2019 is already shaping up to be quite the year for Real Friends. Currently they’re on a US tour with New Found Glory and recently they just played Slam Dunk Festival, sharing the stage with so many talented artists.
On top of all the excitement happening with the band lately, they also announced yesterday that they’ll be touring in UK/EU with support from Grayscale, and Belmont.
One could easily argue that this could be a top contender for their best year yet, but it’s hard to tell given the monster year they had previously. In 2018 they played the final cross country Warped Tour, and of course their biggest album to date “Composure” was released in July, all on top of a massive Fall Tour with none other than Boston Manor
With the release of their 4th studio LP “Composure”, it marked 2 full years after “Home Inside My Head”. An overall classic and one of their most well-known albums to date.
Today, a year later and “Composure” is still incredibly popular. It’s filled with hit tracks worthy of listening to on repeat for hours on end and Real Friends has without a doubt proved to be a powerhouse in the pop-punk scene following its release.
They were showing no signs of stopping from that point moving forward and luckily for us fans, our “Friends” were still hard at work during their ‘downtime’ these past few months.
Following the path of their previous acoustic EP’s, Real Friends has re-released 4 tracks from their album, which includes the title track “Composure”, crowd favorite “From The Outside”, as well as “Me First” and “Get By”.
This time they’ve called it “Even More Acoustic Songs” which is a throwback to the their acoustic releases in 2012 titled “Acoustic Songs” and their 2015 release “More Acoustic Songs”.
The fans that have been listening since the beginning had seen this acoustic EP coming from a mile away.
When Real Friends made the announcement about premiering the acoustic version of “From The Outside” on a YouTube live-stream, it was apparent that this could lead to something more, given their history with releasing acoustic versions of their tracks.
Fortunately for us, that was correct and on May 31st the band had released the full EP consisting of the 4 songs. We’ve had a few days with it, have processed it, and have listened to each track endlessly.
I believe it’s safe to say that these acoustic versions will never get old and more of them should be performed live. Dan has such a unique voice and his talent as a vocalist truly becomes the focal point when the tracks are stripped down like this.
Each of the 4 songs pays homage to the original while adding a bright and flavorful spin. “From The Outside” boasts a really upbeat sound in the original with yielding to a darker side with the lyrics.
The acoustic version does an incredible job of stripping away that “bright” aspect and really gives in to the emotion you feel with the lyrics. It’s beautifully composed and one of my favorites from the EP, although it’s really tough to choose a favorite.
It was evident that the “new” tracks were a way to dig a little deeper into the meaning behind them while giving fans an outlet to channel their inner emo-self with a few songs that aren’t as upbeat.
I strongly believe that when they wrote the acoustic versions they wanted to capture a sense of vulnerability and weakness which they did they a fantastic job with and ultimately created 4 very intimate tracks.
Hopefully you’ve had a chance to check out the songs but if you haven’t, you can listen to them below!
If you’ll be seeing them while they’re on tour with New Found Glory or plan to see them in the UK/EU with Grayscale, let us know in the comments! We’d love to know what your favorite track is from the EP!
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