A recent flip through the emo section at Disk Union in Umeda (yes, amazing, I know—they actually have an emo section!) yielded a gently used copy of False Cathedrals. This album is significant for a number of reasons, but the main one is that my university melodic punk and roll band, Dying Midwestern, borrowed (stole) our name from this record’s seventh track.

Fun fact: we almost named ourselves FIVE MILE FIREWORKS (how Jimmy Eat World is that?!?). Anyway, we all pretty much loved this record and agreed that “Drive On to Me” was the standout among standouts, but “Dying Midwestern” sounded a bit more like the sound we were attempting to create. We soon clung to that identity and hammered out 4.5 years of magical musical memories as Dying Midwestern.

As we said at our last reunion show in 2010: “We were—and always will be—Dying Midwestern.” Needless to say, I had to pay the 400-some-odd yen for a used copy of this, regardless of whether it’s on Spotify Japan or not.

For those listening again: the back half of this record plays much stronger than memory serves. Give it a go.

Get it at Bandcamp.

False Cathedrals

Elliott

Death By Television