{"id":6979,"date":"2015-11-05T15:20:28","date_gmt":"2015-11-05T15:20:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/feature-promises-promises-a-retrospective-look\/"},"modified":"2023-02-24T13:20:27","modified_gmt":"2023-02-24T13:20:27","slug":"feature-promises-promises-a-retrospective-look","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/feature-promises-promises-a-retrospective-look\/","title":{"rendered":"Feature:\u00a0Promises, Promises – A Retrospective Look at\u00a0\u2018Nothing Feels Good\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

To mark the recent re-issue of The Promise Ring<\/b>’s second album ‘Nothing Feels Good’<\/i>, Already Heard<\/b>’s Rob Mair<\/a> shares his memories and thoughts on the 1997 released LP.<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cWhere forget-me-nots and marigolds and other things that don\u2019t get old, don\u2019t get old,\u201d <\/i> sings The Promise Ring<\/b>\u2019s Davey von Bohlen on \u2018Forget Me\u2019<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Some 18 years after its initial release, \u2018Nothing Feels Good\u2019<\/i> has not got old. In fact, not only has The Promise Ring<\/b>\u2019s most decorated album stood the test of time but now, itself, feels timeless. <\/p>\n

For me, ever since I first listened to it some 15 years ago, it has been an iconic album. It\u2019s immediately distinctive and recognisable, yet the cover and packaging gives you no indication whatsoever of the joyous indie\/pop\/rock\/emo contained within. It\u2019s inviting and fun, slightly whimsical and wistful. It has the look of an album that has been crafted and sculpted lovingly, with great thought given as to the best way to present it. No wonder it was one of the biggest selling emo albums before emo ever hit the mainstream. <\/p>\n

But the beauty of \u2018Nothing Feels Good\u2019<\/i> lies in its simplicity. It\u2019s an important album and it\u2019s clear from the outset that its influence runs deep, yet it has no pretentions of being thus. Would The Get Up Kids or Jimmy Eat World or Saves The Day have ever evolved without songs such as \u2018Perfect Lines\u2019<\/i> paving the way for them first? Even today, the excellent new Tellison album recalls similar moments of joy. \u2018Nothing Feels Good\u2019<\/i> is pretty much the blueprint for the sound which I would class as emo (sorry you Hawthorne Heights and My Chemical Romance fans), alongside the noodling Kinsella sounds of American Football and the intense yet delicate Mineral. <\/p>\n

The legacy of The Promise Ring<\/b> \u2013 and \u2018Nothing Feels Good\u2019<\/i> in particular \u2013 can still be felt too. <\/p>\n

Last year, Mike Kinsella \u2013 a long-time friend of von Bohlen, going back to their time in Cap\u2018n Jazz \u2013 included a cover of \u2018Forget Me\u2019<\/i> on his \u2018Other People\u2019s Songs\u2019<\/i> record. \u2018Forget Me\u2019<\/i> is probably my favourite Promise Ring song, yet finds itself buried at track 12 on \u2018Nothing Feels Good\u2019<\/i>. However, it is one of the finest closing song to an album you will ever here. The fine folk over at Washed Up Emo<\/a> described it as the song they\u2019d play if someone told them that they\u2019d never heard of The Promise Ring<\/b>. I\u2019d go further; if you\u2019re knowledge of emo doesn\u2019t extend further back than 2002, stick it on and prepare to be blown away. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the blog \u2018Is This Thing On?\u2019<\/i><\/a>, run by the hugely knowledgeable and passionate Alex Miles (formerly guitarist of Babies Three). The blog takes its name from The Promise Ring<\/b> song of the same name and continues to be one of the finest sources of emo-related content on the net. \u2018Is This Thing On?\u2019<\/i> kicks off \u2018Nothing Feels Good\u2019<\/i> with one of the most inspired rhymes ever. \u201cDelaware are you aware\u201d<\/i> sings von Bohlen. I challenge you to not have it stuck in your head after hearing it. And, of course, there\u2019s Andy Greenwald\u2019s seminal book \u2018Nothing Feels Good: Punk Rock, Teenagers and Emo\u2019<\/i>, which owes its title to the very album we\u2019re discussing. <\/p>\n

On a personal level, \u2018Nothing Feels Good\u2019<\/i> served as my introduction to The Promise Ring<\/b> way, way back in 2000, during the summer break between my first and second year at university. Like many of the albums of the era, it retains a special place for me, so I\u2019m consequently delighted it\u2019s finally getting a long overdue vinyl reissue. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

I tried to put my finger on what made it so special when I was listening back over it this week, and it\u2019s really hard to pinpoint just how or why it works so well, but these are the things that stand out: Davey von Bohlen\u2019s lyrics are sublime throughout, returning to similar themes and callbacks, repetitious themes and phrases. Dan Didier\u2019s understated drumming holds it all together, never flashy or showy, but unobtrusive and utilitarian. Yet it\u2019s the bass of Scott Beschta that steals the show. Frequently straining at the leash to go for a walk, it has a personality of its own.<\/p>\n

However, \u2018Nothing Feels Good\u2019<\/i> is not my favourite Promise Ring<\/b> record. In a declaration sure to be met with frowns and scolding from The Emo Council<\/a>, that accolade belongs to the follow-up, \u2018Very Emergency\u2019<\/i>. I have no idea why, I think I just found \u2018Very Emergency\u2019<\/i> a bit more immediate and engaging. However, what that basically means is The Promise Ring<\/b> have more than one album which warrants your time and attention and, if you\u2019re feeling flush, your money. You can (and should) buy the reissues here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

‘Nothing Feels Good’<\/i> (re-issue) by The Promise Ring<\/b> is available now through Jade Tree Records<\/b>.<\/p>\n

The Promise Ring<\/b> links: Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n

Words by Rob Mair<\/a>. Photo Credit: Tim Owen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To mark the recent re-issue of The Promise Ring’s second album ‘Nothing Feels Good’, Already Heard’s Rob Mair shares his memories and thoughts on the 1997 released LP. \u201cWhere forget-me-nots and marigolds and other things that don\u2019t get old, don\u2019t get old,\u201d sings The Promise Ring\u2019s Davey von Bohlen on \u2018Forget Me\u2019. Some 18 years […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":15023,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2329],"tags":[3162,122,4429,4428,15022,4427],"class_list":["post-6979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","tag-editorial","tag-feature","tag-jade-tree-records","tag-nothing-feels-good","tag-rob-mair","tag-the-promise-ring"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFeature:\u00a0Promises, Promises - A Retrospective Look at\u00a0\u2018Nothing Feels Good\u2019 - Already Heard Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"To mark the recent re-issue of The Promise Ring’s second album ‘Nothing Feels Good’, Already Heard’s Rob Mair shares his memories\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Feature:\u00a0Promises, Promises - A Retrospective Look at\u00a0\u2018Nothing Feels Good\u2019 - Already Heard Staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"To mark the recent re-issue of The Promise Ring’s second album ‘Nothing Feels Good’, Already Heard’s Rob Mair shares his memories\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/feature-promises-promises-a-retrospective-look\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Already Heard Staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-11-05T15:20:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-02-24T13:20:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/tumblr_nxb34rXca71r8no6so1_1280.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rob Mair\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@alreadyhearduk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@alreadyhearduk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rob Mair\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Feature:\u00a0Promises, Promises - A Retrospective Look at\u00a0\u2018Nothing Feels Good\u2019 - Already Heard Staging","description":"To mark the recent re-issue of The Promise Ring’s second album ‘Nothing Feels Good’, Already Heard’s Rob Mair shares his memories","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Feature:\u00a0Promises, Promises - A Retrospective Look at\u00a0\u2018Nothing Feels Good\u2019 - Already Heard Staging","og_description":"To mark the recent re-issue of The Promise Ring’s second album ‘Nothing Feels Good’, Already Heard’s Rob Mair shares his memories","og_url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/feature-promises-promises-a-retrospective-look\/","og_site_name":"Already Heard Staging","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/","article_published_time":"2015-11-05T15:20:28+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-02-24T13:20:27+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/tumblr_nxb34rXca71r8no6so1_1280.jpg","width":1,"height":1,"type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Rob Mair","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@alreadyhearduk","twitter_site":"@alreadyhearduk","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Rob Mair","Estimated reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/feature-promises-promises-a-retrospective-look\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/feature-promises-promises-a-retrospective-look\/"},"author":{"name":"Rob Mair","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/89b13496eb0786e75bb1c0b15bf71267"},"headline":"Feature:\u00a0Promises, Promises – A Retrospective Look at\u00a0\u2018Nothing Feels Good\u2019","datePublished":"2015-11-05T15:20:28+00:00","dateModified":"2023-02-24T13:20:27+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/feature-promises-promises-a-retrospective-look\/"},"wordCount":859,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/feature-promises-promises-a-retrospective-look\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/tumblr_nxb34rXca71r8no6so1_1280.jpg","keywords":["Editorial","Feature","Jade Tree Records","Nothing Feels Good","Rob Mair","The Promise Ring"],"articleSection":["Features"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/feature-promises-promises-a-retrospective-look\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/feature-promises-promises-a-retrospective-look\/","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/feature-promises-promises-a-retrospective-look\/","name":"Feature:\u00a0Promises, Promises - A Retrospective Look at\u00a0\u2018Nothing Feels Good\u2019 - Already Heard Staging","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/feature-promises-promises-a-retrospective-look\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/feature-promises-promises-a-retrospective-look\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/tumblr_nxb34rXca71r8no6so1_1280.jpg","datePublished":"2015-11-05T15:20:28+00:00","dateModified":"2023-02-24T13:20:27+00:00","description":"To mark the recent re-issue of The Promise Ring’s second album ‘Nothing Feels Good’, Already Heard’s Rob Mair shares his memories","inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/feature-promises-promises-a-retrospective-look\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/feature-promises-promises-a-retrospective-look\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/tumblr_nxb34rXca71r8no6so1_1280.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/tumblr_nxb34rXca71r8no6so1_1280.jpg"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#website","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/","name":"Already Heard Staging","description":"Covering the best in alternative music as best as we can","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization","name":"Already Heard","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/AH-relaunch-logo-white-bg.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/AH-relaunch-logo-white-bg.jpg","width":500,"height":500,"caption":"Already Heard"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/","https:\/\/x.com\/alreadyhearduk","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/alreadyheard\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/already-heard\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/AlreadyHeardMusic","https:\/\/tiktok.com\/@alreadyhearduk","https:\/\/www.threads.net\/@alreadyheard"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/89b13496eb0786e75bb1c0b15bf71267","name":"Rob Mair","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e7feccbb8cf9d4de2bea7f0900e02126bcc918e01935cbe6de5ddcb4906a0c8c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e7feccbb8cf9d4de2bea7f0900e02126bcc918e01935cbe6de5ddcb4906a0c8c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e7feccbb8cf9d4de2bea7f0900e02126bcc918e01935cbe6de5ddcb4906a0c8c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Rob Mair"},"url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/author\/robmair\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6979"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6979\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37276,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6979\/revisions\/37276"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}