A short review and summary of the first and only album by +44 (Travis Barker, Mark Hoppus after the Blink 182 hiatus plus Craig Fairbaugh and Shane Gallagher) a very short lived band that stopped playing shows only around 9 months after when your heart stops beating was released. This album is one of my favorite out of all of the Blink 182 projects as it has a true punk rock tone to it and some great instrumentation (with two guitar parts, particularly in Lyanthrope).
Very rarely talked about and very underrated +44 album When Your Heart Stops Beating
+44 only lasted about 4 years, a very short lived project started by Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker after Blink 182 went on indefinite hiatus, with guitarist Shane Gallagher coming on board when Mark invited him to play some guitar parts on early demos and Craig Fairbaugh also joining a little later down the line.The band took a slightly more angsty approach to their songwriting, drawing a lot of inspiration from the break up of Blink 182 to other aspects happening in Mark Hoppus’ personal life, and I personally think this is some of his best and most original songwriting work. I am not the first person to say that either, as the band did well with the critics and other journalists have heavily praised this band. I also enjoyed Tom Delonge’s band Angels and Airwaves at the same time, but I preferred +44 as the punk rock tone mixed with some heavier more creative songwriting was just way more interesting and exciting than AVA’s ambient rock. +44 also seemed true to their roots and were touring relentlessly with other punk rock bands which made the whole feel of the project feel like a very natural extension of Blink 182, which is why I think so many fans were pleased with the outcome.
#blink182 #poppunk