We the Kings (album)

We the Kings
Studio album by
We the Kings
ReleasedOctober 2, 2007 (U.S.)
September 8, 2008 (UK)
Recorded2007
StudioMission Sound, Fresh Kills Music
Genre
Length34:18
LabelS-Curve
ProducerS*A*M and Sluggo
We the Kings chronology
Between the Ink and the Paper
(2006) 		We the Kings
(2007) 		Smile Kid
(2009)
Singles from We the Kings
  1. "Skyway Avenue"
    Released: September 13, 2007
  2. "Check Yes Juliet"
    Released: February 4, 2008
  3. "Secret Valentine"
    Released: December 16, 2008

We the Kings is the debut studio album by American rock band We the Kings, released on October 2, 2007 in the U.S.

Background

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We the Kings formed in 2005 while its members attended Manatee High School.[6] The band's line-up consisted of vocalist Travis Clark, guitarist Hunter Thomsen, bassist Drew Thomsen, and drummer Danny Duncan.[6] In summer, the group toured with Don't Die Cindy.[6] PureVolume, a place where people could upload their music, helped the band's popularity.[6]

We the Kings was produced by S*A*M and Sluggo, and recorded at Mission Sound, and Fresh Kills Music, both in New York City. Sean Gould and Scott Riebling acted as engineers. Lou Giordano mixed almost every track, save for "Secret Valentine", "Check Yes Juliet", and "Stay Young", which were done by Tom Lord-Alge and his assistant Femio Hernandez. Chris Gehringer mastered the album at Sterling Sound, also in New York City.[7] According to Travis Clark, the album was "really guitar driven, with those poppy catchy choruses".[8]

Release

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In July 2007, We the Kings supported the White Tie Affair and Fireworks on the Act Like You Know Tour.[9] In September, the group went on the School's for Fools tour across the US,[10] alongside Valencia, Just Surrender and Metro Station. However, partway through the tour Valencia had to drop off the tour due to their vocalist Shane Henderson having strep throat. As a result, Just Surrender headlined the rest of the dates.[11] The group supported Boys Like Girls on their US headlining tour, dubbed Tourzilla, from late September to late October.[12] It was released on October 2, 2007.[13] From mid-January to early March 2008, the band supported Cobra Starship on their North America tour.[14] In April, the band appeared at the Bamboozle Left festival.[15] In June, the band supported Cobra Starship on their US tour, dubbed Really Really Really Ridiculously Good Looking Tour Out to Warped Tour Tour.[16]

Between June and August 2008, the band performed on the Warped Tour.[17][18] In October and November, the band supported the Academy Is... on their headlining tour of the US.[19] In October, a re-recorded version of "Check Yes Juliet" was posted online. The re-recording's lyrics were altered to include a reference to Tampa Bay Rays.[20] On December 12, a music video was released for "Secret Valentine" through the band's Myspace profile.[21] In February and March 2009, the group went on a headlining US tour, dubbed The Secret Valentine Tour, with support from the Maine, the Cab, There for Tomorrow and VersaEmerge.[22] In April, the band performed on the Bamboozle Roadshow[23] and appeared at The Bamboozle festival in early May.[24] At the end of May, the band performed at the Slam Dunk Festival.[25] In July, the band supported All Time Low on their US east coast tour.[26]

Reception

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[3]
MusicOMH[27]

The album peaked at No. 3 on Billboard's Top Heatseekers chart, and at No. 151 on the Billboard 200.[28] We the Kings was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for the shipment of 75,000 copies. Three singles were released from the album. The album's second single "Check Yes Juliet", gained commercial success. It was featured as "The iTunes Single of the Week" in early 2008, and it peaked at No. 84 on the Pop 100 and No. 70 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US,[29] and No. 26 in Australia where it was certified platinum by the ARIA. Cleveland.com ranked "Check Yes Juliet" at number 60 on their list of the top 100 pop-punk songs.[30]

Track listing

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All songs by Travis Clark and Sam Hollander, except "Headlines Read Out..." by Clark.[7]

  1. "Secret Valentine" – 3:28
  2. "Skyway Avenue" – 3:26
  3. "Check Yes Juliet" – 3:40
  4. "Stay Young" – 2:49
  5. "Whoa" – 2:37
  6. "August Is Over" – 3:16
  7. "The Quiet" – 3:12
  8. "Don't Speak Liar" – 3:01
  9. "Headlines Read Out..." – 3:14
  10. "All Again for You" – 3:06
  11. "This Is Our Town" – 2:29
Deluxe edition bonus tracks
  2. "Check Yes Juliet (acoustic)" – 3:56
  3. "Skyway Avenue (acoustic)" – 3:50

Personnel

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Personnel per booklet.[7]

Charts

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References

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  1. ^ Lucy, Evan (18 July 2011). "We The Kings Sunshine State Of Mind". Alternative Press. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
  2. ^ "We the Kings". Sputnik.
  3. ^ a b "We the Kings - We the Kings". AllMusic.
  4. ^ "Album Review: We the Kings - Smile Kid". alterthepress.
  5. ^ "Smile Kid AllMusic Review". AllMusic.
  6. ^ a b c d Hyunh, Brandon (March 10, 2014). "Bradenton's We The Kings builds music career". bradenton.com. Retrieved September 8, 2015.
  7. ^ a b c We the Kings (booklet). S-Curve/Virgin Records. 2008. 509992 37647 2 9.
  8. ^ Duan, Crystal (March 12, 2014). "Q-and-A with Travis Clark of We The Kings". Move. Archived from the original on September 12, 2015. Retrieved September 12, 2015.
  9. ^ White, Adam (June 28, 2007). "Act Like You Know Tour". Punknews.org. Retrieved May 30, 2022.
  10. ^ "School's for Fools Tour". I Surrender Records. Archived from the original on 2011-08-16. Retrieved March 19, 2017.
  11. ^ "Valencia cancels remaining School's for Fools tour dates". Alternative Press. Alternative Press Magazine, Inc. September 15, 2007. Archived from the original on March 20, 2017. Retrieved March 19, 2017.
  12. ^ "Boys Like Girls to release deluxe edition of debut album". Alternative Press. Alternative Press Magazine, Inc. September 20, 2007. Archived from the original on 2017-03-20. Retrieved March 19, 2017.
  13. ^ https://www.allmusic.com/album/r1210145 We the Kings review AllMusic. Retrieved: 2008-06-16
  14. ^ "Cobra Starship announce headlining run". Alternative Press. Alternative Press Magazine, Inc. November 29, 2007. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
  15. ^ "Blaqk Audio, Hot Water Music, H2O added to Bamboozle Left". Alternative Press. Alternative Press Magazine, Inc. February 15, 2008. Archived from the original on 2017-07-28. Retrieved July 9, 2017.
  16. ^ "Cobra Starship set up mini-tour with the Secret Handshake". Alternative Press. Alternative Press Magazine, Inc. April 3, 2008. Retrieved July 9, 2017.
  17. ^ Paul, Aubin (February 26, 2008). "Warped Tour unveils final band lineup for 2008". Punknews.org. Retrieved June 13, 2022.
  18. ^ Paul, Aubin (January 28, 2008). "Warped Tour confirms routing". Punknews.org. Retrieved June 13, 2022.
  19. ^ "The Academy Is… announce dates with We The Kings, Carolina Liar and Hey Monday". Alternative Press. Alternative Press Magazine, Inc. August 18, 2008. Retrieved July 23, 2017.
  20. ^ "We The Kings re-record "Check Yes Juliet" to root on the Tampa Bay Rays". Alternative Press. Alternative Press Magazine, Inc. October 22, 2008. Retrieved July 26, 2017.
  21. ^ "New We The Kings Music Video to Premiere on Friday". Alternative Press. Alternative Press Magazine, Inc. December 8, 2008. Retrieved July 29, 2017.
  22. ^ Kohli, Rohan (December 16, 2008). "WTK / The Maine / The Cab / TFT / VersaEmerge Tour". AbsolutePunk. SpinMedia. Retrieved March 17, 2017.[dead link]
  23. ^ "Bamboozle Roadshow tickets on sale". Alternative Press. Alternative Press Magazine, Inc. February 10, 2009. Retrieved August 1, 2017.
  24. ^ "Bamboozle set single-day lineups". Alternative Press. Alternative Press Magazine, Inc. February 8, 2009. Archived from the original on 2017-08-01. Retrieved July 31, 2017.
  25. ^ Rock Sound (March 13, 2009). "You Me At Six To Headline Slam Dunk 2009 - News". Rock Sound. Patrick Napier. Retrieved June 3, 2018.
  26. ^ Wippsson, Johan (May 27, 2009). "All Time Low Annnounce [sic] Headlining Warped Tour Dates". Melodic. Archived from the original on 29 July 2017. Retrieved June 2, 2017.
  27. ^ "We The Kings - We The Kings". MusicOMH.
  28. ^ We the Kings albums chart peak Billboard. Retrieved: 2008-06-16.
  29. ^ We the Kings singles chart peak Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved: 2008-06-16.
  30. ^ Smith, Troy L. (March 2, 2022). "The 100 greatest pop punk songs of all time". Cleveland.com. Archived from the original on March 3, 2022. Retrieved March 3, 2022.
  31. ^ "Gold & Platinum Certification – December 2011". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 2012-06-14.
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