Into The Raging Sea
by BROADSIDE

 

“The album came out like magic” frontman Ollie Baxxter says, with enthusiasm. “I’m not trying to impress or keep up with the hype. I wasn’t under any pressure. We just wrote an album without knowing what it would turn into. All of the people I’ve idolized always say songs just flowed out of them, not because they wanted them to necessarily, but because they had to. Up until recently, that didn’t feel realistic for me. I didn’t think I was capable of creating art with that pureness of spirit”.

 

Oliver Baxxter grew up in a trailer park, sharing a room with his mother, stepfather, and brother. When he was 11, his stepdad died, leaving him fatherless for a second time. Even when the family moved into a better home, in Richmond, Virginia, Ollie felt worthless. Fast forward to young adulthood when his band, Broadside, crested on a wave of two well-received pop-punk albums and tours across America and Europe, only to come crashing down with lineup changes and behind-the-scenes frustrations. That familiar feeling of isolation returned. And it lit a fire.

 

The end result is a brand-new Broadside record crafted with his three best friends. “Into the Raging Sea“ is 13 energized songs of rebirth and renewal. It’s a standout alternative pop record through and through, one with fresh rewards on repeated listens. Produced by Seth Henderson (State Champs, Knuckle Puck, Real Friends), “Into the Raging Sea” emphasizes the strengths of the band’s early sound, while demonstrating creative fearlessness and ambition. Despite being one of the Most Anticipated Albums of 2020 in Alternative Press, BROADSIDE’s third record was crafted in a spirit free of preconceived notions or expectations. It’s authentic, pure, and to the point. 

“Into the Raging Sea” is likely to surprise the music consuming public just as much as it pleasantly surprised Ollie and his bandmates: guitarist Domenic Reid, bassist Patrick Diaz, and drummer Jeff Nichols. The songs are massive, full of Baxxter’s combination of hopeless romanticism and personal melancholy. Like the best of Robert Smith and Morrissey, BROADSIDE will whip a catchy chorus into a frenzy, while sneaking in the catharsis of total misery or anger in the lyrics.

 

Songs like “Foolish Believer”, the romantic “Breathe You In”, angry epic “The Raging Sea”,  are punchy and diverse, memorable but not pandering. The overall theme is one of perseverance, continued growth, and inevitable renewal. Ollie isn’t ashamed to have grown up poor; he’ll self-deprecatingly mention his “daddy issues”; and he’s a longtime champion of the broken. But BROADSIDE stands for overcoming those things.

 

“From the very beginning, my attitude was: I don’t have shit to look forward to and everything behind me is trash, so I’m going to make myself the hero of my own story” he explains. “I’ve always known struggle. As I get older, it’s more mental than physical, but it’s always there”.

 

“I’m going to keep this thing going,” he concludes. “And right now, I’m on a high.”

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