock band formed in 2003 and they have become my entire life. this band is my favorite band ever (tied withe cobra starship). i first started listening to them in early november (the month, not the band LOL) 2020, but i ended up not indulging in them too much. until february 2021. i fell down a rabbithole of images of william beckett and become obsessed. i started listening to them nearly every day, slowly acquiring more knowledge of them but not a concerning amount. finally, on june 1st 2021, my brain was replaced with a sponge invented to absorb knowledge about them. my favorite member is often mistaken for william due to my absurd amount of knowledge on him and how much i talk about him. however, my actual favorite members (though it's so hard to choose) are tom conrad and mike carden... pause for laughter (they hate each other). my favorite album in the history of ever is santi. i have it on the limited edition red/orange splatter on clear vinyl and on cd with the dvd. dont ask me how much money i've spent on tai merch or how many scrobbles i have for this band, both are concerning numbers. i could answer pretty much anything about them and could talk about them for days nonstop. there are no words to describe how much i love the academy is... <3
william beckett was (still is in my heart) the lead singer of tai and i might know more about him than i do abt myself LOL. this is just an excuse to put a few cute pictures of him.
aaand dont think that i love the rest of the band any less. i wanted to do a little section for all of them, but im lazy rn
starting with mike carden aka santi aka dr fear. he's an asshole and i love him. he played the guitar and was a forming member
then my good friend adam t siska, sisky business, bass whiz sisky biz. he plays the bass, another forming member
the butcherrrrrr, andy mrotek. he plays drums and is so cool. he wasn't a forming member, he joined right after almost here was recorded
tom conrad also joined around the same time to play guitar. tomrad is my fave member and i know and care way too much abt his getting kicked out. please ask me about it
and after tom was kicked out, michael guy chislett filled in for him. i think i talk the least abt him ngl. sorry chiz
and i really rarely talk abt aj latrace (guitar) and mike delprincipe (drums) but they were there for the original tai lineup and they returned to play attention at the riotfest 2022 shows which i think is so cute and fun
so technically tai's first release is the academy ep, but more commonly ppl count almost here as tai's first release. "almost here" is a great start to tai's discography, truly. it has an amateur charm with unusually jaded lyrics that i think really encapsulates the band at the time perfectly. it was recorded prior to aj and mike leaving, so the credits on the album are technically incorrect
fun facts abt this album, god where to start. it was written in album order (attention first, then season, etc) based on what the boys thought an album should be. down and out was written the first time william ever got high, which made sisky really mad until he read the lyrics LOLLLL like i mentioned before, the butcher and tom are credited on the album despite joining after the whole album had already been recorded. the "tony and johnny" from down and out ran the first record label tai was on and ended up becoming tai's tour manager and an employee at fbr respectively
santi, my beloved.this album was my 9/11. i love santi more than anything else in the world. it is truly everything to me. most people, however, (at least at the time of release) disagree with me. this album was received shockingly poorly, primarily bc everyone just wanted Almost Here 2. the harder sound and tear-your-heart-out lyrics were not expected at the time, but make it stand out in the lineup of tai releases. if you take anything away from this entire blog, it should be to listen to santi
their final album was "fast times at barrington high." it has their most well known song (about a girl) and might be their most well known. and i like it! but i don't think it deserves that title. it was a letter to william's child or something along those lines. so it's rather nostalgia-highschool-ish. but it really is a good album. though it's my least favorite era of their looks LOL
"lost in pacific time" is an ep of 5 total songs that i listened to for like 4 days straight once. it was actually produced by chiz and recorded while they toured, which was huge progress from their original writing process of "fight until something gets done." it's maybe my 2nd favorite tai release after santi. which is a lot of personal fondness rather than actual musical objectivity but i never said i was gonna be objective. there's not a lot of photos that i'd categorize under this specific release, so this is just an excuse to talk abt this ep :3
it is an ultimate goal of mine to own this ep on cd since they only released 500 (iirc) so if you have it and want to give it to me for free for being so special, hmu LOLLL