Hit The Lights

Hit The Lights are a five-piece pop punk band that formed in 2003 in Lima, Ohio. Admittedly, I don't listen to this band a ton, or many in their corner of the pop punk universe, but they get requested like crazy, and I haven't fulfilled anyone's pop punk fix on here for a while now, so here's the antidote. This band released their debut album through Triple Crown Records in 2006, which immediately brought them a devoted fan base and plenty of attention, and for good reason. Their debut is solid, and filled with chunky rhythms and catchy melodies plastered with vocal harmonies and gang chants about friends, girls, and girlfriends. All the essentials of a pop punk album. This would be the last album they put out with their original singer, since he left a year after its release. In his place was then-guitarist Nick Thompson, who has been their frontman since then. Their next album, Skip School, Start Fights is a more "mature" (I use that word loosely) effort on their part, and their tightness in both their musicianship and songwriting is apparent. Four years later, they made an even bigger jump in sound with Invicta by dabbling with a more indie/alternative influence. Now in 2015, they're signed to Pure Noise Records and put out a new album called Summer Bones, which is a return to their original form, plus features a song with their first vocalist.

I've really got to thank Jacob Shumaker for the help with this one, because I definitely would not have most of what's below, so you can thank him for that too. I'm glad to finally get this band on here, because the requests for them have been constant, so enjoy!

Leaving Town Tonight (2004)

1. At 6:00 We Go Live

2. Head Over Heels

3. Sorry For

4. Counter-Clockwise

Until We Get Caught (2005)

1. Until We Get Caught

2. At 6:00, We Go Live

3. Save Your Breath

4. These Backs Are Made For Stabbing

5. Loose Lips Sink Ships

This Is A Stickup...Don't Make It A Murder (2006)

1. The Call Out (You Are The Dishes)

2. These Backs Are Made For Stabbing

3. Three Oh Nine

4. Body Bag

5. Talk Us Down

6. Save Your Breath

7. Sincerely Yours

8. One Hundred Times

9. It's All The Rage

10. Speakers Blown

11. Until We Get Caught

12. Make A Run For It

13. Her Eyes Say Yes, But The Restraining Order Says No

14. Stick Up

Skip School, Start Fights (2008)

1. Count It!

2. Breathe In

3. Stay Out

4. Drop The Girl

5. Tell Me Where You Are

6. Hangs Em High

7. Back Breaker

8. Don't Wait

9. Cry Your Eyes Out

10. Statues

11. Say What You Want To Say

12. On And On

13. How Will I Know (Whitney Houston cover)

14. Drop The Girl (The Secret Handshakes remix)

Coast To Coast (2009)

1. Coast To Coast

2. Pulse

3. Drive Onto Me (Elliott cover)

4. Snowbirds and Townies (Further Seems Forever cover)

5. Tell Me Where You Are (Acoustic)

6. Make A Run For It/The Call Out (Acoustic)

Invicta (2012)

1. Invincible

2. Gravity

3. Earthquake

4. So Guilty

5. Get To You

6. Float Through Me

7. Should've Known

8. All The Weight

9. Faster Now

10. Take Control

11. Oh My God

Summer Bones (2015)

1. Fucked Up Kids

2. The Real

3. Life On The Bottom

4. Revolutions And Executions

5. No Filter

6. Blasphemy, Myself And I

7. Summer Bones

8. Keep Your Head

9. Sitter

10. Old Friend

Misc.

All Or Nothing

Body Bag (Acoustic)

Head Over Heels

Hey Jealousy (Gin Blossoms cover)

Hey Jealousy (Acoustic)

More Than A Feeling (Boston cover)

One Hundred Times (Acoustic)

The Warrior (Scandal cover)

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Weatherbox

Weatherbox are a punk/indie band from San Diego, California that formed in 2005. The band is the main project of vocalist/guitarist Brian Warren, who is backed by a revolving door of other members. The band's sound is energetic, but with a ton of emphasis on melody, making them the perfect blend of punk, indie, and emo. Some of their contemporaries are Mansions, A Great Big Pile of Leaves, Into It. Over It., and All Get Out. If you like bands such as Say Anything, Braid, The Weakerthans, Dear And The Headlights, and Manchester Orchestra. Weatherbox are currently part of the Triple Crown Records, so there's another source of validation to this band's greatness. I don't really know what more to say except definitely check them out, they've knocked out a lot of material in their existence, so I'd suggest starting from the most recent and working back to the start, though a lot of is worth merit. Enjoy.

The Clearing (2006)

1. Snakes, Our Ground

2. The Thinnest Of Maps

3. The Clearing

4. Cowboy Mountain

5. Atoms Smash

4 Songs (2007)

1. Is Nice

2. The Seven Different Levels of Devil-Worshipping

3. That M.A.D.D.

4. Brian Wins Again

American Art (2007)

1. Atoms Smash

2. Armed To The Teeth

3. The Clearing

4. Wolftank, Doff Thy Name

5. Untitled

6. Moments Before The Smashing Of Future Ryan

7. Snakes, Our Ground

8. A Flock of Weatherboxes

9. I Worship Raw Beats

10. The Dreams

11. The Drugs

12. Drop The Mike

13. Trippin' The Life Fantastic

Manbox (2009)

1. Broken Head
2. Ahoma Coma

3. No One's There (I Don't Care)

The Cosmic Drama (2009)

1. That Mann

2. King Friend (The Showing Of The Instruments)

3. They're Ready For Us To Come Home

4. This Space Intentionally Left Blank

5. Mindthings To Waste

6. YouTube The Clouds (Anything That Flies)

7. And You Will Know Me By The Trail Of Dead

8. Two Satchels of Light

9. I Haven't Kissed A Guy In Lightyears

10. Ask My Flashlight

11. Contactus, The Little Green Man

12. Don't Say Nice Things

13. No Hands (Anything That Moves)

Christpuncher (2010)

1. Broken Glow Stick

2. The Bullets

Follow The Rattle Of The Afghan Guitar (2011)

1. Secret Muslim

2. My Head

3. Mountain

4. Heavy Map

5. Broken Glow Sticks

6. The Bullets

Repbox (2012)

1. Sainthood Reps - Deadlines

2. Weatherbox - Big News

Flies In All Directions (2014)

1. Pagan Baby

2. Bring Us The Head Of Weatherbox

3. The Fresh Prints Of Bill Ayers

4. Bathin' In The Fuss

5. Radio Hive

6 The Devil And Whom?

7. Dark All Night For Us

8. Drag Out

9. The Drones

10. Ghost Malls

11. Kick-Flips

12. The Last White Lighter

13. Love Me A Good Microcosm

Into It. Over It.

Well, here it is. This is easily the most requested band on here ever, and for good reason too. They have a very expansive discography which is near impossible to fully complete, but here's a very close selection of it. The only things I know of that are missing are two cassette releases (Chicago and Covers respectively), the second Daytrotter session, and their contribution to the Polyvinyl 4-track singles series. Thanks to everyone who helped find all of those. Everything else appears somewhere below. So if anyone has those things, please send them to me. Also, thanks to Jacob Shumaker for the help with this. Enjoy.

Into It. Over It. (IIOI) is mainly the project of Evan Thomas Weiss. Evan's origins are split between Chicago, Illinois, and Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Prior to IIOI, he was a longtime member of The Progress, a band that he had started while still in high school. For a brief time he was also the bassist of Damiera. After The Progress broke up, Into It. Over It. was slowly formed. Starting in September 2007, Evan wrote and recorded a song every week until September 2008. This spawned 52 songs, which would appropriately become 52 Weeks, the first album released under the Into It. Over It. moniker. Each song was entirely performed and recorded by Evan himself. Some of his best material came out of this ("Anchor", "Batsto", "Pinky Swear", "High & Mighty", "Bullied Becomes The Bully",  "22 Syllables", etc.) and the most impressive part being that each song was constructed within the span of one week. Following this, he released a slew of splits with many great bands. His songs on those splits would later compile Twelve Towns. Into It. Over It.'s debut album, Proper, was released in 2011 on No Sleep Records. This is their first release with a true full-band lineup. With a few smaller releases in between, their second full-length, Intersections, came out in 2013 on Triple Crown Records. In addition to IIOI, Evan is also a member of Stay Ahead Of The Weather, Their / They're / There, and Pet Symmetry.

Into It. Over It.'s sound is basically an amalgamation of emo and indie rock with some singer-songwriter sensibilities. Some bands that they obviously draw influence from are Death Cab For Cutie, Braid, The Get Up Kids, and Owen. Their earlier material was more focused on Evan solely. Though a lot of early songs were recorded with drums, electric guitars, etc., his tours were mainly just him and an acoustic guitar, as were many of the early songs. As their career progressed, they shifted to a permanent full band dynamic. They are often heralded as being one of the front runners of the modern emo revival scene, and it's obvious why. They often tour and associate with bands within that realm of music (Empire! Empire!, You Blew It!, Foxing, etc.), but also go beyond the obvious contemporaries. They have played shows or released music with bands as diverse as Frank Turner, The Wonder Years, Former Thieves, Bomb The Music Industry!, and Such Gold. Overall they are an amazing, well-rounded band that everything should definitely give a try, as many of you obviously do. The essentials are 52 Weeks, IIOI/KOJI, Twelve Towns, Proper, and Intersections.

52 Weeks (2009)

1. Batsto

2. The Outcome Of All Our Lives

3. Heartificial

4. Anchor

5. Fak It

6. Introduce THIS To Your Parents

7. Everybody's (Fucking) Crazy

8. A Song About Your Party

9. Ashley's Big Adventure

10. The Worst Company To Keep

11. Friday At Brians (I Have To Be Up In Four Hours)

12. 30 Ft. Spirit

13. Next Stop: The Olympics

14. ATM Disaster Scenes

15. The Liquor Your Older Friends Bought

16. David Caruso TV

17. Spoon Full Of Salt

18. Sebadon't

19. All Thumbs Down

20. It's Not 2001

21. What's Written On Your Wrist

22. Even Adam Kevin Helen

23. Gin And Ironic

24. Gear Isn't Expensive

25. ChiKeyGo

26. 22 Syllables

27. Dan I.Y.

28. 53% Accurate

29. Clocked Out

30. New Careers

31. Second Rate Broadcasting

32. Corrugated Windows

33. Dude-A-Form (Dude Uniform)

34. Watching You Cry In Public

35. Can I Buy A V_wel?

36. Blaargh!!

37. Your Mantra

38. Open A Book

39. Starched And Hung

40. ...And I Bite My Nails

41. High & Mighty

42. The Bullied Becomes The Bully (Police Story v2.0)

43. Pinky Swear

44. Southern California In The 80's

45. We Organized Your Life

46. Rearrange My Life

47. Afternoon's Asleep

48. Up Up Done Done

49. Young Lungs

50. Wearing White

51. Rapid Shitty, SD

52. No Big Chorus

Empire! Empire! (I Was A Lonely Estate)/Into It. Over It. (2010)

1. Empire! Empire! (I Was A Lonely Estate) - If We Had Found You Any Later, You Would Have Drowned

2. Into It. Over It. - Buffalo, NY

3. Into It. Over It. - Brenham, TX

Bob Nanna & Lauren Lo/Into It. Over It. (2010)

1. Bob Nanna & Laura Lo - I Do

2. Bob Nanna & Laura Lo - All Of A Sudden

3. Into It. Over It. - Nashville, TN

4. Into It. Over It. - Billings, MT

Everyone Everywhere/Into It. Over It. (2010)

1. Into It. Over It. - Augusta, GA

2. Everyone Everywhere - Batsto

3. Everyone Everywhere - Fakin' It

4. Into It. Over It. - Raw Bar OBX 2002

Into It. Over It./Pswingset (2010)

1. Into It. Over It. - Cambridge, MA

2. Into It. Over It. - Orlando, FL

3. Pswingset - Everything That Was Tired

4. Pswingset - Thanks For The Record

Snack Town (2010)

1. Castevet - Chilsen

2. Castevet - (Get) Bucktown

3. Into It. Over It. - Summerville, SC

4. Into It. Over It. - Pontiac, MI

Covers Cassette (2010)

2. Holding Hands With Me (Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A Start cover) 

3. I've Just Seen The Best I'll Ever Be (Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A Start cover)

Note: Missing tracks 1 & 4

IIOI/KOJI (2010)

1. Into It. Over It. - Wicker Park

2. Into It. Over It. - Humboldt

3. Into It. Over It. - Ravenswood

4. Into It. Over It. - Pilsen

5. Into It. Over It. - Logan Square

6. Koji - Most Of Everything

7. Koji - All Below

8. Koji - Matches

9. Koji - Shift

10. Koji - Giants Sleeping

Nervous Energies Session (2011)

1. Wicker Park

2. Humboldt

3. No Sleep Til Humboldt

4. Logan Square

Chicago Cassette (2011)

1. Wicker Park (Live Session)

2. Humboldt (Live Session)

3. Ravenswood (Live Session)

4. Pilsen (Live Session)

5. Logan Square (Live Session)

Into It. Over It./Such Gold (2011)

1. Into It. Over It. - Washington, DC

2. Into It. Over It. - Portland, OR

3. Such Gold - Minstrels

4. Such Gold - The World That You Live In

Twelve Towns (2011)

1. Nashville, TN

2. Orlando, FL

3. Brenham, TX

4. Cambridge, MA

5. Summerville, SC

6. Westmont, NJ

7. Augusta, GA

8. Buffalo, NY

9. Billings, MT

10. Portland, OR

11. Washington, DC

12. Pontiac, MI

13. Augusta, GA (acoustic)

14. Billings, MT (acoustic)

15. Brenham, TX (acoustic)

16. Pontiac, MI (acoustic)

17. Portland, OR (acoustic)

Snug (2011)

1. Anchor

2. 22 Syllables

3. Portland, OR

4. The Bullied Becomes The Bully

5. No Sleep 'till Humbolt

Proper (2011)

1. Embracing Facts

2. Discretion & Depressing People

3. Fortunate Friends

4. No Good Before Noon

5. Write It Right

6. Midnight: Carroll Street

7. Connecticut Steps

8. Staring At The Ceiling

9. An Evening With Ramsey Beyer

10. Where Your Nights Often End

11. P R O P E R

12. The Frames That Used To Greet Me

Daytrotter Session (2011)

1. Welcome To Daytrotter

2. Nashville, TN

3. Pinky Swear

4. Bustin' (Iron Chic cover)

5. Anchor

6. Raw Bar (Everyone Everywhere cover)

Scott & Aubrey's Wedding 7-Inch (2012)

1. The Forecast - The Reasons (The Weakerthans cover)

2. Into It. Over It. - Need You Around (Smoking Popes cover)

3. The Swellers - El Scorcho (Weezer cover)

4. Bomb The Music Industry! - Punk Rock Girl (Dead Milkmen cover)

Glamour Kills Tour Split (2012)

1. The Wonder Years - Anchor (Into It. Over It. cover)

2. Polar Bear Club - Skipping Stone (Transit cover)

3. Transit - Resent And Resistance (Polar Bear Club cover)

4. The Story So Far - Wrightsville Beach (A Loss For Words cover)

5. A Loss For Words - Quicksand (The Story So Far cover)

6. Into It. Over It. - Don't Let Me Cave In (The Wonder Years cover)

Daytrotter Studio 10/24/2012 (2012)

1. Welcome to Daytrotter

2. No Good Before Noon

3. Where Your Nights Often End

4. Connecticut Steps

5. Embracing Facts

6. The Frames That Used To Greet Me

7. What's Written On Your Wrist

Life Is Suffering (2013)

1. Wearing White

2. Anchor

Into It. Over It./The Great Albatross (2013)

1. Into It. Over It. - A Curse Worth Believing (Demo Version)

2. Into It. Over It. - The Bullied Becomes The Bully (Live On WKDU)

3. The Great Albatross - Summer's Gone (Single Version)

Intersections (2013)

1. New North-Side Air

2. Spinning Thread

3. A Curse Worth Believing

4. Spatial Exploration

5. Favor & Fiction

6. The Shaking Of Leaves

7. Upstate Blues

8. No Amount of Snow

9. A Pair Of Matching Taxi Rides

10. Obsessive Compulsive Distraction

11. Your Antique Organ

12. Contractual Obligation

Polyvinyl 4-Track Singles Series: Into It. Over It. (2014)

1. Arsenic

2. Old Lace

Owen/Into It. Over It. (2015)

1. Owen - Poison Arrows

2. Into It. Over It. - Poor Souls (Owen cover)

3. Into It. Over It. - Local Language

4. Owen - Anchor (Into It. Over It. cover)

Standards (2016)

1. Open Casket

2. Closing Argument

3. No EQ

4. Vis Major

5. Your Lasting Image

6. Old Lace & Ivory

7. Adult Contempt

8. Required Reading

9. Bible Black

10. Who You Are Does Not Equal Where You Are

11. Anesthetic

12. The Circle Of The Same Ideas

Figure (2020)

1. They Built Our Bench Again in Palmer Square

2. Living Up To Let You Down

3. Hollow Halos

4. Perfect Penmanship

5. Courtesy Greetings

6. Breathing Patterns

7. A Left Turn at Best Intentions

8. Brushstrokes

9. We Prefer Indoors

10. Dressing Down // Addressing You

11. A Lyric in My Head I Haven't Thought of Yet

12. A Light in the Trees

Canada Sessions (2020)

1. Embracing Facts (Version 2.0)

2. 22 Syllables (Version 2.0)

Reciprocity (2022)

1. Hikes - Crown Shyness

2. Hikes - Better

3. Hikes - Sana All

4. Into It. Over It. - The Designated Place at the Designated Time

5. Into It. Over It. - The Captain Setting Course from Where We Met

6. Into It. Over It. - The Focus, the Compass, the Contract in Hand

Compilation Songs

For Agnes

Jingle Bell Broke

Assassination on X-Mas Eve

Message From Kathlene (Alkaline Trio cover)

Deep Red Bulls (Neko Case cover)

Note: All these songs appear on various compilations, but never on any of IIOI's official releases. Though they have other songs on compilations, all of those tracks also appear above on an actual album of theirs. 

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Foxing

Foxing are a five-piece band that formed in 2011 from Saint Louis, Missouri. What's their genre? It's somewhere between a blend of emo/indie/post-rock/math rock/electronic music, as if that narrows anything down. Alright, think of a band influenced by the likes of Explosions In The Sky, This Town Needs Guns, Listener, The Antlers, Tera Melos, Maps & Atlases, Death Cab For Cutie, Brand New, and A Silver Mt. Zion (and their 1000 names). Now imagine that said band came from the same music scene that spawned The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die, Empire! Empire! (I Was A Lonely Estate), Crash of Rhinos, and Prawn. And what do you have? Foxing.

This band utilizes a range of instruments in addition to the basic guitar, bass, drums setup. A trumpet is prominently used, as well as various string arrangements, and electronic tinkering, among others. Their guitars are very clean, often laden with delay and reverb. The drums focus more on forming rhythms than keeping basic beats. The vocals are varied, often ranging from spoken word parts to cracking shouts and sputters of intense emotion ("Why don't you love me back?"). The lyrical relatability and poeticism is painstaking, to say the least. The band crafts songs featuring endless crescendos, cathartic climaxes, and eventual breaking points, the formula of post-rock, but structure their songs to remain unpredictable and adventurous, which sets them apart from the predictably that plagues the genre. The Albatross in particular is an amazing piece of work that I highly, highly recommend everybody check out in its entirety. It has got to be one of the most solid albums put out in this realm of music in years, in my opinion.

Foxing released their debut full-length on Count Your Lucky Stars, and were quite quickly signed to Triple Crown Records, for good reason. Below is the aforementioned full-length and their earlier material. Be sure to support the band, and they are a must-see live band if you have the chance. Enjoy.

Old Songs (2012)

1. Friendly Homes

2. Sunspotting

3. Gold Cobra

Foxing/Send Away Stranger (2013)

1. Foxing - Ocelot

2. Send Away Stranger - Still Figures 

3. Send Away Stranger - You Look Like a Basketball Pro

Japenese Breakfast/Foxing (2013)

1. Japanese Breakfast - The Woman That Loves You

2. Foxing - Tom Bley

The Albatross (2013)

1. Bloodhound

2. Inuit

3. The Medic

4. Pent up in a Blind

5. Rory

6. Bit By a Dead Bee pt. I

7. Bit By a Dead Bee pt. II

8. Den Mother

9. Calm Before

10. Quietus

Dealer (2015)

1. Weave

2. The Magdalene

3. Night Channels

4. Laundered

5. Indica

6. Winding Cloth

7. Redwoods

8. Glass Coughs

9. Eiffel

10. Coda

11. Three On A Match

Two (2017)

1. Indica Two

2. Redwoods Two

Nearer My God (2018)

1. Grand Paradise

2. Slapstick

3. Lich Prince

4. Gameshark

5. Nearer My God

6. Five Cups

7. Heartbeats

8. Trapped In Dillard's

9. Bastardizer

10. Crown Candy

11. Won't Drown

12. Lambert

Draw Down The Moon (2021)

1. 737

2. Go Down Together

3. Beacons

4. Draw Down The Moon

5. Where The Lightning Strikes Twice

6. Bialystok

7. At Least We Found The Floor

8. Cold Blooded

9. If I Believed In Love

10. Speak With The Dead (feat. Why?)

The Albatross: Ten Years (2023)

1. Carly Cosgrove - Bloodhound

2. Insignificant Other - Inuit

3. Sweet Pill - The Medic

4. Prince Daddy & The Hyena - Rory

5. Home Is Where - Bit By A Dead Bee, Pt. I

6. Hey, ILY! - Bit By A Dead Bee, Pt. II

7. For Your Health - Den Mother

8. Colleen Dow - Quietus

9. The Medic (2023)

10. Rory (2023)

Foxing (2024)

1. Secret History

2. Hell 99

3. Spit

4. Greyhound

5. Cleaning

6. Barking

7. Kentucky McDonald's

8. Looks Like Nothing

9. Gratitutde

10. Dead Cat

11. Dead Internet

12. Hall Of Frozen Heads

13. Cry Baby

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