Man Overboard (Man Overboard album)

Background

Following the release of their debut album Real Talk in July 2010, Man Overboard toured constantly throughout the remainder of the year. In early September, it was announced that guitarist Wayne Wildrick had left the band. The band explained that Wildrick had "some personal things to take care of". As a result of this, drummer Justin Collier switched to guitar, and Mike Hrycenko was brought in to fill in on drums. In December, it was announced the band had signed to Rise, as well as mentioning that a new album was planned for release in the fall. In February 2011, the group released The Absolute Worst EP as a stop-gap release to tide fans over until the band's second album. On April 28, it was announced that Wildrick had re-joined the band.

Recording

On May 16, 2011, the group announced they were in the process of demoing new material at vocalist/bassist Nik Bruzzese's studio, Small Hill Recording Studio. When the group began demoing "everyone just worked so well together", according to Wildrick. They had 17 songs, which they would later narrow down prior to recording. Recording began in early June and ended prior to the band's European tour with Polar Bear Club. While recording, the band used different snare drums and different cymbals. Wildrick explain: "Little things like that to make subtle changes [so] the songs sound the best that they can." Cannon and Klein provided an "outside perspective", according to Wildrick. The pair came into the recording process with "outside ideas", and helped the group hear the songs differently. Videos of the band recording were released on June 17 and June 24.

Composition

Eisenstein wrote the lyrics for a number of songs on the album. Wildrick considered the album "more picked-up", and the songs as being "definitely a lot more aggressive." Wildrick mentioned how "[s]ome bands write faster records first and start to slow down", but for Man Overboard, "I guess we did it the opposite." Opening track "Rare", "blew our minds", according to Eisenstein, as the band "never played anything that fast" previously. With "Teleport", Bruzzese "worked my ass off with the guitar work" for the track "trying to get it right". Klein, Eisenstein and Bruzzese dedicated a whole evening purely on the bridge of the song. According to Bruzzese, "Voted Most Likely" reminded him of Klein. Bruzzese wrote the lyrics while the band was on tour with Senses Fail, though "it reminded me of something completely different." After working with Klein, "Voted Most Likely" "for some reason reminds me the most of him". "Dead End Dreams" was a late addition to the album, according to Bruzzese. While in the demo process, the group thought the song had to make the album. The song, according to Bruzzese "happens to be the story of everyone in the band's life right now."

With "Somethings Weird", Eisenstein played Wildrick the song and "we got right to work." The song, according to Wildrick, "represents an awakening within a relationship". According to Collier, "Punishment" was "a [Bruzzese] song, and I feel he always writes sad tunes." With "Not the First", Hrycenko found it "a challenge" to "get good enough with all the transitions that I felt confident tracking". He called it "pretty heavy, and the little roll on the ride in the bridge is super tight". According to Eisenstein, the group used to call "Headstone" the "H20 Song" as they considered it to be "super manly, fast and punk." Eisenstein composed the guitar riff in a hotel in Arizona, and wrote the lyrics in the back the group's van. With "Spunn", the group had forgotten about it until Jimmy Dunn, a friend of the band, reminded them about it. Dunn had a copy of Eisenstein's demo of the song, which he dug out for the group. According to Hrycenko "Picture Perfect" went through 10 different names due to the lyric about a car. With "Night Feelings", Wildrick claimed that with Bruzzese and Eisenstein being fans of 311 it "really shows in the bridge." According to Collier, people who heard the album's final track, "Atlas", had called it "a wild card of a song for this album." Collier thought the song didn't have the same vibe as the rest of the songs on the album.

Release

On August 5, 2011, Man Overboard was announced for release, and the album's cover art and track listing was revealed. On August 24, "Dead End Dreams" was made available for streaming. On September 16, "Spunn" was made available for streaming. A free download was also available, which included lyrics and a guitar tab for the song. Man Overboard was made available for streaming on September 25, and was released through Rise Records two days later. On the same day, "Dead End Dreams" was released as a single with "Home Again" and "No Drama" as the B-sides. To celebrate the album's release, the band hosted a listening party. In October and November, the band supported New Found Glory on their Pop Punk's Not Dead tour of the U.S. In December, the band went on a U.S. tour, with support from Daytrader and True Things. Prior to the tour, Daytrader was replaced by Handguns due to a family emergency. Also in December, the band supported The Early November during their holiday shows.

On January 18, 2012, a music video was released for "Something’s Weird". In January and February, the band toured the UK, with support from The Story So Far and Save Your Breath. On February 8, the band announced they would be filming a music video for "Dead End Dreams" during the week. Following this, the band went on the Pop Punk the Vote tour, touring across the U.S. in February and March. They were supported by Handguns and Seahaven, with Candy Hearts opening the first half of the tour, and Daytrader opening the second half. On February 23, it was announced that Hrycenko had left the band. The band then went on The Rocksound Impericon tour in Europe from late March to mid April, alongside Your Demise, Trapped Under Ice, and Basement. This was followed by a tour of Russia and Ukraine, alongside James Corbi.

The music video for "Dead End Dreams" was teased on May 22, followed by a making-of video on May 30. The music video, inspired by Pennywise's video for "Same Old Story", was premiered through MTV on June 5. The video, directed by Rob Soucy, was filmed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Williamstown, New Jersey, earlier in the year. The band went on the 2012 edition of Warped Tour between June and August. A deluxe edition of the album was released on July 3, featuring "Love Your Friends, Die Laughing" and live versions of four tracks. In September, the band went on a brief east coast tour of the U.S. with Major League, before touring across the west coast the following month with Taking Back Sunday and Bayside. In November, the band went on the Road to Warped Tour in the UK, alongside New Found Glory, Less Than Jake and The Story So Far. From late November to early December, the band went on tour with Never Shout Never.

Reception

Man Overboard peaked at number 181 on the Billboard 200, as well as reaching number 6 on the Heatseekers Albums chart, number 18 on the Hard Rock Albums chart, and number 34 on the Independent Albums chart.

Man Overboard received favourable reviews. AllMusic reviewer William Ruhlmann opened his review with mentioning how the group released several releases in the preceding 18 months. Calling this decision "indicative of Man Overboard's youthful drive; this is a band that is in a hurry." This "rush" was "expressed in the breakneck tempos of the short (none over three and a half minutes) songs" on the group's self-titled album. Ruhlmann classified the album's sound as being "standard-issue" pop punk in the vein of Green Day and Blink-182, with "an echo" of Jimmy Eat World, in terms of the "contrasting vocals" of Bruzzese and Eisenstein.

Kaj Roth of Melodic noted that how Man Overboard's name was taken from the Blink-182 song of the same name, "it makes sense when I listen to their new album which is a major flirt with B812's early sound". He went on further to say "this is pop punk how it sounded back around 1999-2002 with faster songs and more focus on punk rock than pop." Roth closed with calling the release "a solid album". Writing for Rock Sound, Andy Ritchie wrote that the album "reveals little reinvention, but the nuts and bolts of what makes them so affable have only been tightened and polished further". He considered the band as having "a formula that just works", concluding with: "there really isn’t a dud track here."

Track listing

1. "Rare" – 3:04
2. "Teleport" – 2:46
3. "Voted Most Likely" – 2:52
4. "Dead End Dreams" – 3:12
5. "Something's Weird" – 2:24
6. "Punishment" – 2:53
7. "Not the First" – 2:50
8. "Headstone" – 2:18
9. "Spunn" – 2:30
10. "Picture Perfect" – 3:04
11. "Night Feelings" – 3:24
12. "Atlas" – 2:35

Personnel