Some Thoughts on the Woe Is Me Re-Release

       Bands these days have different ways of debuting towards the forefront of the scene. Many, sadly, never make it, but the few that do need to find a niche and exploit it to the best of their ability. Some have a cameo with a famous band member, others will have the luck to open for a well-known group. Perhaps the most bizarre way to show up on the post-hardcore radar, however, is the method Georgia outfit Woe Is Me exploded into existence in 2009: by covering pop songs. It's a well-known fact at this point that Fearless records is the label behind the infamous 'Punk Goes Pop' series of compilations - which feature bands as intense as August Burns Red and We Came as Romans - covering songs by pop artists like Katy Perry and Lady Gaga. Fascinatingly enough, Woe Is Me's scream-y cover of Ke$ha's 'Tik Tok' was the band's first hard hitter, but was released outside of these compilations. With only two other songs, and not even a show under their belt, Rise Records pounced on the Georgia septet, signing them in 2010. A few months later, Woe Is Me released their debut album Number[s].
       Since then, it's been a rocky road fraught with lineup changes, covers, singles, and an incredibly disorganized discography for the band. As of right now, the only remaining original member of the band is the drummer, Austin Thornton, with every other member having departed for a variety of reasons, both amicable and hostile. Fascinatingly enough, Woe Is Me served as the launchpad for soulful vocalist Tyler Carter - who maintains a small following. Replaced a year ago by vocalist Hance Alligood, Carter's departure was quickly followed by lead guitarist Geoffrey Higgins. The band retained this precarious lineup until March, when bassist, keyboardist and screamer Ben Ferris, Cory Ferris, and Michael Bohn also suddenly departed, citing 'personal and musical differences' as their reason for doing so. Left with a vocalist and a drummer, Woe Is Me managed to hastily cobble together a few standins as they toured North America as part of the Fire and Ice Tour in early spring this year before finally recruiting Doriano Magliano (unclean vocals) and bassist Brian Medley.
        As a band that very nearly collapsed this year, Woe Is Me are out to prove that they're not done just yet. To this end, while working on a second studio album, the band decided to put out a re-release of Number[s], which features the scattered singles not originally included in the album as well as a few remixes. Naturally, the original songs of the album are still present, but have been recorded with the band's current lineup - notably Alligood handling cleans. Interestingly enough, former screamer Michael Bohn makes an appearence, as the re-release was recorded before his departure.
         At its core, the Number[s] re-release is a way for Woe Is Me to gather their thoughts. With a disparate discography, one studio album, and all the drama of the past year, it's understandable that the band wants to start fresh. By compiling almost everything the band has done - including their cover of Ke$ha's 'We R Who We R' which they performed while on tour this spring - into one album, Woe Is Me hopes to garner newcomers' attention by giving them a tour de force of Woe Is Me's material (The only song missing is their Punk Goes Pop cover of 'Last Friday Night').
          Just as well, in a startling departure from their previous style, the re-release features an acoustic cover of Woe Is Me's early song 'Fame > Demise' which showcases Alligood's voice unencumbered by the heavily distorted synth-chug that so characterizes the rest of the album. Purists will moan and shake their heads, but Alligood is a very talented vocalist. He maintains Woe Is Me's penchant for soulful vocals, but is suitably different from Carter - I would say more talented. There's more passion and heavines behind his voice, and Carter's high vocals got old and annoying very quickly. They were tastefully used on the original release of Number[s], but would not have held up in an acoustic song. It's testament to Alligood's skill that the acoustic cover works as well as it does.
         Equally surprising, however, is the inclusion of remixes of songs '[&] Delinquents' and the aforementioned 'Fame > Demise' done by Attack Attack! frontman Caleb Shomo. Putting aside my less-than-stellar opinion about Shomo, these remixes...fare less well. In the past, Woe Is Me's songs were so enjoyable because of their sheer fury - the lyrics were angry, the instrumentals supported this, and the dubstep wobbles the band loved so much only heightened the tension. The re-releases remixes completely abandon all hardcore elements. They're synth-heavy, and the only thing remotely hardcore about them is the presence of unclean vocals which, even then, are muted in comparison with the electronic beat that's too simplistic to be catchy. It reminds me of Asking Alexandria in a thoroughly unsettling way - as though the band is trying to be too experimental in this regard.
         The cover of '[&] Delinquents' is unique in that, while still thoroughly discouraging, it features a bass drop and other dubstep elements. It fares better, mostly because it uses the original material in a better way, but the original was probably the record's strongest song, and bringing up the wub wub of dubstep doesn't help it in the slightest. Ironically enough, the best parts are the introduction - which features the original synth beat, and Alligood's vocals, which are refreshingly different than what we're used to. Otherwise, it's disappointing and not that enjoyable. I realize I stand with purists when I say that these two remixes aren't the best, but even if you examine them as dubstep and techno songs, they're still phenomenally unimpressive. Woe Is Me are, at their core, a hardcore punk band with heavy electronic elements. As one of the pioneers in this genre, they should have stuck to it instead of going off completely in one direction. Hopefully the band realizes their error by the release of their next album this October, because more remixes like this will only hurt the band.
          Last but not least among the newcomers to Number[s] is a cover of Ke$ha's 'We R Who We R'. As I said before, Woe Is Me played this as part of the Fire and Ice Tour earlier this year. I went to their show in Montreal, where they opened alongside Blessthefall and Emmure for We Came as Romans, and live it was a great time. I'll admit that I have a soft spot for metalcore covers of pop songs - maybe it's the way they handle the rhythm and meld awfully written lyrics with unclean vocals. In any case, Woe Is Me's cover is a good one.
           Unfortunately, however, this isn't new ground. As part of a previous Punk Goes Pop compilation, pop-punk band Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! covered the same song. Comparisons between the two covers are inevitable, and to be completely honest, I have to side with Chunk!'s cover. Alligood tears up the vocals on Woe Is Me's cover, and there's a more profound sense that he's having fun with this song, but the end of the song devolves into something of the band's own design - complete with a breakdown and, unfortunately, a bass drop. It's this latter element that gives Chunk!'s cover an edge over the newcomer - dubstep, quite simply, does not have that prominent a place in modern metalcore. British experimental rockers Enter Shikari know this, and tone it down in their more metal-heavy songs. Woe Is Me, who are relative newcomers, make the same mistake as Abandon All Ships and go too far. It's an understandable mistake, and I hope that they learn from it.
           On the other hand, not only is Chunk!'s cover more faithful to the original song, but they tone down the screams, and aren't afraid to repeat Ke$ha's originally...stellar...lyrics. Woe Is Me hastily changed the line 'hitting on dudes' to 'hitting on bitches' which, when noticeable, made me laugh a little. Chunk!'s decision not to change anything made the song funnier which, at its core, is what the cover should be about - it's a punk band covering pop! What's not funny about that?
           The rest of the Number[s] re-release is nothing if not phenomenal. Alligood's cleans, as said before, are an improvement on Carter's, and the return of old material such as 'Vengeance' that was sadly absent on the original record makes a listen-through thoroughly worth it - glossing over the remixes, of course.
          If you're new to the band and looking to get into them (they're playing Scream It Like You Mean It! this year), there's no better place to start. As for the future of the band, if they realize the mistakes they made with the new material on the re-release, they can only go higher. Surviving what would kill any other band can hopefully make Woe Is Me stronger.

    Listen to 'We R Who We R' here: