Fun and fast hardcore-influenced pop-punk, heartfelt lyrics and, maybe most importantly, time for stage dives and high fives is what Portland, Maine, band Reunion is all about.
Cam Foley (vocals), Zach Hughes (guitar), Aaron Shorey (drums), Chris Linkovich (bass) and Matt Anderson (guitar) were all influenced musically by Lifetime, Saves The Day, Jawbreaker and The Descendents and met each other through being a part of the same music scene in their hometown.
“We were all going to the same shows, and we just started hanging out more than just going to shows together,” said Hughes. “When the band started I was writing songs with a different drummer, and then Cam came into the picture and took over on vocals. Since then we’ve gone through a couple bassists, and Aaron is our second drummer, but we’ve been playing with this lineup for some time now. Cam and Chris are also both still in the band Cruel Hand.”
The band currently has a self-titled 7-song EP available. From the EP, Reunion’s favorite song to play live is “Tired.” With lyrics “The feeling like there’s nowhere to turn and no right direction/ I spilled my guts on your front doorstep, and all you did was lock your doors” and timing in at just less than two minutes, the band really shows its expertise of emotions over lightening-fast pop-punk riffs.
“As far as ‘Tired’ goes, it’s just another one of our fast simple songs,” Hughes said. “We really have fun playing them all. The lyrical content doesn’t really stray much from all the other songs; it’s about girls.”
Reunion will play Cafe Metropolis on Friday, March 14, with Flightplan Records labelmates Title Fight. The show will be the first time the band will play with Title Fight, and the band members are as excited to see Title Fight as much as they are excited to play themselves.
“We’ve been fans of Title Fight since we first heard them a couple years ago, and we love everything they’ve done,” said Hughes. “We’re going to play a very fast, short set, with lots of energy. We’re just stoked to see Title Fight.”
The love is mutual from Title Fight. Title Fight guitarist Shane Moran is a huge fan of the band and even aided in Reunion’s signing to Flightplan.
“I met Cam at Bamboozle a few years back,” said Moran. “We were both waiting for Lifetime to play. It was one of their first shows reunited or whatever, and I was so psyched. Anyway, we were giving out Title Fight demos to people. We happened to give them to this one group of kids, and the one kid had actually already heard of us and started talking about it. He said he really liked the song ‘Hope.’ After chatting for a little, he told me that he did vocals for a band called Reunion from Maine. It was sort of ironic because at the time I was really digging their demo songs that they had on their Myspace. Small world, right?
“I sort of hooked it up with having them putting out their EP on Flightplan. We’ve just kept in touch since then and try to get people into each other’s bands. They have the whole Lifetime/early Saves the Day thing on lockdown. Best current band, hands down, that is doing the self-proclaimed ‘fast tunes with feelings’ thing. Most of Reunion is in the band Cruel Hand, too. So you know they’re down with the ’core, and their live show will be fun.”
Bill Cannon, owner of Flightplan Records, also recalls hearing of and signing Reunion on account of Moran. Thus far he has been pleased with Reunion’s progress as a band and the band’s musical content.
“I first heard of Reunion from Shane from Title Fight,” said Cannon. “I really liked what I heard on their social networking profile and asked Shane to see what they were up to. He never did that. So I e-mailed them last May and talked about doing something. We finally got all the pieces together and got the EP released this past October-November. I really like them a lot. You can tell they are influenced by a lot of hardcore bands, but they never once put a breakdown in a song. Not even really a mosh part. I like that. I think they have a lot of potential, and once they start touring people will wise up.”
As for the future, Reunion hopes to write its first full length record this spring. Following the completion of writing, the band will be on tour of the East Coast with Foley and Linkovich’s band Cruel Hand.
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Go:
Who: Reunion, Title Fight, Freeze Up, Made Do, Mend
Where: Caf� Metropolis, 94 S. Main St., Wilkes-Barre
When: Fri. March 14, doors 7 p.m., show 8 p.m.
Admission: $7 at the door, all ages
Info: myspace.com/reunionband