18th & Addison Releases "Vultures" EP - i99Radio, Philadelphia's Alternative Rock!

Bayside returned to Philly this past week for a two night stand celebrating their music both old and new. i99Radio was on the scene to capture night one of two. For the first night, Bayside brought songs from their early years, 2004 to 2008. For many of us, it takes us back instantly to the songs of our childhood, middle and high school years, and the audience spanning Gen X to Gen Alpha came ready to rock.

Long Island, NY’s The Sleeping started the night off and brought their unique blend of post-hardcore and raw energy to the stage that really got the audience going. People thrashed around and sang along, and even a toddler hopping up on his dad’s shoulders to get a better view of frontman Doug Robinson, who climbed up to the barrier, putting his microphone up to fans to sing along with them, and eventually even crowdsurfing above their heads at one point. The band has been experiencing a revival since their reunion in 2022 and their fantastic newest album, “I Feel Like I’m Becoming a Ghost”, dropping in 2023.

Bayside then took the stage, kicking off their set with the classic track, “Montauk”, from their second self-titled album. Frontman Anthony Ranieri commented how their idea for the “Errors Tour” came about when they wanted to play 44 songs in each city, instead of just 22. He talked about how the band has so many songs that fans love from all across their career, but not enough time to play them all, so they thought, “why not just play 2 nights in every city?”

The night of classic nostalgia continued on, with the band delivering high-energy versions of much loved tracks from their third album, 2007’s “The Walking Wounded”, like “Duality”, “I and I”, and the ballad “Landing Feet First” (of which started a massive audience singalong). The band also reached far back in their discography, playing tracks from their first years as a band, like “Masterpiece”, “Guardrail” and “Kellum”, off of the first album, 2004’s “Sirens and Condolences.” The audience was audibly excited by this, as these tracks are very rarely played live. The audience cheered loudly and unleashed a constant stream of crowd-surfers to the front of stage as they ripped through these classic tracks. The “newest” songs they played for night 1 were tracks from 2008’s classic album, “Shudder”, like “Boy”, “No One Understands” and “The Ghost of St. Valentine”. Again, many of these tracks haven’t been played since the Shudder Tour in 2008 so hearing these songs was certainly a treat for the audience.

Bayside’s show at Brooklyn Bowl was a testament to how the songs we grew up with are forever engrained in our DNA, the music grows with us and becomes a part of us as we grow older, but we never forget the songs that influenced us almost two decades ago. The 1,000 people in the audience who turned up to sing every word of these songs that are almost 20 years old now proves this to be true and Bayside to be a band close to so many people’s hearts.

Photos by Dave Avidan

On Friday, June 1, the duo 18th & Addison released their latest EP, “Vultures.” This EP follows the group’s other two releases, “Little Parasites” EP (2015) and Makeshift Monster album (2016).

18th & Addison consists of members Tom Kunzman and Kait DiBenedetto, of Toms River, N.J. Both do vocals and guitar for the group, with Kunzman also on bass and DiBenedetto on keys. The two joined together in late 2013 following the splits of their former bands.

Kunzman hails from punk band A Criminal Risk, while DiBenedetto comes from the band Just Kait. Now, the twosome’s main focus is their group 18th & Addison, although DiBenedetto is also guitarist in the band What’s Eating Gilbert, a side project created by New Found Glory’s Chad Gilbert.

Their new release keeps it simple with four tracks, each illustrating sound similar to what they’ve done before while also adding a bit of new flavor for the group.

Vultures EP
Photo courtesy of 18th & Addison

“Not My Home” is the first track on the EP, and something notable about this song is that the group mentions “parasites” in the chorus, which references back to their first EP’s title “Little Parasites.” DiBenedetto takes most of the vocals on this song while Kunzman does more back-up along with a few solo moments.

As the title insinuates, the song talks about not fitting in, but also has a strong conviction in the chorus that it takes personal ambition/motivation to escape the situation. The chorus serves as a motivator that the subject is not to blame, but there is blame put on them if they do nothing about it.

“Time Bomb” is the group’s debut single from the EP featuring a music video that can be found on YouTube here. For this song, Kunzman’s vocals focus on the chorus as opposed to DiBenedetto, but DiBenedetto does strong back-up. The two switch off between verses, Kunzman covering the first while DiBenedetto does the second.

A stand-out moment is the bridge to the song which features a brief interlude before Kunzman launches back into the lyrics that started the song. However, instead of sounding forceful, his voice softens before transitioning to DiBenedetto’s vocals that go back to that assertive tone. This has a way of drawing the listener in even further to the message behind the song, which seems to be about a far-from-perfect relationship that is still desired despite the issues that one (or possibly both) of the individuals have.

“Waves,” the third track, sets a strong, instrumental pace from the get-go. This isn’t an oddity for the group, but it notably hits a faster pace compared to the first two tracks. It lends to the meaning of the song which, like the previous track, focuses on a tumultuous relationship. However, it narrows in on a different aspect: the insecurity that one partner instills in another, as opposed to both sides of the relationship possibly causing problems.

The lead vocals are a pretty fair balance of Kunzman and DiBenedetto in this one with Kunzman taking the beginning while DiBenedetto takes the second half of the song. Interestingly, in the middle of the song, they do an even split of the vocals, switching back and forth between the two as a transition to the bridge before the brief interlude.

“Bitter Half” concludes the EP. This fits because it acts as a conclusion to the rough relationship(s) referred to in the two previous songs. It talks about restarting a relationship, DiBenedetto singing, “back to the start” in the chorus and “just to find who we were to begin with” in the extension added to the second chorus.

There is also a reflection on the fact that the songwriter is tired of what’s been going on, which rounds back to the message of the first track on the EP: if one doesn’t like the situation, they should find a solution. Going back to the start seems like the solution to the issue in this song.

The vocal balance in this track is an interesting combo of the two singers. DiBenedetto takes the lead on the first chorus while Kunzman does back-up. Meanwhile, the second chorus flows seamlessly with the previous verse, sounding as if Kunzman takes the lead in this one alongside DiBenedetto, before it transitions back into DiBenedetto as the true lead.

Overall, the EP is a solid release and offers many stories depending on one’s interpretation. This is definitely impressive for it only having four tracks.

18th & Addison’s “Vultures” EP is available to stream on Spotify and Apple Music. It is also for sale on iTunes, Google Play, and Amazon Music. Physical copies are available on their website here.

The group is currently on tour promoting the release of “Vultures.” Check out one or both of their shows this week if you happen to be close by.

Explore More

Listen on Live365

18th & Addison Releases “Vultures” EP