Song Of The Week: 8/12/12

Song: "The Missing Frame"

Artist: AFI

Album: "Decemberunderground"

Year: 2006



"The Missing Frame" appears to be about how the world is just becoming filled with more and more people who have a lack of compassion and just don't care anymore about their fellow man. You get a sense that the vocalist is really getting torn up over this lack of heart from everyone around him. He wonders if the flood of hopelessness will eventually come and wash away the fire inside him, the hope, the compassion. In the end, you get a sense that his fire will burn out and he will fall in line with everyone else, a place where hope, compassion and caring about one another is void. AFI, standing for A Fire Inside, formed as a band back in 1991, hailing from California. Starting out as teenagers, the members could barely play their instruments but they kept at it, eventually releasing several EP's until 1995 when they dropped their first full length studio album, "Answer That And Stay Fashionable". AFI's sound on that album and their next two, 1996's "Very Proud Of Ya" and 1997's "Shut Your Mouth And Open Your Eyes", was definitely not as dark as the band would ultimately become. Their songs were filled with humorous lyrics and had a more light hearted feel to them. In 1999, with the release of "Black Sails In The Sunset", you could see the band shifting it's sound. They began dealing with darker themes and definitely began veering towards horror punk or goth punk, getting influence from bands like The Misfits. On their fifth album, 2000's "The Art Of Drowning", AFI noticed that they were gaining a much bigger following. Enter major label Dreamworks and the elevation to world wide success. On the success of the singles "Girls Not Grey", "Silver And Cold" and "The Leaving Song Pt. 2", AFI's 2003 release, "Sing The Sorrow", reached number five on the Billboard charts and remained on the charts for a staggering 51 weeks. Their 2006 album, "Decemberunderground" debuted at number one on the Billboards, backed by hit singles "Miss Murder" and "Love Like Winter". The band's last release, 2009's "Crash Love" was also a success, peaking at number 12 on the Billboard 200. All in all, after more than twenty years together, AFI dropped eight studio full lengths, ten EP's, one live album and one DVD. In 2010, AFI supported fellow punk act Green Day on their major world tour. In 2011, some confusion about the future of the band was created when a post by AFI frontman, Davey Havok, appeared on the band's forum, DespairFaction.com, stated that the band had split up. The band's management was quick to point out that this was just a hoax and that AFI are still officially intact. Currently, however, there is no news as to whether or not AFI are working on new material. Davey Havok and fellow AFI band member Jade Puget are currently on tour with their electronic music side project Blaqk Audio and they are also preparing to release a new Blaqk Audio album in 2012 so it doesn't appear that anything is on the AFI plate at this time.