ALKALINE TRIO DISCOGRAPHY & VIDEOS

1.Goddamnit (1998); 2.Maybe I'll Catch Fire (2000) 3.From Here To Infirmary (2001); 4.Good Mourning (2003); 5.Crimson (2005); 6.Agony & Irony (2008); 7.This Addiction (2010)





Goddamnit
 Released: October 13, 1998, Length: 32:42. Label: Asian Man

1. Cringe 2:23

2. Cop 2:18

3. San Francisco 3:52

4. Nose Over Tail 2:37

5. As You Were 2:11

6. Enjoy Your Day 2:17

7. Clavicle 2:28

8. My Little Needle 3:01

9. Southern Rock 3:05

10. Message from Kathlene 3:22

11. Trouble Breathing 3:55

12. Sorry About That 3:21

Goddamnit is the debut album by the Chicago-based punk rock band Alkaline Trio, released October 13, 1998 through Asian Man Records.

Reception

Mike DaRonco of Allmusic called Goddamnit "hands down the perfect listening in the wake of a broken heart" and remarked that "It's rare that a band such as Alkaline Trio can make love songs appealing without being labeled as 'wimpy' or 'generic', and Goddamnit is the record to erase those labels."

Maybe I'll Catch Fire
Released: March 14, 2000, Length: 35:15, Label: Asian Man

1. Keep 'Em Coming 4:10

2. Madam Me 2:59

3. You've Got So Far to Go 3:14

4. Fuck You Aurora 4:49

5. Sleepyhead 3:56

6. Maybe I'll Catch Fire 3:07

7. Tuck Me In 2:39

8. She Took Him to the Lake 2:40

9. 5-3-10-4 2:56

10. Message from Kathlene 3:22

11. Trouble Breathing 3:55

12. "Radio" 4:41

Maybe I'll Catch Fire is the second album by the Chicago-based punk rock band Alkaline Trio, released March 14, 2000 through Asian Man Records. It was their final studio album for Asian Man and their last with drummer Glenn Porter, who left the band after its release and was replaced by Mike Felumlee as the band moved to Vagrant Records.

Reception

Mike DaRonco of Allmusic liked the album, but less than the band's previous effort, 1998's Goddamnit, saying that "Lyrically, Maybe I'll Catch Fire follows in the footsteps of Goddamnit, while staying true to the elaborate but emotional tone of aggressive pop-punk. Not as essential as the Trio's previous efforts, but it would be difficult for any band to follow up an album like Goddamnit".

From Here To Infirmary

Released: April 3, 2001. Length: 38:13. Label: Vagrant

1.  Private Eye 3:30

2.  Mr. Chainsaw 3:05

3.  Take Lots with Alcohol 3:13

4.  Stupid Kid  2:23

5.  Another Innocent Girl 3:37

6.  Steamer Trunk 2:49

7.  You're Dead 3:50

8.  Armageddon 2:49

9.  I'm Dying Tomorrow 2:20

10. Bloodied Up 2:51

From Here to Infirmary is the third album by the Chicago-based punk rock band Alkaline Trio, released April 3, 2001 through Vagrant Records. It was their first album for Vagrant and their only album with drummer Mike Felumlee, who replaced previous drummer Glenn Porter. It was also their first album to chart, reaching #199 on the Billboard 200 and #9 amongst independent albums.Its two singles, "Stupid Kid" and "Private Eye", both charted on the UK Singles Chart, reaching #53 and #51 respectively. When Felumlee left the band shortly after the album's release, drummer Adam Willard filled in with the group on tour and appeared in the music video for "Private Eye," before the band found a permanent replacement in Derek Grant.

Reflecting on the album in a 2008 interview, singer/bassist Dan Andriano considered it a turning point for the band musically:

I would have to say From Here to Infirmary definitely started to shape things up with more of a straight up rock kind of sound. I think the previous two albums [(1998's Goddamnit and 2000's Maybe I'll Catch Fire)] are really great, but are a bit meandering. I think [From Here to Infirmary] is when Matt [Skiba] and I both realized that we wanted to tighten the screws a bit, simplify things a little and focus more on punching you in the nuts with our rock; Metaphorically speaking of course.

Reception

Critical reaction to the album was mixed. Ari Wiznitzer of Allmusic called it a slump for the band and "a definite low point in Alkaline Trio's catalog," criticizing its "lighter, more mainstream sound," which "really doesn't complement Matt Skiba and Dan Andriano's foul-mouthed poetry as well as their earlier abrasive sound. Adding to the disappointment is that this is the first Alkaline Trio release to have any filler, as many of the songs seem painfully tossed off (and probably were, as the band has been so prolific)." Matt Hendrickson of Rolling Stone was more praising of the album's qualities, remarking that the band "deliver[s] catchy punk pop with sharp elbows and a wry sense of humor" and that "What saves them from the gutter are some effortless hooks and Skiba's hysterical lyrics."

John Dark of Pitchfork Media remarked "There's quite a bit that Alkaline Trio's music is not. It's not challenging, ambitious, or visionary. It's not clever or self-aware. It's not even terribly skillful. But what it is, is tasty. Pure musical junk food: fast, greasy, and crafted for a general palate." He criticized some of the music as "a tad too derivative for your average rock snob", but praised the band's lyricism and ability to turn a phrase, though noting that they would occasionally "jar you back to reality with bonehead moves like spelling out the very, very thinly-disguised metaphor in one song [("Mr. Chainsaw")] for the listener." Ultimately, though, he concluded that "for all its flaws, From Here to Infirmary remains nothing more than simply what it is: tuneful, consumable, and guiltily satisfying."

Good Mourning
Released: May 13, 2003. Length: 48:30. Label: Vagrant 

1. This Could Be Love 3:47
2. We've Had Enough 2:51
3. One Hundred Stories 3:40
4. Continental 3:28
5. All on Black 4:00
6. Emma 2:42
7. Fatally Yours 2:16
8. Every Thug Needs a Lady 3:18
9. Blue Carolina 3:28
10. Donner Party (All Night) 2:44

Good Mourning is the fourth studio album by Alkaline Trio, released May 13, 2003 on Vagrant Records. The album marks the first appearance of drummer, Derek Grant, described by vocalist/guitarist, Matt Skiba, as "a whole new influence." During recording, both Skiba and vocalist/bassist, Dan Andriano were ill. Skiba describes the album as sounding "bigger, deeper and rawer" than its predecessor, From Here to Infirmary. The album debuted at number 20 on the Billboard 200, selling 40,000 copies on it's first week of release.

In a 2003 interview, Matt Skiba stated that Good Mourning:

is pretty good. I mean it took us a long time to do and I think most of the people that I talk to that make records and stuff, there's always stuff that you wish you did better or maybe a little differently. I've never been able to avoid that, even with this. There's things that I wish I had done maybe a little differently. But that also comes with just listening to it and living with it for so long that until it's done you won't really hear things in that way until it's like too late I guess. But I would say for the most part that I'm really happy with it.

Title

According to Skiba: "One morning I was having breakfast down the street from the studio where we were recording and my waiter said 'good morning' to me and it just kinda like the double meaning/spelling kinda registered and I just called everyone and I was like, 'How about Good Mourning with a U?' and everybody liked it equally as much so we used it."


Crimson
Released: May 23, 2005 (International), May 24, 2005 (U.S.), November 28, 2005 (Deluxe Edition)Length: 42:50. Label: Vagrant

1. Time to Waste 4:11
2. The Poison 2:04

3. Burn 4:05

4. Mercy Me 2:49

5. Dethbed 3:03

6. Settle for Satin 3:49

7. Sadie 4:39

8. Fall Victim 3:18

9. I Was a Prayer 2:36

10. Prevent This Tragedy 3:06

Crimson is the fifth album by Alkaline Trio, released May 23, 2005. The record is produced by Jerry Finn.

A 'Deluxe Edition' was released on November 28, 2005. The first disc contains the original album, while the added second disc features the album as demos, home demos and acoustic songs. It is presented in a color slipcase based on original artwork.

Recording

Bassist Dan Andriano notes that:

it was kind of the same as always. We just spent a little more time in all areas of the recording process. We spent a little more time in pre-production, where we worked on the songs with Jerry. Before we started recording, he came out to Chicago and [came to practices] and he was listening to the songs, and we had an opportunity to ask him what he thought. It kind of gave us more time to re-work some stuff that we thought could have been a little better but were a little stumped on, as Jerry had good ideas for the songs. And as far as the actual recording, it was great working with him. It was more like working with a friend. We've known Jerry for a long time, and he's really easy to work with and be around for 12 hours a day. He's got an amazing gear collection. Any kind of guitar you want to use for a song or any kind of amplifier, he probably has it—and he probably has one of the nicest one's of that model. To me, recording was like being in a playground. It's just like, "Let me play this one. Let me try this." Every bass track on the record was recorded with an old Marshall guitar amp.

A tentative title for the album was Church and Destroy.

Lyrics

The song "Sadie" is about Susan Atkins (aka Sadie Mae Glutz) a murderer in the Charles Manson family, who took part in the Sharon Tate murders in 1969. The quotation near the end of the song is a quote from Susan's testimony which is spoken by Heather Hannoura, the band's merchandise and artwork creator.

The song "Prevent this Tragedy" refers to the West Memphis Three, whose trial and conviction for the murder of three children in 1993 was widely publicized and is still considered controversial.

Songs

Skiba on "Sadie":

That song was actually the first song that we wrote for Crimson. We were still touring on our previous record and I wrote it just on tour. We started playing it at soundcheck and we had planned to do this split with One Man Army on BYO. That’s where that song came from originally. But we knew even then that we were probably wanting to re-record it and putting it on an album, which it was on Crimson later. So yeah, I think that came from knowing that we were starting to write a new record and wanting to take a different approach. As I said before, you don’t ever want to write the same record twice. So yeah, I think it was just a fresh start and it just had a different kind of feel and sort of set the tone for Crimson, not that there is other songs like it on the record. But it’s definitely a good thing to get the ball rolling.

Andriano on "Smoke":

It's the last song on the record. I actually wrote that song like two years ago. I knew I liked certain aspects of the song, and those were basically the aspects of the song that made it to the final version. For the two years before we recorded it, I had been kind of toiling over this. It was kind of the bane of my writing existence. It scared me, because I knew I liked parts of it but was really unhappy with other parts. I couldn't make the vibe work. There was a time when that song was really soft, actually. I tried to make it like a loud, mid-tempo rock number, but nothing really worked. That was one that we spent a lot of time on actually, making that groove that we wanted that's there now, almost a ballad [like] kind of song. It gave us a lot of time to think about cool effects, effects we could use on the chorus and string parts that are in the song.

Artwork

The album's cover art features drummer Derek Grant and Matt Skiba's then fiancée (and now ex-wife), Monica.

According to Matt Skiba, the band were:

"doing the photo shoot and we had a completely different idea of what the record was going to look like. And Monica was there doing our styling; she got a bunch of outfits and she did the styling for pretty much all the new pictures for the record. She was there and the photographer was just doing all these different things and he had her stand in. He was toying with these different ideas with just a small portion of her face in the picture and then, lo and behold, she's our cover star. So we thought it looked cool and the people at the art department are in cahoots with the photographer who is amazing. Everybody who worked on the thing was cool and hands on and saw these pictures of her and were asking “who is that?” I said “that's my girlfriend” and they said “that's perfect, we have to use her." I think it looks very cinematic, and that's what we were going for. Once it was coming together, it was like film noir.

Agony & Irony

Released: June 28, 2008 (Australia), July 1, 2008 (U.S. & Canada)

Length: 39:42. Label: Epic (U.S.), V2 (Europe)

1. Calling All Skeletons 3:19

2. Help Me 3:44

3. In Vein 3:57

4. Over and Out 3:14

5. I FoundAway 4:01

6. Do You Wanna Know? 3:36

7. Live Young, Die Fast 4:14

8. Love Love, Kiss Kiss 3:25

9. Lost and Rendered 3:23

10. Ruin It 3:36

Bonus Tracks

·                     "In My Stomach" - 3:53 (iTunes Bonus Track)

·                     "Love Love, Kiss Kiss (Acoustic)" - 3:08 (Australian Bonus Track)

·                     "Fire Down Below" - 3:43 (Japanese Bonus Track)

Deluxe Edition Bonus Disc

1. Burned Is the House 4:26

2. Maybe I'll Catch Fire (Acoustic) 3:04

3. Live Young, Die Fast (Acoustic) 3:19

4. Into the Night (Acoustic) 3:12

5. Over and Out (Acoustic) 2:47

6. Lost and Rendered (Acoustic) 3:13

Agony & Irony is the sixth studio album by Alkaline Trio, released on July 1, 2008 on Epic Records. Regarding this album, vocalist and guitarist Matt Skiba stated that the band set out to record an "anthemic hard rock record."

A year prior to the album's release, "In Vein", was performed live at Warped Tour 2007, streamed on the band's official fan club on April 3 and was uploaded to the band's MySpace site for 24 hours the following day.

On April 22 an EP with the same title was released on iTunes. The EP featured two tracks which had already been heard by fans and a new song entitled 'Into The Night'.

The album's first single, "Help Me", was released to radio stations on April 28, 2008. The second single has been confirmed to be "I Found Away" and a video was set to be shot in the fall of 2008. In March 2009, the band launched a contest for fans to remix "I Found Away" that will be included on an upcoming digital release titled Remix EP.

Norwegian experimental band Ulver contributed strings, programming and vocals on "Lost & Rendered" and "In My Stomach."

Title

In an interview promoting the album, Matt Skiba cites that:

there’s a theme of duality on the record, it’s sort of a spin on ‘ebony and ivory’ which of course represents black and white. The songs on the new album sort of represent a struggle between good and evil, light and dark, and despair and hope. We felt Agony and Irony was appropriate, I mean we fancy ourselves as being pretty clever, and we felt a play on words was also fitting for the new record. It's also a lyric from 'Flagpole Sitta' by Harvey Danger, so we thought we earn double points for that.

Influences

Regarding the record's sound and influences, Skiba states that he was "listening to a lot of Pat Benatar, Def Leppardand a lot of the 80’s MTV music that I grew up with. So that was a big influence in the writing process, bands like The Cars".

This Addiction
Released: February 23, 2010. Length: 34:30. Label: Heart&Skull/ Epitaph

1. This Addiction 2:35
2. Dine, Dine My Darling 2:58

3. Lead Poisoning 2:37

4. Dead on the Floor 4:20

5. The American Scream 3:00

6. Off the Map 3:16

7. Draculina 3:34

8. Eating Me Alive 2:53

9. Piss and Vinegar 2:28

10. Dorothy 3:32

11. Fine 3:17

This Addiction is the seventh studio album by the punk rock band Alkaline Trio, released February 23, 2010 as the first release by their newly-formed record label Heart & Skull, a joint venture with Epitaph Records. Described as a return to the band's punk rock roots, it was recorded at Atlas Studios in their hometown of Chicago with Matt Allison, the same location and producer used for much of their early material. The album draws lyrical inspiration from the band members' personal lives, addressing themes such as love, addiction, death, divorce, grief, suicide, politics, and war. It became the highest-charting album of the band's career, debuting on the Billboard 200 at #11 and also reaching #1 on the Rock, Independent, and Alternative Albums charts.

Formation of Heart & Skull

Following the touring cycle for their 2008 album Agony & Irony, Alkaline Trio left Epic Records due to personnel changes within the record label. Singer and guitarist Matt Skiba explained in a May 2009 interview with Billboard that "Everyone who signed us to Epic, all of the people we trusted there, were let go. And that's not to say the people running it now aren't cool, we just don't know them and we don't like to work generally with people we don't know. We had a bunch of material and wanted to do a record sooner [rather] than later, so we called them and asked them if we could leave and they said, 'Yeah, that’s cool.'" Rather than signing a recording contract with another label, the band decided to release their next album themselves, a move Skiba explained as partially inspired by the independent releases of Nine Inch Nails' Ghosts I–IV and The Slip and Radiohead's In Rainbows:

With the way that everything is being done, with people like Trent Reznor and Radiohead, it was very inspiring to us that when you're doing things on your own you can do whatever you want. Not that we're going to give records away but this time we're starting a label, we want to build it up first and have the freedom to release exclusive things whenever we want. That's something we've always been able to do until we were on Epic, so it's nice that we're able to do that again.

In November 2009 Alkaline Trio announced the formation of their own independent record label, created as a joint venture with Epitaph Records in a manner similar to ANTI- and Hellcat Records. Epitaph had previously released Patent Pending, the 2006 album by Skiba's side project Heavens. Named Heart & Skull after Alkaline Trio's logo, the new label would be innaugurated by the release of their new album. Skiba remarked that "We made the decision to form Heart & Skull to put out our own records after having been through every kind of label deal in the industry, big indies, small indies, majors. We knew it was time to adapt to the shifting tides of the music industry and we could not be more thrilled about doing that in conjunction with the team at Epitaph." Singer and bassist Dan Andriano added: "For our band at this time it really makes sense to release our own records, but we wanted to make sure we could partner up with good people who we would want to share in something very special to us. When Brett [Gurewitz] called and said he wanted to be involved, that was it. Epitaph is a label I've admired and supported for more than half of my life."

Background and recording

During their Spring 2009 tour, Alkaline Trio tested new songs including "Dine, Dine My Darling" (a title derived from the Misfits' "Die, Die My Darling"), "Dead on the Floor", and "This Addiction". Skiba explained that "we used our soundcheck basically as pre-production" and stated that the band would choose the ten best songs and "record them lickety-split in July". Reflecting a desire to return to their punk rock roots, the band chose to record at Atlas Studios in their hometown of Chicago, where they had recorded much of their early material including their first two albums, 1998's Goddamnit and 2000's Maybe I'll Catch Fire. They also chose to record with Matt Allison, producer of both of those albums as well as 2001's From Here to Infirmary and much of their other early material. "Matt has a really great ear and some really great ideas, so he engineered the record and co-produced it", said Skiba. "The official production credit is ours though. We went in with a very strict idea of what we wanted to do."

During the Summer and Fall of 2009 both Skiba and Andriano worked on solo projects: Skiba recorded a solo album entitled Demos for the band's early label Asian Man Records, which was originally scheduled for a February 2010 release but was pushed back until after the release of the new Alkaline Trio album. Meanwhile, Andriano performed and recorded as a solo project titled The Emergency Room. That October Alkaline Trio played the Riot Fest, an annual Chicago punk rock festival, alongside older Chicago bands including Screeching Weasel, Pegboy, and Naked Raygun.Skiba noted that reconnecting with these and other friends in the Chicago music scene allowed their punk rock influences to seep into the new Alkaline Trio album even more.

On December 1, 2009 the album's title was announced as This Addiction, which is also the title of its opening track. Of the eleven tracks selected for the album, eight were written by Skiba and three by Andriano ("Dine, Dine My Darling", "Off the Map", and "Fine"). Skiba explained that both members came up with an equal number of songs during the writing process, but that "it was pretty easy to pick out the ones we wanted to use. There are three of us that have equal say in the creative process, so you gotta leave your ego at the door. Dan and I are best friends and we're not competitive with each other at all. We're partners and we try [to] do everything for the better[ment] of the band and for the better[ment] of the record."

Promotion and release

This Addiction was released February 22, 2010 in the United Kingdom through Heart & Skull and Hassle Records, and the following day in North America through Heart & Skull and Epitaph Records. It was released in several versions, including a standard eleven-track compact disc and digital download, a limited Deluxe Edition with six bonus tracks and a full-length concert DVD recorded at the House of Blues in Las Vegas, Nevada in 2008, and a gatefold LP. The album's first single, "This Addiction", was made available for listening as streaming audio through a dedicated website on January 5, 2010, using a marketing technique in which listeners were required to post an advertisement about the album to Facebook or Twitter in order to access the song. It became available as a download through digital retailers on January 12, and was released as a 7" single exclusively at Hot Topic stores on February 9.The song's music video premiered February 8. Alkaline Trio toured with Cursive in support of the album. On February 18 This Addiction was made available for listening as streaming audio through the band's MySpace profile.