Taking Back Sunday bassist Shaun Cooper says El Paso “is one place we’re looking forward to playing.”
They’ll do that at 8 p.m. Oct. 5 when the New York rockers headline Jim Ward’s new Tricky Falls nightclub, 209 S. El Paso. The Maine and Bad Rabbits open (tickets are $21.50 in advance at Maria’s Closet and holdmyticket.com, $24 at the door).
Their affinity for the Sun City goes beyond past performances to a special two-week period in April of last year. That’s when the five men who made their debut album, 2002’s “Tell All Your Friends” — singer Adam Lazzara, guitarists John Nolan and Eddie Reyes, bassist Shaun Cooper and drummer Mark O’Connell — ended seven years apart by meeting at Tornillo’s world-famous Sonic Ranch studios.
“It’s a great place to be alone to get past that first awkward hour and have no one else around,” Cooper said during a recent tour break.
The old tensions that tore them apart in 2003 quickly melted quickly. “We had a couple of beers, a couple of drinks and we were able to talk freely,” Cooper recalled. “It seems like the seven years went by in the bat of an eye. It’s crazy how quickly we reconnected.”
Nolan and Cooper bolted in 2003 to form Straylight Run. The others forged ahead with new band members and three more albums, including their 2006 million-seller “Louder Now.”
Cooper said the split was a case of almost instant success after “Tell All Your Friends” sold a surprising 500,000 copies.
“It came down to too much success, too soon and how we were individually coping with that,” he said. “All of the sudden our dreams were coming true. Life was moving way too fast. John and I needed to take a step back and analyze the situation and see if we want to have that kind of life.”
The pressure to follow “Friends” with a bigger hit album created serious tensions. “It messes with your head. We were young, dumb kids. When we left I had just turned 22,” Cooper said.
Lazzara has said the chemistry of the TBS lineups that followed was never quite right. “We have a much better understanding of what each other brings to the table, personally and musically. We rely on that,” Cooper said. “We have a better understanding of each other’s personalities. We know when to give someone space when they need it. It’s a much more tolerant kind of thing.”
The Sonic Ranch sessions were surprisingly productive. They roughed out three songs the first day. “From what those guys told me, it took them four times as long to write three songs that weren’t as good,” the bassist said.
They eventually banged out a dozen songs, eight of which appear on their new, self-titled album, released June 28, recorded last fall in Los Angeles with producer Eric Valentine. They include “El Paso,” which they debuted last spring to tease the new album, a move designed to “throw people off,” Cooper said, because of its uncharacteristically aggressive sound.
It’s not the Marty Robbins classic, nor does it reference El Paso specifically. The title is a tribute to the city where they got a fresh start. It’s one of five new songs they’re been playing on tour.
“It’s going over so well. The (mosh) pits get pretty crazy,” Cooper said. “We were surprised. The initial reaction to it was mixed. When people heard it was the first new song, they went, ‘Ah, what is this? I don’t know’ But live it goes over, it’s very dynamic.”
So, apparently, is their memory of this place, especially when they play the song.
“We’re transported right back to El Paso,” Cooper said.
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