Count the Stars
by Caitlin Flanagan
Issue 4, Summer/Fall 2004
During the week of December 14, 2003, I had been preparing to see a few of my favorite bands: The Early November, Hidden in Plain View and Count the Stars. It was December 5, 2003, and I still hadn't gotten my tickets for my future engagement. Little did I know that I would not need to buy them at all. I guess you can call it to my advantage that I didn't buy the tickets beforehand, because what wound up happening was completely mind boggling to me.
Proceeding Christmas of 2002, I had never heard of a band with the words "count", "the" and "stars" in the same name. One of my good friends told me they had been listening to them for quite some time and I should give them a listen. Before downloading was considered "illegal," I had done my share of obtaining as many mp3s by Count the Stars as I could. Burning myself the CDs titled "Another Useless Night" and "Never Be Taken Alive," I tried to memorize as many of the songs I could and told my friends to listen to this great band I was told about. To my disappointment, I can't say they all enjoyed their sound as much as I did, but I was lucky enough to find at least 4 that would join me in the most amazing show I ever experienced that summer.
A few months later at the Vans Warped Tour 2003, I was introduced to the stunning live show of the wonderful band known as Count the Stars. Originally from Albany, New York, the band had traveled to perform for a crowd not too far from home. I had come with a group of friends of mine that chose to watch Thrice over Count the Stars. At the time, I was not a big fan of Thrice and decided to find a others I knew to stick around with me. For us, trying to make it in time for the full performance from the bands we wanted to see was almost impossible. Luckily, I had just finished consuming the last bit of energy from Coheed and Cambria to make it almost entirely across the park to meet up with them once again. We walked to the Volcom stage where Count the Stars would soon be on.
Waiting nearly a half hour to hear the first strum of Chris's guitar and the sound of his voice echoing through the speakers was definitely worth it. I'm not going to lie; it was not a big turn out. I wasn't surprised that the crowd was so unusually small for a band I myself had only heard of not too long before. In the end, it turned out to work for the better. Most shows are filled with heavy crowd surfers who kick you in the face on the way up and the idiot kids that start skanking to a slower song. That did not happen this time. There was no barrier to block the crowd from the stage, giving anyone who crowd surfed the opportunity to stand the same ground and be close enough to such an influential piece of music history. Every band has their popular song. CTS's was called "Taking It All Back." I still remember Chris telling the crowd to "start jumping" when the first few guitar riffs were our cue (although the crowd was very hyper to begin with.) Between the jumping and moshing, I turned to my friend Collin and watched him scream the same words coming from my mouth with the biggest smiles on our faces. By the end of the show, I can honestly say I was officially a true fan and developed much more respect for this band that I will love until the day I die.
However much of "rock stars" these guys may have been at that point, they were the most down-to-earth, four musicians I have ever met. After their performance, we headed to the merch area to buy some CTS memorabilia. After looking through the few t-shirt designs, I picked out a blue and yellow leaf design for my memory piece. I grabbed a few free stickers off the table and walked over to Taylor buying his copy of the CD. Standing there, the members of Count the Stars came back, sweaty and out of breath from giving it their all. Their were more than happy to sign anything handed their way by the many fans now crowded around their merchandise table. Left and right, teenagers threw pieces of paper, CDs and hats in their faces. I handed them my ticket stub - which remains tacked to my bulletin board. Comments and compliments about how inspiring their music is and what a great live show they put on were also gratefully accepted by the band and responded to personally. Besides being enthusiastic musicians, great songwriters, and a bunch of the nicest people out there, Count the Stars is one of the few bands to keep their manners and dignity their mothers taught them along on tour with them.
According to the official band bio on Count the Stars' website, their live show is described as "the backbone of their music and has been rumored to be as energetic as an old-school hardcore show with more stage antics than an eighties hair metal band." "Energetic" and "hardcore" do not even deserve to be in the same sentence after having seen what this vivacious indie band can pull off. The band bio goes on to say that their sound is classified by having "catchy melodies, emotional ballads, and upbeat driving rock tunes." To classify one's sound into a definite genre is difficult for many bands; one of them being this one. To sum it all up in one word would definitely be "indie." Mixing pop-punk, bouncy sing-a-longs, with the softer, emotional "I-can-relate-to-this" type, it is hard to pin them into a specific group of music. Reflecting on this experience in our journals, my friends and I all agreed it was just like watching our own friends play on stage. The atmosphere created by the band, the fans and the music were indescribable that day. If I had it my way, I'd see Count the Stars every time they came to town.
Sadly enough though, The Early November and Hidden in Plain View would be without this emphatic band and the fans that came with it. As recorded on their news section of the website, the band set apart the rumors and the truth of their unnecessary break-up. Hearing the news first from a friend while on vacation, I could not believe what I was told. Wearing that same blue and yellow leaf design t-shirt from that summer I jokingly admitted to having an "officially vintage shirt!" Thinking about it now, it wasn't that funny. I'll never be able to buy another one from them. And as I sit here listening to one of my favorite bands to date, who may now never have the chance to reach as many fans as they could have, reminiscing of my Warped Tour memories, I am reminded exactly why I love this music. You don't pretend to like a band like Count the Stars. You simply fall in love with them.