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— by Jon Wiederhorn, with reporting by Greg Kaplan
For five years, Seattle emo pop-punk band Acceptance have cultivated a fanbase via harmony-filled, guitar-crashing stompathons and blood-pumping stage shows. Though they were content with playing the club circuit and releasing albums on small indies, opportunity recently came knocking.
Well, calling, actually. "I was in a dressing room and my phone rang," singer Jason Vena recalled. "I heard [the voice on the other end of the line say,] 'Hey, this is Matt Pinfield. I love your music.' "
Formerly the host of MTV's "120 Minutes," Pinfield is now an A&R man at Columbia Records. So impressed was he with Acceptance — Vena, guitarists Kaylan Cloyd and Christian McAlhaney, bassist Ryan Zwiefelhofer and drummer Nick Radovanovic — that he took the young rockers under his wing and helped them turn their demo into the EP Black Lines to Battlefields, which came out in May on indie label the Militia Group. A full-length is expected next year on Columbia.
"The EP is kind of like a compilation of older and newer songs that we did," Cloyd said. "We didn't record it to release it. We recorded [the demo] to get some attention."
Black Lines to Battlefields features five studio songs and two live tracks, and though it's kind of a sonic mishmash, it doesn't feel thrown together. "Permanent" is an upbeat song that plays a clawing guitar verse intro against a muted riff. As the tune progresses, it evolves into a roaring rhythm with victorious vocals. "Bleeding Heart" is a pathos-dripping rocker with the aching lyrics "Air turns cold/ Autumn's not the same without you/ Colors fade from beautiful to lifeless." And the title track is a yearning, dissonance-tinged pop song that's similar in spirit to the whiniest U2.
"This band is a melting pot of a lot of different tastes and styles of where we come from," said Zwiefelhofer.
Musically, Acceptance are an eclectic brew for sure, largely because of the wellspring of influences each member brings to the band. But they're thematically unified for two reasons: They've all had their hearts broken, and they've all seen the light. Though they don't consider themselves a "Christian rock band," the song "Seeing Is Believing" is about putting faith in the Lord, and all of the members thank God in their liner notes.
Some of Acceptance's religious beliefs seep into their other lyrics, which can be cryptic. "I think it's very important for people listening to music to try to understand what's being said," Vena said. "I have a part of each of my songs that comes from my heart and I'm thinking something about it, and I think it's more rewarding for the listener to just one day 'get it' and say, 'Wow, I understand now.' Whereas, if you just put it all out there and tell what the song is about, there's not a lot of interaction between the [band and] the listener."
Vena and Cloyd met in 1997 at the Vans Warped Tour. Both had gone to the show with their girlfriends, and since the two girls were friends, when they ran into each other they stopped to chat. Vena and Cloyd talked about how they were both unhappy with the bands they were in and how they wanted to do something different.
The two started playing together and went through various lineups before finding McAlhaney, Zwiefelhofer and Radovanovic. Acceptance released the EP Lost for Words in 2000, and supported the disc by touring in a Dodge minivan.
"Our first two tours were in the minivan," Vena said. "Then we went to a Chevy conversion van and now we're in an RV. It's nice to have a back room to go to if you're pissed at somebody."
Acceptance hope the upgrades from vehicle to vehicle will symbolize the ascent of their career. However, fame and fortune aren't their sole motivation. "When we get onstage we're really excited to play all our songs," Vena said. "Every night, we're like, 'This is great. we're having fun.' "
 Check out the MTV You Hear It First Tour.
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