Palm Trees and Power Lines

Palm Trees and Power Lines is the fourth studio album by American rock band Sugarcult. The album contains the MTV hits "Memory" and "She's the Blade".[1] This is the band’s first album to feature Kenny Livingston on drums.

Palm Trees and Power Lines
Studio album by
Sugarcult
ReleasedApril 13, 2004
RecordedMarch–June, September 2003
StudioFull Kilt Studio, Third Stone Recordings, Hollywood, California
GenrePop punk, power pop
Length40:43
LabelFearless, Artemis
ProducerGavin MacKillop
Sugarcult chronology
Start Static
(2001)		 Palm Trees and Power Lines
(2004)		 Lights Out
(2006)
Singles from Palm Trees and Power Lines
  1. "Memory"
    Released: March 16, 2004
  2. "She's the Blade"
    Released: August 31, 2004

Background and production

Sugarcult released their third album Start Static in 2001, which had two successful singles "Stuck in America" and "Bouncing Off the Walls",[2] through Ultimatum Music in the US and Epitaph Records in Europe.[3] Drummer Ben Davis went to rehab[3] and was replaced by Lefty drummer Kenny Livingston in September 2002;[4] Davis officially left the group by Thanksgiving.[5] With Livingston's arrival, the group was impressed by his skill level and inspired the members to improve their own skills on their respective instruments.[3] The band then rented a rehearsal room and spend each day working on new material, writing all of the songs that would later feature on their next album in less than two months.[6] The band supported Start Static with two years of tours,[6] running into February 2003.[7]

Pre-production was done at Studio 9 in Los Angeles, lasting for three weeks.[8] Recording took place between March and June 2003[4] at Full Kilt Studio and Third Stone Recording in North Hollywood, California with Gavin MacKillop producing the proceedings.[9] From May to September, the group went on a number of tours across Japan and Europe, with mixing and further recording sessions sprinkled in between.[4] John Nooney, Mauro Rubbi and Trent Slatton (who also did programming) were the Pro-Tools engineers during the sessions. Wes Sideman acted as assistant engineer at Third Stone Recording. Additional production was done by Pagnotta.[9]

Several friends contributed instrumentation or vocals: Tim Cullen of Summercamp (additional backing vocals), Alain Johannes (additional guitar), Nooney and Ariel Rechtshaid of the Hippos (keyboards). Mixing was split across a few people at different studios: Tom Lord-Alge at South Beach Studio ("She's the Blade", "Crying", "Memory", "Back to California" and "Over"), Mark Trombino at Chalice Recording Studios ("Worst December" and "Champagne") with assistance from Alan Mason, Mackillop ("Destination Anywhere", "What You Say", "Head Up" and "Counting Stars"), and Evan Frankfort ("Sign Off"). Brian Gardner mastered the recordings at Bernie Grudman Mastering in Hollywood, California.[9]

Composition

Musically, the sound Palm Trees and Power Lines has been described as pop punk[10] and power pop,[11] drawing comparisons to Blink-182.[12][11] The title for the album was the result of DeSantis standing in the studio's back alley, look up at the skyline, where all he could see was palm trees and electrical lines,[13] a view that Pagnotta saw as a combination of "beauty and harsh reality co-existing."[8] It is named after the scenery in California where the band members live.[3] Retaining the format of Start Static, Palm Trees and Power Lines consists of several uptempo rock songs with ballads placed throughout.[14] All of the lyrics were written by Pagnotta, while all of the music was credited to Pagnotta and the band.[9] He would show a rough sketch of a song to the rest of the group, at which point they'd flesh it out. The tracks talk about the preceding two and half years of Pagnotta's life as a touring musician,[3] touching on the theme of being a traveller, determination to return home provoked by a relationship, with psychological and social struggles.[8]

Tracks 1–5

"She's the Blade" was written when Pagnotta was playing his guitar in his bedroom. He was noodling with a chord progression that he thought was reminiscent of a transcending keyboard part – which he had admiration for Elvis Costello's attempts at this, namely on his track "Radio Radio". Pagnotta began singing melody lines over his chosen progression until he came up with the lyric "She's the blade and you're just paper", with the rest of the song falling into place afterwards. DeSantis visited Pagnotta and the pair worked on guitar parts, one of which eventually became a keyboard part that Rechtshaid would play on the final recording. Early versions of the song included an intro guitar riff but was scrapped in favour of Livingston's count-in. Similarly the track used to have a middle section of 12-bars that Pagnotta referred to as "bad classic rock", which was removed at MacKillop's insistence.[8]

"Crying" was written over the course of six months, with Pagnotta only having a guitar riff for the pre-chorus and main chorus for long period of time. He said the bridge section was reminiscent of U2, specifically the use of a floor tom to keep time, as heard on some U2 songs on their War (1983) album. He added a guitar solo to the track, three days prior to it being mixed. Though Pagnotta disliked it, MacKillop kept it in the final mix. Cullen is singing harmonies on the song; during the recording of this, and since he felt the ending was too sparse, Pagnotta came up with a lyric for the song's outro.[8] "Memory" was first song finished for the album, dating at least a year prior to when they recorded it.[6] Pagnotta wrote it about a person he met while touring in Boston, Massachusetts. During this time he had just gotten out of a relationship and was cautious about starting another. He began daydreaming about how a relationship with the person from Boston wouldn't work. He then picked up his guitar and started strumming chords, writing what would ultimately become "Memory".[8]

Pagnotta kept "Worst December" a secret for sometime, he reasoned that as the lyrics were "a bit confessional in regards to a relationship", he worried that his partner would find the lyric sheet and they'd "have to confront our issues."[8] The music of the track was influenced by Bright Life, a band from the group's hometown, who Pagnotta applauded for the usage of open chords in their material. Livingston keeps time in the song using the edge of his tom, resulting in a clock-like ticking sound which gave the track "a nice ambient space."[8] It ties into one of the two lyrical themes (space), with the other about being away from home.[8] "Back to California", which had a similar structure to "Stay Together for the Kids" by Blink-182,[12] was written about returning home from touring solely to break up with a partner.[3] When Pagnotta showed the track to Livingston, the pair started talking about Jimmy Eat World's use of hand percussion, which found its way into the song's intro. It featured several stacked vocal parts and call-and-response harmonies during the chorus, which Pagnotta heard when listening to Carpenters albums during his childhood.[8]

Tracks 6–12

During an off-day in the first week of pre-production, Pagnotta arrived at the studio early and began playing drums while vocalising melodies. He based this off the group Spoon, whose music arrangements revolved around the drums and vocals. He began singing what would become "Destination Anywhere"; when Livingston arrived at the studio the pair started fleshing out the remainder of the song. At the group's next practice session bassist Airin Older came up with a riff that Pagnotta said was a mix between "New Year's Day" by U2 and several Motown tracks, while DeSantis added stabs in the vein of British mod music. Upon MacKillop hearing it, he remarked it sounded like INXS, to which the band was "all shocked in horror."[8] The vocals for the track had to be re-recorded twice over as MacKillop thought it need to come across as intimate-sounding; a moog riff was added in the bridge.[8]

"Champagne" is about Pagnotta's relationship with the group's former drummer Davis. He started writing it before Davis' departure when he noticed how different Davis was acting since he became an alcoholic.[3] It bounces between first-and-third person views; Pagnotta referred to it as the Cars "on steroids."[8] It was the last track finished during recording, and was mixed by Trombino, which Pagnotta felt added a denser layer to the song that they hadn't thought about. "What You Say" resulted from a in-the-moment jam session between Livingston and Pagnotta.[8] It was compared to the Foo Fighters;[11] the guitar riff specifically recalled the one heard in "Breed" by Nirvana.[12] "Over" existed as a verse section for a few weeks; Pagnotta didn't feel it was fleshed out enough to share with the rest of the band. When the band was recording drums, Pagnotta showed Livingston and MacKillop a complete chorus section. The trio worked on it and planned to record it the following day, which by then they tracked it in 30 minutes. DeSantis suggested a rhythm break before the last chorus, which was then added to the track.[8]

"Head Up" evolved out of an idea that was written backstage during a show while in Belgium. The opening act was playing onstage upstairs while Pagnotta was downstairs attempting to track the idea into his recorder. Unable to hear the key of the chords, he recorded a tiny bit and fleshed out the song during soundcheck with the rest of the band the following day. It talks about remaining positive when you're doing something that other people may not like, something that Pagnotta felt after dropping out of education to focus on music. The chord progression for "Counting Stars" existed for about two months, during this time Pagnotta was unable to come up with any melodies or lyrics.[8] Pagnotta said he received test results from his doctor saying he was ill, only for further results nine days later to say he was okay. Between these results he wrote the lyrics to "Counting Stars", which acted as "an apology for anything I may have done wrong to hurt the world, people, friends."[3] On the final recording, a friend of the band contributed what Pagnotta referred to as"sounds with his guitar that sounded like animals dying."[8] Closing track "Sign Off" was written by Pagnotta as he sat in the end of his bed. He explained that partway through the making of the album he felt lonely, confused and sad while questioning his life.[3] It was recorded in the back room at the studio solely by Pagnotta, with some overdubs from MacKillop.[8]

Release

On September 24, 2003, Sugarcult mentioned on their website that their next album would appear in February 2004. Between October and December, the group embarked on a headlining US tour with support from Story of the Year, Plain White T's, Jackson and Denver Harbor. During the stint, they played a number of new songs from their forthcoming album. Partway through the excursion, on November 20, the album's title Palm Trees and Power Lines was revealed. Prior to the tour taking place, an acoustic version of "Memory" was included on the Fearless Records-helmed compilation Punk Goes Acoustic.[4] On December 15, the album was given an updated release date – March 2004.[15] Following this, the group supported Good Charlotte on their UK tour,[4] before supporting them again on a tour of Japan in January 2004. During the same month, the band filmed a music video for "Memory".[16] In January and February, the band supported MxPx and Simple Plan on their co-headlining US tour.[4] On February 25, the album's track listing was revealed.[17] "Memory" was released to radio on March 16;[18] the CD single featured "Blackout" and an acoustic version of "Memory".[19]

After being originally scheduled for release on March 9,[15] Palm Trees and Power Lines was eventually released on April 13.[16] The artwork continues the Californian theme of the title with an actress in front of the palm trees and electrical lines that make up the album's namesake. Though DeSantis claimed it wasn't wholly a tribute to California, he explained that with the band frequently touring other countries "you sort of have a concept of home, and the more you're gone ... it becomes even more blurry, but it is home nonetheless. And California represents that for us."[3] Ultimatum Music sold the rights to Palm Trees and Power Lines to Artemis Records, who partnered up with Fearless Records. Vocalist/guitarist Tim Pagnotta explained they need a larger amount of label staff to handle the album; Ultimatum had downsized its operations while the group now worked with the same people at Artemis that had helped for Static Static. Epitaph wasn't interested in the album, after struggling to break the band in the UK/Europe, resulting in Rykodisc handling the release for that region.[3] The Japanese edition, released through independent label Maximum10, featured "Blackout" as a bonus track.[20]

The group had to cancel the first week of touring for the album due to Pagnotta suffering from tinnitus. When touring restarted, the band did a round of acoustic shows; their headlining US tour continued into May, when they embarked on a Japanese tour.[6] Following the release, the band performed on the Warped Tour between mid July and mid August.[21] "She's the Blade" was released to radio on August 31;[18] the CD single featured a Mark Trombine mix of "Destination Anywhere", a live version of "Stuck in America", and the music video for "She's the Blade".[22] The computer-generated video sees the group acting as doctors and operating on a girl; Pagnotta likened the clip to Weird Science (1985).[23] In October and November, the group supported Green Day on their headlining US tour.[24] The group closed the year supporting Blink-182 on their European tour.[23] The band supported Hawthorne Heights on the Take Action Tour across the US[25] in February and March 2005, followed by another support slot for Green Day on their Japanese tour.[23]

Reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[14]
The Daily CalifornianFavorable [26]
CMU DailyFavorable [27]
Drowned in Sound6/10[28]
Melodic[11]
musicOMHFavorable [12]
PopMattersFavorable [29]
Rock Hard7/10 [10]
Rolling Stone[30]
SpinC-[31]

Palm Trees and Power Lines sold 22,000 copies, reaching number 46 on the Billboard 200.[32] The album received mixed to favorable reviews from critics. Johnny Loftus of Allmusic gives a favorable review, concluding that "Sugarcult are thankfully more concerned with pleasing the crowd than making a statement." Punktastic characterizes the album as "one hell of a grower," a record "that shows maturity without ever coming across as trite or predictable." The review goes on to call the album "a fine record which, while not as anthemic and instant as its predecessor, is destined to be a sure-fire summer hit."

Track listing

All lyrics by Tim Pagnotta, all music by Pagnotta and Sugarcult.[9]

  1. "She's the Blade" – 2:59
  2. "Crying" – 3:29
  3. "Memory" – 3:46
  4. "Worst December" – 3:37
  5. "Back to California" – 4:07
  6. "Destination Anywhere" – 3:51
  7. "Champagne" – 2:56
  8. "What You Say" – 2:39
  9. "Over" – 3:24
  10. "Head Up" – 3:56
  11. "Counting Stars" – 3:38
  12. "Sign Off" – 2:13

Japanese bonus track

  1. "Blackout" – 3:10

Personnel

Personnel per booklet.[9]

References

Citations

  1. SPIN - Oct 2006 - Page 104 Vol. 22, No. 10 "Sugarcult. Lights Out *•* FEARLESS/V2 Raging riffs for getting drunk and getting lucky Though these SoCal pop punks sneaked onto MTV with their 2004 single "Memory," the hard-partying reputation they earned after the song's success was ..."
  2. Prato, Greg. "Sugarcult | Biography & History". AllMusic. Archived from the original on July 16, 2016. Retrieved April 3, 2020.
  3. Shari Black Velvet 2004
  4. "Sugarcult News". Sugarcult. Archived from the original on December 9, 2003. Retrieved April 4, 2020.
  5. Hocking, Mat. "Sugarcult - Epitaph punks talk to DiS". Drowned in Sound. Archived from the original on September 9, 2004. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
  6. Hicks, Jonathan (April 16, 2004). "Sugarcult". The Western Courier. Archived from the original on April 2, 2020. Retrieved April 3, 2020.
  7. Hocking, Mat (January 7, 2003). "Sugarcult UK Shows - Sweet!". Drowned in Sound. Archived from the original on September 9, 2004. Retrieved April 3, 2020.
  8. Pagnotta, Tim. "An Inside Look at Palm Trees and Power Lines". Sugarcult. Archived from the original on May 4, 2004. Retrieved April 3, 2020.
  9. Palm Trees and Power Lines (booklet). Sugarcult. Fearless/Artemis Records. 2004. RCD17018.CS1 maint: others (link), Retrieved, April 15, 2004
  10. Schleutermann, Marcus (July 21, 2004). "Sugarcult - Palm Trees And Power Lines". Rock Hard (in German). Archived from the original on April 2, 2020. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
  11. Ellis, Andrew (March 16, 2004). "Sugarcult - Palm Trees And Power Lines". Melodic. Archived from the original on April 29, 2017. Retrieved April 27, 2017.
  12. Ahmad, Azeem (April 12, 2004). "Sugarcult – Palm Trees And Power Lines - Album Reviews". musicOMH. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved April 3, 2020.
  13. Pinal, Jorge Del (April 15, 2004). "Sugarcult: Axe-man reflects on album". The Eagle. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
  14. Loftus, Johnny. "Palm Trees and Power Lines - Sugarcult | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Archived from the original on October 17, 2019. Retrieved April 3, 2020.
  15. Wippsson, Johan (December 15, 2003). "Sugarcult With New Album In March". Melodic. Archived from the original on February 9, 2020. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
  16. Wippsson, Johan (January 24, 2004). "Sugarcult update". Melodic. Archived from the original on April 27, 2017. Retrieved April 27, 2017.
  17. Wippsson, Johan (February 25, 2004). "Listen to a new track from Sugarcult's upcoming album". Melodic. Archived from the original on April 27, 2017. Retrieved April 27, 2017.
  18. "FMQB Airplay Archive: Modern Rock". Friday Morning Quarterback Album Report, Incorporated. Archived from the original on April 24, 2013. Retrieved October 30, 2016.
  19. "Memory" (sleeve). Sugarcult. Fearless/Artemis Records. 2004. RCD51082.CS1 maint: others (link)
  20. Palm Trees and Power Lines (sleeve). Sugarcult. Maximum10. 2004. CTCM-65060.CS1 maint: others (link)
  21. Heisel, Scott (January 23, 2004). "Warped adds Melee, Code of Tha Cutz stage". Punknews.org. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
  22. "She's the Blade" (sleeve). Sugarcult. Fearless Records. 2004. B0006ULW2Y.CS1 maint: others (link)
  23. Montgomery, James (December 15, 2004). "Sugarcult Quickly Approaching Sandwich-Screaming Status". MTV. Archived from the original on November 14, 2017. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
  24. Montgomery, James (September 10, 2004). "New Found Glory To Shoot 'Top Secret' Video Before Green Day Tour". MTV. Archived from the original on July 21, 2018. Retrieved July 21, 2018.
  25. Sharpe-Young 2005, p. 168
  26. Szeto, Christine (April 15, 2004). "Sugarcult: Palm Trees and Power Lines". The Daily Californian. Archived from the original on December 13, 2015. Retrieved April 3, 2020.
  27. DJ (April 14, 2004). "Album Review". CMU Daily. Archived from the original on April 2, 2020. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
  28. Diver, Mike (April 22, 2004). "Album Review: Sugarcult - Palm Trees and Power Lines". Drowned in Sound. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved April 3, 2020.
  29. Haag, Stephen (June 1, 2004). "Sugarcult: Palm Trees and Power Lines". PopMatters. Archived from the original on December 13, 2015. Retrieved April 3, 2020.
  30. Hoard, Christian (June 10, 2004). "Rolling Stone review". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on October 2, 2007. Retrieved April 3, 2020.
  31. Spin 2004, p. 108
  32. Mancini, Rob (April 21, 2004). "Usher #1 For Fourth Straight Week, Hoobastank Take Big Leap". MTV. Retrieved April 2, 2020.

Sources


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