Forget the screamy band label

Across the board, most artists hate being pigeonholed; however, nothing could be worse than being compared to the wrong band. If you like Guns N’ Roses, you’ll love No Doubt. So you dig Coheed and Cambria, be sure to check out Christina Aguilera’s newest album.

While such talk among established acts is funny, for an obscure, up-and-coming band, the wrong comparison is a nightmare. Welcome to the world of Long Island-based rock act Straylight Run and particularly its guitarist-singer John Nolan, who was an early member of emo act Taking Back Sunday.

“At the beginning of [Straylight Run], it helped us just because as soon as we were starting, a lot of people were interested in finding out what we sounded like,” said Nolan, calling from outside of Austin, Texas. “At this point, the only thing that is hard is it kind of gives people who haven’t really looked and listened to the band an impression of what we must be like or what kind of band we must be.”

He added, “I think maybe that some people who haven’t really taken the time to actually listen to it, sometimes people might write us off as another screamy band or something.”

The band plays Monday at Peabody's DownUnder in Cleveland.

For the complete story, see Thursday's Vindicator or Vindy.com.