caterpillars

Record #875: CATERPILLARS – Frontier for the Fallen (2022)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

I spent much of my adult life trying to separate myself from the word “emo.” Sure, part of that was an effort to grow beyond my adolescent self, but the much larger part was a protest to how the word had been stolen by the guylinered mallcore bands of the mid-aughts that I had no interest in at all.

But the truth is, no matter what My Chemical Romance and Panic! At the Disco did with culture’s idea of emo, that doesn’t change my deep love of bands like Sunny Day Real Estate, Mineral, Further Seems Forever, et al.

The last several years, I’ve discovered I’m not alone in that. Much of this is due to an online community called Midwest Emoposting, which introduced me to scores of folks with the same idea of what emo should be, which reignited my deep love of the genre. That also introduced me to a number of bands carrying that flame, such as CATERPILLARS, whose new album Frontier For the Fallen is a masterclass in propulsive, sweeping, emotive songcraft.

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2020 Year End

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

For all of the personal, political, and global calamity of the hellacious year that was 2020, there was a lot of great music that came out. Like…a LOT. 

It makes sense: with tours, festivals, and live shows canceled, most bands turned to the studio instead. The result is perhaps the most challenging year to quantify into a nice, neat list.

But that hasn’t stopped me from trying.

And while I often cop out and just make a list of all the music I’ve purchased, this year is difficult because I’ve purchased all of this music this year, on one format or another.

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Record #712: CATERPILLARS – Where Shadows Go To Speak (2020)

/ Nathaniel FitzGerald

A couple years ago, a friend invited me to join a Facebook group he had started called “Midwest Emoposting.” It has since grown to many thousand members, but in its humble beginnings, there were precious few of us.

As expected, the group didn’t just attract music fans alone, but also a number of musicians. Every so often, there would be a post by a member promoting their own band. Admittedly, I often ignored these posts, as the songs felt like lackluster American Football copies. But one day, a man named Stephen O’Sicky posted about his band, CATERPILLARS, and my first reaction was, “wait…this is actually good.”

Since then, a lot has changed. CATERPILLARS and my own band SPACESHIPS are now label mates on Friend Club Records, and we both released new full lengths a couple weeks apart (another friend from that group did the cover art).

Said full length is Where Shadows Go to Speak, a super solid collection of songs that are at once ethereal, emotive, and powerful.

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