Song Of The Week: 4/6/14

Song: "What I've Missed"

Artist: The Riot Before

Album: "Rebellion"

Year: 2010



"What I've Missed" is a song that appears to be about going through life aimlessly. Every day is a blur and the vocalist is basically oblivious to his surroundings. He seems to be aware of this, but instead of taking a second to take life in, he seems content to just let it pass him by and go on with his monotonous life. The Riot Before formed as a band back in 2003, hailing from Richmond, Virginia. After spending a few years trying to find their sound, they released a variety of EP's, 7"'s and rare tracks between 2005 and 2007, most notably "Horseshoes And Hand Grenades" and "So Long, The Lighthouse". In 2009, the band signed to Say 10 Records and released "Fists Buried In Pockets". 2010 saw the band sign with Paper + Plastick Records and release the album "Rebellion". This album featured the single and music video for the song "Backstage Rooms". In 2011, German record label, Gunner Records released "The Riot Before (Acoustic)". This marked a departure of sorts for the band as they unplugged their instruments for stripped down versions of some of their punk rock songs. Shortly after this release, The Riot Before decided to call it quits as a band. While there was somewhat of a revolving door of band members in The Riot Before, once the core members began to depart, the band decided it was time to pull the plug. In 2012, Say 10 Records started up a Kickstarter campaign to help raise enough money in order to release the compilation, "The Riot Before: 2005-2007". This compilation features all the songs from "Horseshoes And Hand Grenades" and "So Long, The Lighthouse" as well as any material released on splits, singles and bonus rarities. Currently, it appears the book is closed on The Riot Before and there has been no updates on the band since they announced their break-up in 2011. This is unfortunate news for any fans of the band as The Riot Before, in my mind, were a great, unheralded punk rock group. If you take part Rise Against, part Thrice and sprinkle in some fellow Virginians Avail, you'd get something close in sound to The Riot Before. Solid, solid band!