Band succeeds in keeping close to post-hard core style

By John Benson

SENSES FAIL

The group’s leader wants to give the feeling he used to get at shows.

Even though post-hard core act Senses Fail just released its fourth studio effort, “Life Is Not a Waiting Room,” bandleader and singer Buddy Nielsen is already thinking ahead to the New Jersey group’s next album.

The reason why is simple for Nielsen, who admits there are maybe too many similarities found on the group’s new CD and its 2006 album “Still Searching.”

“I totally can see we’d switch it up next record as far as our sound,” said Nielsen, calling from somewhere in California. “We now have two records that are similar in sound. So we’ll try to do something different next time. There’s a danger in change, there’s a danger in not changing. Ultimately, you have to write songs that are timeless, and we’ll try to do something we can listen to 20 years from now and not specific to an era or style.”

What remains certain for Nielsen is that when he looks back on “Still Searching” and “Life Is Not a Waiting Room,” he’ll hear two albums detailing a cornucopia of trials and tribulations — skin cancer, depression, addiction, failed relationships, etc. For Senses Fail fans, the result is nothing short of therapy.

Nielsen joked that he’d have no problem writing an optimistic, uplifting and positive album titled something along the lines of “Peppermints and Rainbows” as long as he was talking about the truth.

“The idea is to just put out something that is meaningful,” Nielsen said. “This is true to what we are as a band and true to our fan base. I think a lot of our music is something people listen to and can relate to. At least the lyrics are very personal, and I think that’s one reason why people can get into our band. The music is good and the songs are written very well.

“And it’s catchy music, but also I think people find we have a deeper meaning, and we have integrity being an independent band. We’ve always worked hard, always been true to what we’ve been doing. We write songs about things that people care about that you can listen to and find strength in it or just relate to it. We offer something a little bit deeper than I think a lot of bands have.”

Stylistically speaking, just as Senses Fail, which comes to Cleveland for a Wednesday show at Beachland Ballroom and to Pittsburgh Thursday at Diesel, falls somewhere between contemporary acts A Static Lullaby, Thrice and The Used, Nielsen admits his band is — for good or bad – firmly entrenched in the current post-hardcore scene.

“The pros are I’ve always been a part of this scene, it made me who I am, and I got a lot of things out of it,” Nielsen said. “It’s just not what it was when I was younger. So I think I want, when people come to our shows, to get the feeling of what I used to get when I would go to shows. It’s not about your [expletive] hair. The reason why everybody is here is because they like our band and there is something different about our band and they can relate to this stuff.”

He added, “And another thing, I never call our shows concerts, because they’re not. They’re shows. We don’t put on a concert. I don’t think we ever have or ever will.”