For 11 years, Michael “Popeye” Vogelsang was at the helm of Farside, one of melodic hardcore’s most influential bands since the genre’s rise in the ’90s. Based in Orange County, the group released three full-length albums before disbanding in 2000.
Almost a quarter of a century on, however, the band’s influence (and Vogelsang’s vocals) remain an indelible part of the scene. And though he’s been away from music since the turn of the millennium, his voice is immediately recognizable on the first single from Say Less, the debut record by the new group Calling Hours. With “Curtain Call,” the band—also featuring members of Pennsylvania’s Don’t Sleep—have crafted a song that captures attention from the first second and which then bursts into one of the biggest, catchiest choruses you’ll hear all year. And while it’s a different sound to both Farside and Don’t Sleep, “Curtain Call” nevertheless contains the same kind of fizzling, primal energy of those two bands.
Produced by Brian McTernan, the album is centered around Vogelsang’s recent move from Southern California to Scranton, PA, and the physical and emotional upheaval that came with it, and this song captures that turmoil perfectly while also serving as a reminder that there’s always light at the end of the tunnel. “It was a very solitary life,” said Vogelsang about the move in a press release, “and I guess I was OK with that—or at least I told myself that I was OK with that—until I met the woman who is now my wife. That absolutely changed everything.”
Watch the video below, and pre-order the record here.
