Song Of The Week: 9/21/14

Song: "Ink Soaked Pages"

Artist: Thought Riot

Album: "Sketches Of Undying Will"

Year: 2003



"Ink Soaked Pages" is a song that appears to be about the beauty of undying will. There's something impactful about someone who has been through so much physically, emotionally and psychologically, yet, there's still a fire inside of them. A spark that's just looking to ignite. For a punk song, the lyrics are quite poetic. Thought Riot formed as a band back in 1997, hailing from California. The band was driven by progressive political thoughts that many of their lyrics expressed. They were highly influenced by the writings of philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. After some line-up shuffling, the band recorded a demo in 1998 called "Our Six Best Takes". 2000 saw the band record yet another demo titled "Bright Dreams For A Dark World". By 2001, Thought Riot caught the ear of label A-F Records and in 2002 the label released Thought Riot's debut full length album, "Shattered Mirror Syndrome". Thought Riot began touring with bands you would consider their peers in punk rock such as Anti-Flag, Good Riddance, Pipedown and Strike Anywhere. In 2003 the band released the EP "The Dangerous Doctrine Of Empathy". Later in that year, the band released their second full length album, "Sketches Of Undying Will". Between 2004 and 2006, Thought Riot toured relentlessly, including an appearance on the Warped Tour. In 2007, the band confirmed on their MySpace page that they had several songs written but not recorded as well as having some songs recorded that were never released. Unfortunately, Thought Riot was basically disbanded by 2008. Currently, Thought Riot is no longer a band. They could never quite keep a stable line-up over the years and it just seemed like the band was going nowhere. They did have one song surface after their break-up called "Rock Is Not Revolution" but i'm not quite sure what year that came out, perhaps it was one of those finished songs that the band was referring to on their MySpace post. If you're a fan of politically charged punk like Anti-Flag, Pennywise, Good Riddance or Rise Against then perhaps you should give Thought Riot a go. Not a real groundbreaking band, but not bad either.