The Finer Things is the debut studio album by American pop punk band State Champs.
Background and production
State Champs formed in Albany, New York in 2010.[1] The band consist of Derek Discanio on vocals, Tyler Szalkowski and Tony Diaz on guitar, William Goodermote on bass and Evan Ambrosio on drums.[1] The band released EP 2010 in August,[2] which was quickly followed up with the Apparently, I'm Nothing EP in January 2011.[3] In April 2012, interest in a demo of "Critical" helped the band gain a recording contract, a management company and a booking agency.[4] On April 19, it was announced that the band signed to Pure Noise.[5] In addition, it was mentioned that group would release another EP during summer, with their debut album expected for later in the year.[6] The band subsequently released the Overslept EP in September.[7]
On April 9, 2013, it was announced the band had started recording their debut album with producer Sam Pura and co-producer and former New Found Glory guitarist Steve Klein at The Panda Studios in Fremont, California in May 2013.[8] Exactly a month later, it was announced the band had finished recording.[9] All of the songs that were to feature on their debut album were written in Discanio's bedroom.[4] The album has been described as pop punk.[10][11][12][13][14]
Release
On July 31, 2013, The Finer Things was announced for release, with its track listing and artwork being revealed.[15] On August 20, a music video was released for "Elevated".[16] It was filmed at Warped Tour[17] and directed by Rob Soucy.[18] The band supported Hit the Lights on their tour of Australia in September.[19] In September and October, the group supported Bayside and Motion City Soundtrack on their co-headlining US tour.[20] On September 17, "Nothing's Wrong" was made available for streaming.[21] On September 26, "Easy Enough" was made available for streaming.[22] On September 29, a music video was released for "Hard to Please",[23] after premiering on MTVu.[24] On October 2, The Finer Things was made available for streaming,[25] and was released on October 8 through Pure Noise.[26]
In November, the band supported Chunk! No, Captain Chunk![27] on The Truffle Shuffle Tour in the US.[28] Between February and April 2014, the band supported We Are the In Crowd;[29] the following month, the band supported The Wonder Years on their tour of the UK and Europe.[30] The band then went on the 2014 edition of Warped Tour.[31] In September, the group went on a co-headlining Australian tour with Neck Deep. They were supported by Sidelines.[32] In October, the band released The Acoustic Things EP through Pure Noise.[33] The EP features acoustic versions of several songs from The Finer Things.[34] In October and November, the band co-headlined the Pure Noise Records Tour[35] with Handguns. They were supported by Forever Came Calling, Front Porch Step, Heart To Heart and Brigades.[36] In November, the group supported New Found Glory on their Pop Punk's Not Dead tour in the UK.[37]
The album charted at number 132 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart[40] and at number 2 on the Heatseekers Albums chart.[41] It has sold 24,000 copies in the United States as of September 2015.[42]
The Finer Things was included on Rock Sound's "50 Best Albums of 2013" list at number 14.[14]Rock Sound also considered it one of the best pop punk albums of the 2010s decade.[14] The album was included at number 43 on Rock Sound's "The 51 Most Essential Pop Punk Albums of All Time" list.[43]Cleveland.com ranked "Elevated" at number 78 on their list of the top 100 pop-punk songs.[44] A Sputnikmusic reviewer referred to The Finer Things as "the greatest pop punk album of all time."[45]
^Yancey, Bryne (April 19, 2012). "Pure Noise signs State Champs". Alternative Press. Alternative Press Magazine, Inc. Archived from the original on April 1, 2016. Retrieved December 19, 2017.
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