Austin, you kinda lost that privilege.
Whenever band members part ways, bad blood is nearly inevitable. When a musician is removed, the anger boils tenfold. The much-publicized removal of former Of Mice & Men vocalist Austin Carlile was no exception, inspiring angry blogs and tweets from every party involved. Now a few months removed, Carlile is back on Tumblr with a request for the band.
The blog in question claims that new vocalist Jerry Roush screams to a different melody with different lyrics on “Second & Sebring,” a track Carlile wrote for his mother. Roush writes:
“…What brought me to this was I watched a couple videos of the band from Warped Tour and after seeing them all, I am nicely asking [[[When you read this OM&M]]]…. is that on the song “Second & Sebring” you learn all the words, and please scream them correctly. That’s all. That’s it. Simple as store bought pie.
The songs screaming parts, were written by me, and FOR my mother, who passed away when I was 17 years of age. It is titled “Second & Sebring” because I lived in Sebring Court, on the corner of Second Street, in LeHigh Acres Florida, when this happened to me. My mother was the most important person in my life, and taught me more than anyone will ever know. She was an angel on earth. I love and miss her dearly. I wrote the song for her, and would like, out of respect, for the band to take the time and effort to preform the vocals correctly.
Some of you might roll your eyes at this, and say “Wow, really?!” You can butcher, change, cuss in, re-write, destroy, whatever any other song or set of lyrics that I created when I was in this band, but not this one. Not THIS song. I could care less what they do with any other song. I no longer have any say about anything. It’s their band…”
Well, let’s take a look. Here’s the band at Chain Reaction in Anaheim, CA.
Austin, I hear ya. You wrote the song for a loved one, and you’re looking out for her. When you perform this song in the future with whatever new band you form, feel free to perform it however you see fit. Here though, you have no argument. Whether you were unfairly kicked from OM&M or not, this track belongs to the group. If Roush feels the need to alter the song to his liking, he has every right to do so. You summed up my argument yourself: “I no longer have any say about anything. It’s their band.”
As I mentioned, I encourage you play the song to your liking live with your next band, wherever that may be. It would be a waste for you to abandon the track for live sets simply because it’s an OM&M song. Take your lyrics and use them however you see fit. Just drop the OM&M references from your social networking extravaganzas.
For the full request from Carlile, visit his Tumblr.
Comments
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Jack Appleby says:
Totally understand your argument Jacob. I also appreciate the politeness of Austin’s request. I think the band’s intent must be questioned though. In no way is the band performing the song differently a slight to Carlile or his mother. Most importantly, I would assume that Jerry performs the song that way to best suit his vocal style, which is far, far different from Carlile’s. Craig Owens isn’t complaining that Brandon Bolmer sings “A Letter From Janelle” differently. I feel like it would be best for him to simply suck it up and understand Roush is essentially singing a cover song, making it his own the best way possible.
With that in mind, do you still believe the song should be performed as it was recorded?
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Amber says:
This is by far my favorite song. Out of respect, (in which Austin used) the song should be performed just as intended. The meaning behind writting the song is most important. It’s not just words on paper or somebody remixing someone else’s song. It’s song in memory of sombody’s loved one. It is Austin’s feelings he pulled from his heart to write something incrediable. Something that many can relate to or find the true meaning behind. I personally believe the song should not be performed at all. Unless, performed by Austin. It is his song, by all rights. He put his everything into creating it, so why should others get the glory? I can see there point truely, but this isn’t just a song it is his heart.
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Jacob says:
July 5, 2010 at 1:10 AM
i mean, i kind of understand the thinking behind the “group” mentality in terms of who owns the song, but i think that austin has every right to ask the band to play it the way it was intended (particularly with respect to this song’s subject matter). he even asked in a polite and civil manner, rather than throwing a tantrum. if jerry and the rest of the guys are mature, they’d do the right thing and respect austin’s request. there’s really no reason not to. all but jerry wrote the song that particular way, and all of the fans know the song the way it was originally written, so they’ll be able to sing along at shows. there is zero loss for them, and a lot of positive credit to be gained.