Spring Break
The Academy Is... 'Almost Here' with release of second disc
By: Brandon Weiss
Issue date: 7/27/07 Section: Arts & Entertainment
Originally published: 7/28/07 at 12:33 AM EST
Last update: 7/28/07 at 12:32 AM EST
Originally published: 7/28/07 at 12:33 AM EST
Last update: 7/28/07 at 12:32 AM EST
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As Naomi, the assistant tour manager, and I snaked through the halls of the Tweeter Center in Camden, NJ, I got the first impression that the members of The Academy Is… camp are relaxed individuals. Their bouncy debut album, Almost Here, clearly must have represented the side of the band that I was about to experience. We approach a black door with a color photocopy of the cover of the new TAI… record, Santi, tacked to the outside. As we open the door, Naomi mumbles something on her radio. I take a quick glance around. I am caught off guard as we enter a barren room with little more than a couch, a plush chair, a table and some cardboard boxes scattered around the floor. As I sit down on the couch, a small door in the corner of the room opens to reveal a man with a beard, whom I don't recognize. I turn around to watch him leave the room, and when I turn back around, William Beckett, the tall, lanky yet aesthetically appealing singer of TAI… emerges from the room in the back. He sports a low-cut shirt and the tightest jeans I have ever seen. Just what could a tall, pretty-boy in a pop-rock band have to offer to the world aside from his voice? Is there more than just a singsong melody running through his head?
"Let's start rolling!" says Beckett blithely as he sits down on the chair across the room and begins to moisturize his face. With a sophomore record just released and a slot on the hugely successful Honda Civic Tour in support of Fall Out Boy, Beckett seems particularly interested to participate in my interview and share his experiences with someone that is near to his own age. Maybe there really was more to Beckett than I thought-there was clearly more substance to the band than I had originally thought, judging by the new tunes featured on Santi. The latest album from The Academy Is… is unexpectedly deep, considering the quintet's bubblegum-pop-like debut, Almost Here. With slow songs like "Everything We Had," and the record's dramatic ending, "Unexpected Places," it is almost enigmatic how this 180-degree musical turnaround occurred. Beckett notes that there were many factors considered in the writing process of Santi that merited the diversion from their carefree sound.
"Let's start rolling!" says Beckett blithely as he sits down on the chair across the room and begins to moisturize his face. With a sophomore record just released and a slot on the hugely successful Honda Civic Tour in support of Fall Out Boy, Beckett seems particularly interested to participate in my interview and share his experiences with someone that is near to his own age. Maybe there really was more to Beckett than I thought-there was clearly more substance to the band than I had originally thought, judging by the new tunes featured on Santi. The latest album from The Academy Is… is unexpectedly deep, considering the quintet's bubblegum-pop-like debut, Almost Here. With slow songs like "Everything We Had," and the record's dramatic ending, "Unexpected Places," it is almost enigmatic how this 180-degree musical turnaround occurred. Beckett notes that there were many factors considered in the writing process of Santi that merited the diversion from their carefree sound.
