Posted: by The Editor
Today Modern Color‘s fourth full length album There Goes the Dream is out on Other People Records. Produced, mixed, and mastered by Corey Coffman of Gleemer, it’s the most freeflowing album in the band’s ten year career and blurs the lines between post-hardcore and indie rock in ways that calls bands like The Dismemberment Plan or No Knife to mind. The new album tells the story of longtime friends Chad Leaf, Chris Martinez, Vince Nguyen, and Fleming Valenzuela and what it was like growing up in the South Bay together. It moves away from the frenetic angst of past releases and puts forward a more streamlined vision for their most honest and best release yet.
Check out vocalist / guitarist Fleming Valenzuela’s break down of each track below.
Dancing Waters Club
This song really helped set the tone for the record. The name comes from an old dance club in San Pedro that my mom and grandpa had fond memories of. I was filled with so much nostalgia for the South Bay and running around being reckless with our friends going from house party to house party. There’s almost a blinding euphoria when you’re intoxicated in a crowd of people.
Golden Sands
This song was written amongst late overnight shifts when I was working a full 9-5 and an overnight to help make ends meet and it kind of struck me how insane it was to continue to put myself through that just to pay rent and exist and ask “Why do I do this?”
Beacon House
I grew up as a latch-key kid and experimented with weed and pills and whatever I could get my hands on and this song is a ballad of ADHD meds and being a strung out mess. Things spiraled out of control and I eventually found myself at the Beacon House recovery home for NA meetings in downtown San Pedro.
Fortress
This song was a bit of a puzzle from a few completely different ideas we had but ended up coming together as one of the most cohesive songs on the record. I had a few close friends who I’d party with and one of them was the group’s plug for whatever we needed. As time went on we all kind of fell out of touch and moved away, but my friend never got out of that lifestyle and it started to tear him apart. I still check in on him from time to time, but it’s tough to watch someone you care about caught in that cycle.
Star 9200
It used to be a ritual to link up at my house in San Pedro roll up some weed and walk down to Busy Bee or go for a drive down the coast through Portuguese Bend. These days would always turn into some kind of adventure, whether it was an acid-fueled night up at Friendship Park or a party in Harbor City. We had no responsibilities and all the time in the world and didn’t realize how quickly those things fade.
Big Question
This song was originally an idea Chad was working on years ago for a different project he had with our friend Sophie, but ended up being shelved for a bit. After revisiting the song and hearing how catchy it was, it felt aligned with everything else we were doing and we knew it had to be on the record. It’s the first song we’ve had Chad take lead vocal on and it sounds awesome.
Where’s Kevin?
If you’re from Pedro or the South Bay, you’ve probably heard of Koos. It’s a big lockout rehearsal studio by the coast where we’ve spent many hours writing, practicing, shooting music videos, and just living. The manager of the building is a legend named Kevin and the title of the song comes from never being able to find him. Lyrically the song is a bit of an apology to my mom for the years of sneaking out and getting into trouble. She was a bit of a punk as well so, I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
Good Neighbor
The title of the song comes from the Hawthorne city motto “City of Good Neighbors”. I can’t remember what was going on at the time, but I was really annoyed with performative people who don’t do shit to better anything in their lives. Be a good neighbor and do something useful for your community.
Paseo Del Mar
I was pretty much at the end of my move from the South Bay to San Diego and the nostalgia was hitting really hard. I wasn’t moving that far, but it felt like I was closing the chapter on growing up in LA. This song is my love letter to San Pedro and what it meant to me as a place to grow, for better and for worse.
Night Swim
This acoustic track came together blending a chord progression Chad wrote with field recordings that he took. I wrote about a fling I had as a teenager that was a short lived, but passionate and the experience and heartbreak taught me a lot about myself.
There Goes the Dream
This is a song that really came together in the studio. Vince had the chorus lyric and melody and everything started to come together from there. In my mind, the joy of living comes from chasing big and small dreams and figuring out how to make it all work despite failing and feeling like we’re running out of time.
There Goes the Dream is out everywhere today. Vinyl and merch are available here.
—
Loan Pham | @x_loanp
The Alternative is 100% supported by our readers. If you’d like to help us write about more great music and keep our site going, you can become a Patron on Patreon, which also allows you to receive extra content, sweet perks, and The Alternative merch, with levels starting at only $2 per month. Everything helps, and if you can’t afford to donate, consider sharing this article and spreading the word about our site! Either way, thanks for reading!