All-around Breakdown: Take Today's Joseph M. Edwards Breaks Down New Communiques Vinyl LP Re-packaging (Pedal Boy Records)

Take Today, L-R: Mark Bancroft, Emily Reed, Joseph M. Edwards, and Donald Bush pictured with Communiques LP's (SOURCE: Instagram)

Take Today formed in the early 2000's (2003, to be exact) after the demise of a previous project, Empty Handed NJ. Take Today's current line-up consists of vocalist/guitarist Joseph M. Edwards, bassist/vocalist Emily Reed, guitarist/vocalist Mark Bancroft, and drummer Donald "Don" Bush. They're from Southern New Jersey & Eastern Pennsylvania just outside of Philadelphia. Although, Take Today's Bandcamp page readily lists their "hometown" as Burlington, NJ. Take Today released Communiques, Volume One as a trio including Joseph, Emily & Don in 2014 and followed it up with Communiques, Volume Two as a quartet in 2021. Back in early November, Take Today combined Communiques, Volumes One/Two as one cohesive "album"-length release containing the original seven songs, plus, three additional bonus tracks. It was issued digitally, as well as on an exclusive multi-colored vinyl LP release now available on Pedal Boy Records. We got a change to speak with vocalist, guitarist, and founding member Joseph M. Edwards for (what may end up being) the final All-around Breakdown of 2022. Check it out below and grab yourself a copy of Take Today's Communiques re-packaged LP on their Limited Run page.


The title of the song is a reflection of the music and the subject of the song. Musically, the song moves through a lot of parts, including a little nod to the band DESA. The song deals with the changes over a relationship. There’s a hopefulness that remains, despite it all.


"Skydiving" takes influence from a few different bands that I feel not many would expect... Nakatomi Plaza, RX Bandits, etc. A re-occurring theme in these songs is fleeting moments and how different things could and would be, if we could just hold on a little longer.


Written around the same time as "Changes," there's a connective tissue between the two. The most obvious being the outro riff and lyrics. More so, the follow-up of the two; this song is the end of things, not fully accepting that reality.


This was written in the same batch as "Changes" and "[When The] World Stops" and recorded in the same sessions as the previous songs. When re-working this song, we changed the part after the first chorus to be, basically, "do nothing," in comparison to its older version. We think it works perfectly. The song has a similar theme to it of fleeting moments, but this one differs in trusting the moment and kind of accepting what is fleeting as something that cannot be held onto.


I don't think we needed a Jawbreaker cover to show we draw influence from Jawbreaker. This was a song we covered in our early days. Trade-off vocals and a fun little twist to the ending.


This song has one of my favorite parts of any of our songs. I believe this song started with the intro riff, which was loosely inspired by The Impossibles. A lot of this song fell pretty easily in place when it came to writing it. The song is written about the aftermath of a serious break-up. There's even a little Hot Water Music "Easter egg" in there.


One of the first songs written when the band went through a major line-up change. Very much a staple of our live shows. This song takes that re-occurring theme of fleeting moments and hopefulness and reflects on where exactly you are in the moment.


Probably one of our oldest songs. This recording started off as a solo acoustic outing, but evolved throughout the recording process. Our now-drummer, [Donald "Don" Bush], was interning for the studio, at the time, and a couple sessions or so in, he showed up later in the evening and walked into us telling him he's gotta perform drums. A few takes later, and things [were] locked in. Similar theme to many songs.


Depending on how you look at it... this is our oldest song. Written prior to this band, as our previous project, Empty Handed NJ, this song never got the studio treatment. When we started playing shows as Take Today, this found its way onto our setlist for quite a while. This recording, actually, includes the very same line-up as our first show ever. A love song written at a young age during a trip to Florida, the title is based on two things I saw everywhere... palm trees and Subway, the sandwich place.


Another one of those covers that felt obvious, as far as influences go. I think the idea to cover this goes back to a practice we had where we kinda winged our way [through] half [of] the song. A year later, we ended up playing an entire set for Halloween "as" Alkaline Trio.

*** BONUS TRACK *** Take Today's "SKAdiving" from "SKAdiving" / "Up to The Top" digital single (NOT featured on Communiques vinyl!)