REMEMBER ME AS A PLACE IN TIME: RIOT! IN THE BOULEVARD, THE INEVITABLE BREAK-UP?!?!

‘It looks like it’s a very dark day for emotional teenagers all across the world as one of the biggest and most popular names to grace the music industry in recent years are on the precipice of announcing their break-up’





“Let’s turn down the lights because these prophets stand alone”
- I Want A New Dawn (Is That Too Much To Ask For?)
Riot! In The Boulevard – 2010 – 2013

It’s an extremely dark day for fans of ‘Riot! In The Boulevard’ as they look set to bid farewell to their time together as a band. They formed as an unspectacular high school band, back in 2008. The four original members Amy, Justin, Jason and Nathan had been close friends for years and struggled to integrate themselves into the cut-throat environment of high school but found a release in playing music together. Initially starting out with gigs at shopping malls and teen clubs they honed their abilities onstage and by the time they left high school they were ready to step up their passion and attempt to make a career for themselves in the music industry.
Around 2010, the band had started to become known in certain circles around local places in their hometown of Las Vegas, but it wasn’t until signing up to a new project called ‘underground.com’ that the band really started to take off. They were quickly snapped up by Nomad Records and recorded an E.P called ‘Sin City Serenade’ which to this very day remains difficult to get a hold of! It features a demo versions of ‘Sweet Little Fantasies’ and ‘All The Non-Believers’, both songs were re-recorded for their debut album and helped catapult the band into the stratosphere, they were instant hits, peaking at #2 and #1 respectively and the beginning of an unstoppable machine begun.

They have continued to grow and evolve immensely since their breakthrough year as a young brash pop-punk band, on their self-titled debut album, they offered us an outpouring of short punchy tunes with some of the catchiest lyrics from a rock act in recent years, that record is still considered their best to this day. The followed up everything they did in such a quick and productive fashion which is what has helped the band become so well loved so quickly, they returned with their sophomore record ‘Cradle to the Grave’ in early 2012, a mere seven months after their debut and it showed a very rapid growth as they expanded their sound a little further, songs weren’t all just quick-fire pop-punk anthems and it became evident that they were shooting for more than just the next promising pop-punkers, they were after dominance as one of the giants of music, another couple of hit singles later and they released their first ever live album, the CD/DVD of their headlining slot at the ‘2012 Field Trip Festival’, they then returned with another new studio album in November 2012, ‘Crossroads’ and it became another hit, the band’s major crossover hit which cemented their place alongside not only the top rock acts in the industry but the top pop acts too, to this day though, ‘Crossroads’ remains the only work that the band haven’t been wholly proud of. It was almost a whole year before the band followed up ‘Crossroads’, throw their first ever headlining world tour into the mix and the band that came out of this period showed something refreshing, ‘Wild Young Things’ was released in September 2013, described as the quintessential record for ‘youthful rebellion’, it expanded the band’s sound even further than before, creating a vibrant rock record that managed to weave and maneuver its way through various elements of countless other genres.
With five number one albums, over 22 million sold worldwide and six number one singles, it’s no doubt that the band have been a huge success since their breakthrough, it’s not been without difficulties and bumps along the way, the band have gone through personal difficulties and managed to remain relatively sane (With the exception of Adam Benjamin of course) it makes it wonder what it would take for them to break-up?

The cause is unknown, was it just burn-out? Was it a rift between band members? Was it simply just the right time to move on to different projects? It’s all very much speculation at this moment in time as to why they have decided to call it quits. They haven’t publicly announced this yet, but it has been confirmed that there will be a statement from the band on their official website coming at some point in the next 24 hours. This is likely to explain everything.