Rager At Jimmy's

Rager At Jimmy's
Rager At Jimmy's is the eighth studio album by The Dropouts, released on November 21st, 20XX. Following the release of an album as big as Spirit Weak, the album had a lot running for it as the first album with a stable ground to build on, now that the band wasn't worried about ending due to it's success. The album leans into the new sound established from their previous album, with a more lighthearted tone. Centering around the band's time playing house shows and parties from before they officially formed and put out their first album Party Down!, the album mixes the new sound pushed forward in the previous record with their old sound and new versions of old songs. The album was nothing groundbreaking for the band, but served as a solid follow up to the record breaking success that was Spirit Weak, with fans still going back to certain songs on the album as favorites. Many songs from the album were used for party scenes and other events around the time of it's release, helping the band grow and have room to try out new things.

Planning Stages
Off the heels of the Spirit Weak tour, Nick Barnett was already having ideas for the next album - continuing in the style of how Spirit Weak was written, he knew he wanted to base the album off more personal experiences, with the idea of it being a party type record coming from the energy from the recently finished tour. Many of the shows were almost like huge parties, especially on the tail end of it. Having a solid base for the album once Scott Wilson suggested taking inspiration from their time performing as a house band in college, pre-production officially started on Rager At Jimmy's in March of 20XX.

One of the first things decided for the album is that it would have an extended tracklist like Spirit Weak, more than 10 songs, but they knew they wouldn't want to do another 16 song record, with the subject album of the album Nick felt like he wouldn't have been able to write that many songs without eventually just writing in circles for all of the lyrics - this also being the reason that the album includes a song led by Jimmy Rodriguez, as well as the closer of the album being a cover.

Nick and Scott tackled most of the songs together, drawing from their experience as they played together at house shows in college - the name came from a realization that they had once played a show at Jimmy's house before they had met each other, while wanting to have a somewhat comedic tone to the name, Rager At Jimmy's was officially penned by Nikki Brown during a brainstorming session. The decision to include a multitude of songs from Cheer Up! was also decided during these early brainstorming sessions, as they were songs Nick and Scott would play a lot - even before the Cheer Up! musical was even put into production, but they were going to change the songs to fit their current sound rather than sounding out of place.

With the success of Spirit Weak, it was practically already announced that the band would be making another album, so on May 21st, it was officially announced on The Dropouts website that their new album was going into production - teasing the theme of the album with a photo of the band in party hats and with other party favors.

Production
Rager At Jimmy's officially entered Production on May 21st, 20XX. With a rough tracklist decided, they began to record. Unlike with Spirit Weak and many of their previous records, the tracklist wasn't completely finalized by this point, with some tracks getting lost to time and others coming in last minute, like Jimmy's song Rock The House, which was included to reflect on Jimmy's time during college, as well as promotion for Jimmy's solo career which he still had going.

Together, Nick Barnett and Scott Wilson wrote (and re-wrote) the songs Broc Ched, I Forgot to Take My Meds Today, The Girl Got Hot, Nika's Got It Wrong, Ban the Tube Top, Dateless Losers, Valerie, Bathtub, and The Fire.

Nikki Brown helped on certain songs as well as writing I Dare You To Break My Heart almost entirely on her own with notes and improvements being made by Nick afterwords.

Nathan Taylor worked on Lonely Girl with Scott, and Jimmy Rodriguez wrote Rock The House entirely on his own. Many people speculated that the song was originally written for a solo project, but Jimmy has confirmed that it was written specifically for Rager At Jimmy's after the theme of the album was chosen.

Finally, the song Nothin' But A Good Time is a cover of a song by Nick's parent's favorite band. He included it as a thank you to them after their support for Spirit Weak, as well as it being a song Nick remembered hearing during parties when he was still in school.

Staying with Make Believe Records now that the main line up of the band was back and stable, Cory Rosenstock took up the production for Rager At Jimmy's, giving Nathan a break to focus on working on the music - but according to Cory, it didn't stop Nathan from giving his input whenever he could.

Staying in line with the theme of the album, the production goes for a rougher, more homemade sound - this being the reason for including the songs from Cheer Up!, staying in line with the time period the album was about. According to Scott Wilson:

"We wanted to use songs from Cheer Up! so that we could really get into that mindset we had when we were playing house shows, since those were the songs we were usually playing. It was also nice to make more songs from the musical better and 'upgrade' them in a way - which is why I always enjoy having a Cheer Up! song on a record here or there." - Scott Wilson on the Talkie McTalkerson Show, 20XX.

The overall sound of the album leans into fast and upbeat music, songs that were aimed to make people dance, as well as bringing back some of the ska sound that was absent in Spirit Weak, as Nick thought ska was perfect for this type of album, but the sound features heavier guitars and a more rock sound to it. Other than Rock The House, the album has a pretty unified sound and nails the theme.

The Road To Rager At Jimmy's
With the success of Spirit Weak, a follow up album was to be expected, and the band knew that - wasting no time with a big marketing campaign like they had with the previous record. Instead, the band announced that they would have a new single coming out, and following that the next day the music video for the first single, I Dare You To Break My Heart, was released on June 12th, 20XX. The music video featured the band at a house party, but rather than being the band playing the song, they were just attendees at a party, with Nick playing the main character as he and a girl flirted with each other, the girl of course being played by Nikki. The song was met with praise, although it did nowhere near as well as the singles from Spirit Weak. It kept fans interested for what was next, and that was all the band needed. Nick Barnett even said:

"We knew that Rager At Jimmy's wasn't going to be the giant sensation Spirit Weak was, the odds of that happening were way too high. As long as we could keep putting out music we were proud of and people liked, that's all we worried about." - Nick Barnett, interview with The Report, 20XX.

The next single released was Nika's Got It Wrong, released after a few months of silence from the band on August 28th, 20XX. The reason for the gap was the band was unsure what song to release next, as they didn't want to use the songs from Cheer Up!, but still wanted a song that represented the album well. Nika's Got It Wrong was eventually chosen as they felt it fit the best with the party theme of the album. The song was performed live on the Talkie McTalkerson Show, as well as the album name and release date being revealed during the show as well. Afterwords, the song was released digitally, as well as a double sided 7" vinyl being sold for a limited time with I Dare You To Break My Heart and Nika's Got It Wrong. The song was met with much more excitement than the first single, with fans loving the rough and fast sound the song carried with it. The song followed the same lines as the single Clever Girl from their previous album, being about a friend Nick was worried about during the time the album focuses on.

Rather than release a third single, the next move for the album was a bit of a publicity stunt/show, a big house party that the band threw to celebrate, which was named The Big Party Show for Adults Only!!!

''The Big Party Show for Adults Only!!! was a one time event, where to get fans and themselves excited and in the mood for Rager At Jimmy's, ''the band rented out a large mansion in Beverly Hills, and threw a house party, much larger than the ones they used to perform at, but nothing too extra ordinary. The band performed in the middle of the courtyard, where they had set up a sizable wrestling rink that they would play in - giving themselves a safe amount of distance to make sure they wouldn't hurt each other and their equipment wouldn't be damaged by partying fans. The party was held on November 11th, 10 days before the release of the album. Here they performed for the first time Broc Ched, I Forgot To Take My Meds Today, and Bathtub, as well as the other singles from the album and the rest of their discography, playing much of the tracklist to Spirit Weak as well. The show is also famous for being one of the only times that Nick Barnett sang without playing guitar for many songs, opting to just use the mic and jump around so he could interact with fans more. Overall the show was a success and got many excited for the album to come out.

Reception
On November 21st, 20XX, Rager At Jimmy's was officially released to the public, alongside a music video for the song The Girl Got Hot.

Many found the album to be relatively okay, but nothing compared to Spirit Weak. Still, the album stood the test of time and did well enough to keep the band going, as well as have a legacy for the band today. Many criticized the amount of songs from Cheer Up!, finding it lazy and almost as if they were just padding for the album length. It wasn't as bad as it was during You Know Us Too Well, since more time had passed and less people knew about the musical by the time Rager At Jimmy's was released. However, most of the new songs were met with universal praise, with the songs Lonely Girl, The Fire, and Rock The House being criticized as well for not fitting in with the album and having weak lyrics. Lots of people found the inclusion of Rock The House confusing and a bit abrupt with it's spot on the album, which is understandable considering how different it is than the band's usual music.

Now, fans still like Rager At Jimmy's, but many view it as a stepping stone to the band's next album, Beggars Can't Be Choosers. Some songs still are regarded as underrated tracks that are cult favorites, like Broc Ched and Nika's Got It Wrong. Some even refer to the album as the "Grilled Cheese Album" because of the line in Broc Ched that goes "There's just a lot of grilled cheese and a bakery treat for just 99 cents."

Overall the album gave the band enough money to continue making music and allowing them to stretch a bit, knowing that their restrictions weren't as strict as they used to be and allowing them many more ways to support themselves, as well as a short tour being used to promote the album aside from their normal shows, where they would play the album in full.

Tracklist

 * 1) Broc Ched - Written by Nick Barnett and Scott Wilson
 * 2) I Forgot To Take My Meds Today - Written by Nick Barnett and Scott Wilson
 * 3) The Girl Got Hot - Written by Nick Barnett and Scott Wilson
 * 4) I Dare You To Break My Heart - Written by Nikki Brown and Nick Barnett
 * 5) Nika's Got It Wrong - Written by Nick Barnett and Scott Wilson
 * 6) Ban The Tube Top - Written by Nick Barnett and Scott Wilson
 * 7) Dateless Losers - Written by Scott Wilson and Nick Barnett
 * 8) Lonely Girl - Written by Nathan Taylor and Scott Wilson
 * 9) Valerie - Written by Nick Barnett and Scott Wilson
 * 10) Bathtub - Written by Nick Barnett and Scott Wilson
 * 11) The Fire - Written by Scott Wilson and Nick Barnett
 * 12) Rock The House - Written by Jimmy Rodriguez
 * 13) Nothin' But A Good Time - Written by Poison, arranged by Nick Barnett

Fun Facts
- The photo in the cover art is actually a real photo from a party that Jimmy Rodriguez threw. He had found it lying around and it was chosen to use as the cover.

- I Forgot To Take My Meds Today was based on a true story about Scott forgetting to take his meds after partying all night.

- Nick Barnett doesn't like this album overall anymore, but does still like certain songs. He regrets using as many songs from Cheer Up! as they did.

- After the success of The Big Party Show for Adults Only!!! the band got a lot of mail asking for them to play at house shows and people's parties.

- Grilled Cheese merch was released for the album years later, as the line in Broc Ched became a running joke for a little within the fans of the band.

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