Acceptance have reunited for a 20th anniversary edition of ‘Phantoms, featuring a whole host of special guests from State Champs, Boys Like Girls, The Maine, Tonight Alive and more.
The album’s reimagined version, titled ‘Phantoms/Twenty’, was recorded by original producer Aaron Sprinkle.
To celebrate the announcement, the band have shared a new take on album opener ‘Take Over’ featuring Boys Like Girls frontman Martin Johnson.
Take a listen below:
On his involvement in the project, Martin has shared:
“I graduated high school, Class of 2004, in a fever dream of guitar chords and burned CDs—when ‘Phantoms’ was gospel and ‘Take Cover’ was the song we howled at underage house parties, banging on beat-up acoustics during that final summer of childhood before the real world was supposed to start. Navigating restless tides in a sea of indie-label-cred-focused bands was Acceptance, touting clean hooks and songs in major keys on a debut album released on Columbia proper. A key influence, their sound carved out a path we prayed we might walk down eventually.
“I remember blasting the album front to back, cooking down 495 from Andover to band practice in Taunton with the windows down and dreams bigger than our hometowns. We all crowded on the stage at the old Avalon Club in Boston, watching and taking notes when the Truck Stops and State Lines Tour came through town in 2005—one class of releases before our debut. It was electric. It was sacred. That night lit a fuse. I still believe that when Boys Like Girls signed to Columbia ourselves, it was because Acceptance lived there first. Now, here we are, twenty years later. To be given the opportunity to record a piece of this song and join hands for this reawakening is not just an honor—it’s a full-circle miracle of an encore I never expected to be a part of.”
And on working with the Boys Like Girls frontman, the band have said:
“Martin was one of the first artists we thought of when we originally started on this journey. Boys Like Girls were label mates with Acceptance at Columbia Records and we always felt there was a strong musical connection. ‘Take Cover’, a song that was originally written to capture the raw emotion of being young and navigating love and betrayal, seemed like a perfect match for Martin’s signature vocal style. He has such a charismatic presence, which really shows in his interpretation of the song. Martin took it, ran with it and the collaboration turned out better than we could have imagined. We couldn’t think of a more fitting way to kick off ‘Phantoms/Twenty’.”
Check out the artwork and star-studded tracklisting for ‘Phantoms/Twenty’ below.
1. Take Cover featuring Martin Johnson
2. So Contagious featuring Teddy Swims
3. In Too Far featuring Jenna McDougall
4. The Letter featuring John O’Callaghan
5. Different featuring Alex Gaskarth
6. Ad Astra Per Aspera – Instrumental featuring Ellisay
7. This Conversation Is Over featuring Stephen Christian
8. Over You featuring Derek DiScanio
9. Breathless featuring Charlotte Sands
10. In The Cold featuring Mitch Grassi
11. Permanent featuring Matty Mullins
12. Glory/Us featuring Cassadee Pope
Content shared from rocksound.tv.