For real, you should listen to Blue October.

Or, better yet, you should see them live. Once you see them live you will be one of those people who follows them on social media and signs up for their email list and pre-purchases tickets to the next show they have in your town…for every single performance.

Don’t believe me? It’s true! Everyone you meet at a Blue October concert will have been to every performance within a 100 mile radius of their home, every year, every new album, every opportunity they get. Kind of like a cult, but way, way cooler.

Blue October is indie rock. They are unapologetically in your face. They are raw emotion. They put on a helluva show. And when you listen to their music it’s like someone is reaching into your chest, wrapping their hand around your heart, and twisting all of the angst and fear and sadness out of it.

The very first song I ever loved of Blue October’s was “Hate Me”. I called it my divorce song because that’s when I listened to it…blasting loud in my car as I drove confusedly around my life post-divorce and wrung all of the horrors of my bad relationship out of my soul.

Justin Ferstenfeld, the genius front man of the band, was apparently going through something, too. You can hear it in his voice. In fact you hear all of the nuances of life in Justin’s voice. The anger, the grief, the love, the dejection, the passion. It’s all there.

This song “Stay” was the first video of theirs that roped me in. Talk about someone being willing to put everything out there in artistic expression. Want to know how it feels to be a father in the middle of a divorce and bitter custody battle? You will experience it through this video.

That’s what Blue October does, I think. They, especially Justin as the lead singer, are capable of conveying the emotional experience of each song to the listener.

And Justin has had a few emotional experiences. He not only dealt with divorce and custody battles, but intense mental health challenges and drug addiction as well. He speaks openly about the things he has gone through in his life, but his true genius is singing about them. He sings the truth and it’s beautiful.

I will post only two more videos (though I could post Blue October videos all night if I needed to). If you only watch one of them, watch “Fear”…but watch them both!! They’re so good.

May I also suggest that you see them live if you ever have the chance. What you see in these music videos and hear in their music alone is just a shadow of what it’s like to connect with them live on stage. It’s worth the price, the time, and the expensive beer. I’ll probably see you there if it’s in Denver! Look for me…I’ll be as close to the front as I can get 😉

Daylight:

Fear:

I totally lied…here’s another video of them live!! I couldn’t just tell you how intense they are live without showing you a tidbit. But, for real, go see them if you can. You won’t be sorry.

– Darci