Further Seems Forever - "Pride War" (2003)

Further Seems Forever was a band with quite a rocky existence. The band began in 1998 after the remaining members of hardcore band Strongarm decided they wanted to keep playing together. Chris Carrabba joined the band on vocals and they began writing songs. By 2000 the band had yet to record a full length and Carrabba began work on some solo material under the name Dashboard Confessional. He released The Swiss Army Romance that year and made the decision to pursue Dashboard full time. Despite that, he still laid down the vocals for The Moon Is Down, FSF’s first record which came out in 2001. There was no animosity between Carrabba and the remaining members, but they still needed a new lead singer. In stepped Jason Gleason to fill the very large shoes vacated by Carrabba. It proved to be a great match and together they wrote and recorded their second album How To Start a Fire, released in 2003. It was like the band had a new life and even though some fans were miffed by Gleason’s presence on the mic, Further Seems Forever gained even more fans and reached new heights of popularity. Then in early 2004 after the band had recorded all the instrumental tracks for what would be their third album, it was announced that Gleason was leaving the band, citing irreconcilable differences. For a moment it seemed that FSF would be no more. After a few months of wondering what was to become of them, fans were delighted to hear that FSF would be releasing their third album, this time with vocals from former Sense Field singer Jon Bunch. Hide Nothing came out in August 2004 and so began another era of the band. But it couldn’t last for long and after seven years and three albums with three different singers, Further Seems Forever called it quits. In 2006 Tooth and Nail Records released a best of disc containing fifteen songs from their three studio albums as well as some cool rarities. In 2007 The Final Curtain CD/DVD was released which features audio and video of the band’s final show as well as some previously unreleased demos and a cover song. I love each of Further Seems Forever’s albums and each singer was great in his own way, but I think that Gleason’s voice was the best match with the band’s music. How To Start a Fire is probably my favorite of the three records. There’s a funny story about me and today’s song. In the summer of 2003 my brothers and I went to see them live. They put on a fantastic show and Gleason sang the songs from The Moon Is Down as if he had written them. “Pride War” was my favorite song on the album so when Gleason said “This is a song call ‘Pride War,’” I let out a hearty “Yeah!” from somewhere near the back of the crowd. Perhaps this would have been tolerated were I closer to the front, but standing where I was, all it got me were strange looks from the people around me. I felt dumb for a moment but that didn’t keep me from singing along to every word.


Further Seems Forever - "Pride War"