Watch: Acceptance goes black and white for ‘Fire and Rain’ video

A month after releasing their highly anticipated sophomore record, Acceptance has returned to give fans a brand new music video. On Monday (March 13), the Seattle-founded band headed over to UPROXX to unleash the music video for their latest single off of Colliding By Design. The music video, which is for the track “Fire and Rain,” follows the band’s theme of beautifully put together clips.

For a song titled “Fire and Rain,” it’s a little surprising that the band decided to go with a black and white theme, even though it does seem to work. The four-minute clip gives the impression of being a black and white photograph come to life with the white coming from the lights illuminating the band. Light exposure is used to draw lines, figures, and even a little cartoon face. Watch the video for “Fire and Rain” above.

“With the video for ‘Fire and Rain,’ it was vital, as it will always be, for us to push ourselves to best represent the songs from Colliding by Design in a visually unique way that captures the feelings we attempted to convey with the song,” explains Acceptance guitarist Christian McAlhaney about the Matthew Ryan Ford-directed/produced/edited clip.

“We are so thrilled to have had the opportunity to work with Matthew Ryan Ford and produce this video, and we really think this visual representation adds a different dimension to our song. Thank you for watching!”

Colliding by Design was released last month through Rise Records. The record’s release comes more than a decade after the band’s much-loved debut record, Phantoms, was released. In support of the new album, Acceptance performed a handful of shows around the album’s release date. Later this month, the band will head over to Australia to join Taking Back Sunday on the Australian leg of their “Tidal Wave” tour.

Listen: Acceptance is ‘Haunted’ in new song

A month after announcing the release of their highly anticipate sophomore album Acceptance has returned with the second single from the upcoming release. On Wednesday (Jan. 25), the Seattle-founded band headed over to Alternative Press to debut the second single off of their brand new record; a track titled “Haunted.” Unlike the band’s lyric video for lead single “Diagram of a Simple Man,” “Haunted” seems to be just like the name describes; a little on the dark side.

Unlike the band’s geometric, colorful lyric video for “Diagram of a Simple Man,” “Haunted is voided of colors and is rooted in real life. Gone all the swirling shapes and instead we get to see the point of view of a man following the end of a relationship. Instead of fitting into the typical lyric video mold, the clip looks more like it was intended to be a music video. According to guitarist Christian McAlhaney, that’s what the band was going for.

“We ultimately wanted to approach the idea of a lyric video in a different way. We absolutely loved the way that ‘Diagram’ turned out, but wanted to try something a little more organic feeling since ‘Diagram’ was entirely digital,” explains McAlhaney to Alternative Press. “We thought that you could create an actual story line while presenting the lyrics in creative and unique ways. We’d actually never seen anything like what we were trying to accomplish, a sort of video/lyric video hybrid, so we thought it could be something pretty unique.”

The video for “Haunted” can be seen above. “Haunted” will join “Diagram of a Simple Man” on the group’s upcoming sophomore album, Colliding by Design. Colliding by Design is set to be released on Feb. 24 through Rise Records with pre-orders currently available on iTunes and the band’s website.

After teasing that they were hard at work on some new music in 2015, Acceptance confirmed the new record back in December of 2016. The announcement came almost two years after they officially came back from hiatus and reunited at the 2015 Skate and Surf Music Festival in New Jersey. A few months after their official reunion and handful of shows, the group released their first new song since the release of 2006’s Phantoms; a track titled “Take You Away.”

In support of Colliding by Design‘s released, the band will perform at a couple of shows at the end of February. The list of gigs can be seen below.

ACCEPTANCE FEBRUARY 2017 SHOWS:

Feb. 24 – Los Angeles @ El Rey
Feb. 25 – San Francisco @ Social Hall
Feb. 26 – Seattle @ Chop Suey

Acceptance announces new album with a new single

After disbanding in 2006 and re-grouping in 2015 for  a couple of shows, Acceptance has officially confirmed the release of their much-anticipated follow-up to 2005’s Phantoms. On Monday (Dec. 5), the band formally announced that their sophomore record will be titled, Colliding by Design. Colliding by Design is set to be released in February of 2017. In addition to the name of the album and the time frame of its release, Acceptance has also unveiled the lyric video for the record’s lead single, “Diagram of a Simple Man.”

“It’s interesting because with a lot of our songs the lyrical content will evolve as the song evolves, but with ‘Diagram of a Simple Man,’ I always had this lone image of an individual who had lost his individuality,” frontman Jason Vena explains to Consequence of Sound, who exclusively premiered the new track. “A man that had really missed out on the opportunity to be unique and to be around others who were unique. I think that is a pretty scary place to be and I was hoping to offer up an alternative to that outcome for anyone willing to listen.”

Listen to “Diagram of a Simple Man” below.

Last week, guitarist Christian McAlhaney took to Twitter to announced that the record was complete. “The record is done dudes!” the former Anberlin guitarist wrote. Pre-orders for physical copies of Colliding by Design are currently available on the band’s website. Digital pre-orders will be available beginning this Friday, Dec. 9.

After being on hiatus for almost a decade, Acceptance surprised fans when they were announced as one of the many bands to take the stage at the 2015 Skate and Surf Music Festival in New Jersey. Before formally hitting the stage as a reunited group, they performed a few intimate shows. A month after their return, the group released their first new song since disbanding in 2006, a track titled “Take You Away.” Ever since then, the band has been updating fans on social media, and Pledge Music, on the progress of the new record.

Skate and Surf Fest Update 2015 Line-Up

Just when you thought Skate and Surf Fest had announced all the acts slated to take the stage next month in New Jersey, you find out, they weren’t quite done.

Two months after unveiling the so-called “complete” line-up for the weekend-long festival, organizers added a couple of more bands to the already packed line-up.

Joining previously announced acts like the Dropkick Murphys, Thrice, Acceptance, Manchester Orchestra and more will be Hit the Lights, Cancer Bats, Diamond youth, No Good News, Souvenirs and lastly, Real Friends.

“Skate and Surf has always been a pretty significant event to us,” reveals Real Friends bassist Kyle Fasel.

“It definitely holds a special place in my heart and memory. Very stoked!”

Check out the announcement below.

For those who have not been keeping tabs on the lengthy list of bands, the newly revised list can be seen here.

2015 SKATE AND SURF FEST LINE-UP:

Aaron West (Acoustic)
Acceptance
Alcoa
American Nightmare
Attila
Beach Slang
Big D & The Kids Table
Cancer Bats
Chunk! No, Captain Chunk!
Cloud Nothings
Dads
Defeater
Diamond Youth
Dropkick Murphys
Elder Brother
Fireworks
Four Year Strong
From Autumn To Ashes
Gates
Gideon
Head North
Hit the Lights
Hot Rod Circuit
Iron Chic
Kevin Devine and the Goddamn Band
Light Years
Major League
Manchester Orchestra
mewithoutYou
Modern Baseball
Motionless in White
No Good News
Nora
Pentimento
Pianos Become the Teeth
Poison the Well
Real Friends
Rebuilder
Rozwell Kid
Runaway Brother
Small Brown Bike
Sorority Noise
Souvenirs
Spraynard
Steady Hands
Superheaven
Terror
The Front Bottoms
The Gaslight Anthem
The Parlor Mob
The Scandals
The So So Glos
The Story So Far
The Weaks
The Wonder Years
Thrice

Skate and Surf Fest will return to their home of Asbury Park on May 16 and 17. Tickets are still on sale so you might want to get them if you haven’t yet.

Acceptance Confirm New Music in the Works

The world’s mind collectively exploded (we of course mean that figuratively) when Acceptance was listed as one of the acts to be reuniting at this year’s Skate and Surf Festival in New Jersey.

Things went to a completely different level of excitement earlier this week when the band, who disbanded in 2006, announced they would not only be playing a pre-Skate and Surf show at the Gramercy in New York on May 15, but also a show in Seattle.

Apparently, that’s not all the good news fans of the band have been treated to.

According to a new interview conducted by Absolute Punk earlier today, the band have been working on new music since they announced their reunion.

But that’s not all they had.

Turns out, before their disbandment, they had recorded some demos that never saw the day of light.

“What about new music? Has this been something that’s been discussed?

Nick [Radovanovic]: Yes, definitely was a topic of conversation shortly after we started talking about playing shows. Before the band stopped back in 2006, we did a handful of demos for what was going to be our next record. I think some of those songs will be revamped and used for the future. The last 2 months for us have been non-stop writing. Accumulating loads of new ideas for future songs.

In fact, Jason [Vena] and I just got done tracking some vocals at my studio in Wisconsin. He came out for a couple days and we worked on a couple songs. I will say, being back in a studio environment and working on Acceptance jams is something I never thought would happen again. It was exciting to say the least. Very excited for new songs. We are music lovers, we would feel blessed to be able to keep making it.”

See guys, it’s only a matter of time before that new album is complete and a full tour schedule will be gracing our website.

Or we can only hope.

Skate and Surf Fest Unveil Full 2015 Line-Up

If you already didn’t have plans to go to Skate and Surf Fest this May, then maybe the newest additions to their 2015 line-up might change your mind.

Back in January, the New Jersey based music festival unveiled three band reunions and a slew of other great acts taking the stage in Asbury Park. Over the past few weeks, festival organizers have been hinting at more acts being added to the already announced line-up and they didn’t disappoint.

Joining Acceptance, From Autumn to Ashes, and Poison the Well as “reunited acts” will be Thrice, who previously have been confirmed to reunite at several other music festivals this Spring/Summer.

But that’s not all.

The Front Bottoms, Hot Rod Circuit, and the Front Bottoms are just some of the newly added acts making the trip to New Jersey during the weekend on May 16-17 alongside previously announced bands like The Gaslight Anthem, the Dropkick Murphys, and more.

Check out the complete list of acts below.

Tickets for Skate and Surf Fest are currently available on the festival’s website.

Skate and Surf Unveil 2015 Line-Up, Two Big Reunions

It’s only been a little over a month since Skate and Surf Festival announced just a small portion of their 2015 festival line-up and now, after promising fans for a while, the New Jersey festival has revealed a hefty portion, if not all, of the line up.

Headlining the event will be Jersey’s own The Gaslight Anthem and the Dropkick Murphys who will be in the middle of their “Celtic Punk Invasion” Tour when they drop by Asbury Park in May.

Kevin Devine, mewithoutYou, American Nightmare and more have now joined previously announced acts like Manchester Orchestra, The Wonder Years, The Story So Far, Modern Baseball, From Autumn to Ashes, Four Year Strong, and many more.

Like last year, the festival will have two (as of now) awesome reunions going on.

The first of two reunions will be Acceptance, who broke up in 2006 after releasing their super successful debut record. Fittingly enough, this comes a couple of months after guitarist Christian McAlhaney’s other band, Anberlin, called it a day.

The other band making a triumphant return to the stage will be Poison the Well who went on hiatus back in 2010.

Check out the newly revised line-up for this year’s Skate and Surf Festival.

Like the poster says, tickets for the weekend-long event are currently available. Skate and Surf 2015 will once again be returning to their home territory of Asbury Park on May 16 and May 17. For more information, head on over to the festival’s website.