THE STORY CHANGES—Mark McMillon and Christopher Popadak of Hawthorne Heights and Chris Serafini of The Stereo—premieres the new video for “Shooting Stars” from the band’s new album To Hell with This Delicate Equation releasing this Friday, April 26 via Ohio based Magnaphone Records. The video for “Shooting Stars” is an homage to 80s movies with punks versus nerds…on roller skates!
Mark McMillon says of the video, “I love the feel of 80s movies, and what’s not to love about two rival gangs of ‘nerds’ and ‘punks’ battling it out at their local roller rink? I think everyone can relate a little to the nerds as they get picked at until they finally snap and retaliate. I wouldn’t want to be on the other side of the line in that rink when the nerds say enough is enough.
This was so much fun to film! I feel our band is guilty of having everything always come off so serious. It was really refreshing to do something meant to be silly this time around. We filmed in the roller rink near my childhood home, so it was a total blast from the past being inside. That place is an absolute time capsule. A great cast of friends in bands from our hometown stepped up to be the punks and nerds. They all killed it!”
Dayton, Ohio natives The Story Changes’ newest album To Hell with This Delicate Equation is an energetic blend of late 90s/early 2000s emo, modern rock, and a moody aggressiveness that supplies a gritty edge in all the right places. The album was mixed by longtime friend Jamie Woolford (Gin Blossoms, The Smoking Popes, Punchline).
Embracing their DIY upbringing, the band spent their blocks of time home in between tours throughout 2018 building a new studio in McMillon’s (vocals/guitar) home and recording the album there free from distractions and any sort of deadline. The singer explains, “For me, it was really important to take our time on this record and work on it over the last year when we had pockets of time that didn’t feel rushed. Building the studio here and recording it at home was both scary and exhilarating. Once we got past the initial fear of doing it ourselves, it was completely freeing and an absolute rush.”
With that freedom came the extra time to dive in and experiment more than ever. McMillon notes, “I really wanted to try some different approaches with my voice on these songs and had a lot of fun layering my normal singing voice with additional whispers, screaming, and everything in between.” The “whisper effect,” as it has become dubbed by the band, adds a sort of haunting effect that becomes a theme throughout the album and ties many of the songs together. The addition of screaming in select moments also helps to drive the album even further. The end result is 12 songs of honest, energetic, moody, and aggressive rock that make To Hell with This Delicate Equation sound equally at home in both 2019 and 1999.
Standout tracks like “Shooting Stars,” “Crying Wolf,” “Golden Age,” and “Shake” incorporate The Story Changes’ sound from their fan favorite 2013 LP Static and Trembling, but with a slightly more aggressive tone and added confidence.
Album pre-orders have launched at: thestorychanges.com.
1st pressing vinyl info:
100 Red w/ black smoke
100 Clear w/ black smoke
100 Black w/ white splatter
Upcoming shows:
April 26 – Dayton, OH – @ Omega Music (Acoustic set and album listening party)
May 10 – Columbus, OH @ Craft and Vinyl
May 11 – Dayton, OH @ Yellow Cab (Hometown album release show)
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