Ever After (Marianas Trench album)

Ever After
Studio album by Marianas Trench
Released November 21, 2011
Recorded 2011
Genre Pop rock, rock opera, emo pop
Length 52:16
Label 604
Producer Josh Ramsay
Marianas Trench chronology

Masterpiece Theatre
(2009)		 Ever After
(2011)		 Astoria
(2015)
Singles from Ever After
  1. "Haven't Had Enough"
    Released: July 19, 2011
  2. "Fallout"
    Released: November 15, 2011
  3. "Desperate Measures"
    Released: July 4, 2012
  4. "Stutter"
    Released: December 3, 2012
  5. "By Now"
    Released: August 8, 2013
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Absolutepunk [1]
Allmusic [2]
Melodic.net [3]

Ever After is the third studio album by Canadian rock group Marianas Trench. It was released on November 21, 2011 in Canada and December 21, 2011 in the U.S.[4] The album was certified Platinum by Music Canada in November 2012.[5] Five singles were released from the album, including the Canadian Hot 100 Top 10 hit "Haven't Had Enough" and the Top 20 Canada Hot AC airplay hits "Stutter" and "By Now".

Background

Composition

After months of anticipation, Ramsay announced on Twitter that the album will be titled Ever After. The band announced that the album would be released on November 29, 2011, however this date was later pushed up to November 21. The band has announced that there will not be any breaks in between the tracks on the record, and will instead have a new track start as soon as the previous track ends, without a pause, making it an hour-long continuous piece of music. Production on the album had been taking place since Spring 2011.

Story Line

Ever After is a concept album, (as was Masterpiece Theatre). In addition to the fact that there is no pause between the tracks, Ever After also has a storyline told through the album's songs as well as its booklet. The story tells of Josh Ramsay, who lands in Toyland and has an amazing adventure.

Josh Ramsay meets the ex king upon his waking up in a strange land in front of a toy factory. The King tells Josh that he was overthrown by the his wife Queen Carolina, after seducing him into a feeling of safety. She then stole the heart of his daughter, Princess Porcelain, which caused the king so much pain that he let Carolina take the throne. Carolina locks Porcelain's heart in a box atop a tower, which also holds various things she has also stolen; including Josh's way home. Carolina proceeded to steal the inhabitants' hearts, and build her army of heartless toy soldiers. After hearing this tale, Josh sets off in search of Porcelain and his way home.

Carolina then comes to Josh in the night, and attempts to bribe him into ruling Toyland with her. This meant Josh would never be able to go home. So he turns her down. When Josh comes to, he finds Porcelain, who is human as well. She has the key to the box around her neck. When asked why she isn't a toy like everyone else, she cannot remember. She couldn't remember anything that happened before her heart had been stolen. She explains that Carolina's soldiers have been stealing and locking away hearts without rebellion for some time. Josh and Porcelain then proceed to find the stuttering wise man, the one with the other half of the key.

Once they find the Stuttering Wise Man they discover that he is the brother of the Outcast King, and one of the few remaining inhabitants to have a heart. He explains that Porcelain showed up at the castle as a lost child and was adopted by the king. She is also from Josh's homeland.

The Stuttering Wise Man then leads the two into the factory that creates the heartless toy soldiers. The trio then plead with the heartless soldiers to work together and overthrow the Queen. They soon convince the soldiers to go along with their plan. The Outcast King charges into battle with the rebel soldiers, outnumbered, as Porcelain, the Stuttering Wise Man, and Josh go up to the tower where the box is held.

The Queen sees Josh and tries to brutally attack him. Porcelain and the Prince then open the box as the Queen attempts to steal Josh's heart. After a flash of light, Josh regains consciousness and hears joyful cheers from the courtyard below, and finds that they have defeated the Queen. However the Stuttering Prince is dead as the other half of the key had been his own heart. Porcelain throws Carolina off the tower to be swarmed by angry toy soldiers. The King retakes the throne and Porcelain and Josh go home, but find that after the adventure, it didn't feel like home, so the two return to the kingdom and live happily ever after.

Singles

The first single on the album, entitled "Haven't Had Enough" was released in July 2011, and reached the #1 spot on iTunes Canada Top of the Charts and Pop Downloads, and the song was named "Song of the Week" by The Tune. The music video for the song was released on August 26, 2011. "By Now" was released as a free download to people who pre-ordered the Deluxe Edition of Ever After on iTunes.[6] The second official single, "Fallout" was released to iTunes on November 15. The music video was released on February 2, 2012. The music video for their third single "Desperate Measures" was released on July 4, 2012.[7] The fourth single was confirmed to be "Stutter" on November 6, 2012. The music video was released December 20, 2012.[8] The most recent single is By Now. The music video is currently in editing with the release date undetermined. It is rumoured that there will also be a music video for the album's opening track Ever After.

Promotion

Through YouTube, the band has previewed recordings of a gospel choir for their song Stutter, as well as a few recordings from the band. The album cover was revealed on the band's Facebook page on October 17, 2011, and it features a series of toys on a shelf. The band has announced they will be touring in the United States on the Get Your Heart On! Tour with Simple Plan, Forever the Sickest Kids, and The Cab starting on October 25, 2011, in order to promote the album. They will also be touring in Canada with Simple Plan, All Time Low, and These Kids Wear Crowns starting on February 11, 2012. They also toured with The Ready Set, Allstar Weekend, and The Downtown Fiction in the 2011 Glamour Kills Tour.

Release

The album became available for full preview on the MuchMusic website a week before the release. The album was released on iTunes the morning of November 20. Hard copies of Ever After became available on November 21. Some stores such as Wal-Mart, are selling limited edition "Fan-packs" of Ever After that include a Marianas Trench T-shirt. As of December 2011, the album was certified gold in Canada for shipments of over 40,000 copies.[9]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Josh Ramsay. 

No. Title Length
1. "Ever After"   6:34
2. "Haven't Had Enough"   3:28
3. "By Now"   4:14
4. "Truth or Dare"   3:49
5. "Desperate Measures"   3:48
6. "Porcelain"   4:02
7. "Fallout"   4:14
8. "Stutter"   3:21
9. "Toy Soldiers"   4:10
10. "B Team"   3:12
11. "So Soon"   5:50
12. "No Place Like Home"   6:41
Ever After (Deluxe Version) [iTunes Only]
No. Title Length
13. "Haven't Had Enough" (Prance-a-tron Remix) 4:50
14. "Haven't Had Enough" (Frederick Miwk Mix [Extended Version]) 4:26
15. "Haven't Had Enough" (Music Video) 4:01
16. "Making of the Record" (Video) 1:44
17. "Making of the Haven't Had Enough Video" (Video) 6:01

Tours

Face the Music Tour

Date City Country Venue
Australia
September 22, 2012 Newcastle, New South Wales Australia Fat as Butter Festival
September 24, 2012 (Afternoon) South Melbourne, Victoria Radar Music Offices[10]
September 24, 2012 (Evening) Melbourne, Victoria Corner Hotel[11]
September 25, 2012 Brisbane, Queensland The Zoo
September 26, 2012 Sydney, New South Wales The Metro Theatre
Asia
September 30, 2012 Pasay City Philippines SMX Convention Center
North America
October 12, 2012[12][13] Barrie, Ontario Canada Barrie Molson Centre
October 13, 2012 Hamilton, Ontario Copps Coliseum
October 15, 2012 London, Ontario Budweiser Gardens
October 17, 2012 Oshawa, Ontario General Motors Centre
October 18, 2012 Montreal, Quebec Metropolis
October 21, 2012 Winnipeg, Manitoba MTS Centre
October 23, 2012 Regina, Saskatchewan Brandt Centre
October 25, 2012 Calgary, Alberta Stampede Corral
October 28, 2012 Lethbridge, Alberta ENMAX Centre
October 29, 2012 Edmonton, Alberta Rexall Place
October 30, 2012 Dawson Creek, British Columbia EnCana Events Centre
November 1, 2012 Victoria, British Columbia Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre
November 3, 2012 Kamloops, British Columbia Interior Savings Centre

Face the Music: With a Vengeance Tour

Date City Country Venue
North America
March 23, 2013 Fredericton, New Brunswick Canada Aitken Centre
March 24, 2013 Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax Metro Centre
March 26, 2013 Montreal, Quebec Uniprix Stadium
March 28, 2013 Kingston, Ontario K-Rock Centre
March 30, 2013 Peterborough, Ontario Peterborough Memorial Centre
April 2, 2013 Kitchener, Ontario Kitchener Memorial Auditorium Complex
April 3, 2013 Windsor, Ontario WFCU Centre
April 5, 2013 Sudbury, Ontario Sudbury Community Arena
April 6, 2013 Sault Ste Marie, Ontario Essar Centre
April 8, 2013 Thunder Bay, Ontario Thunder Bay Community Auditorium
April 10, 2013 Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan Mosaic Place
April 12, 2013 Vancouver, British Columbia Pacific Coliseum
April 14, 2013 Prince George, British Columbia CN Centre
April 15, 2013 Grand Prairie, Alberta Canada Games Arena
April 17, 2013 Red Deer, Alberta ENMAX Centrium
April 19, 2013 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Credit Union Centre
July 10, 2013 Ottawa, Ontario Ottawa Bluesfest
July 12, 2013 Toronto, Ontario Molson Canadian Amphitheatre

Chart performance and certifications

Album

Chart (2011) Peak
position
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[14] 8
US Billboard 200[15] 100
US Top Heatseekers Albums (Billboard)[16] 5
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[17] 48

Singles

Year Single Peak chart positions
CAN
[18]		 CAN
CHR
[19]		 CAN
AC
[20]		 CAN
Hot AC
[21]
2011 "Haven't Had Enough" 9 24 — 13
"Fallout" 26 22 37 17
2012 "Desperate Measures" 20 18 — 9
"Stutter" 28 20 37 13
2013 "By Now" 50 26 — 14
"—" denotes singles that did not chart.

Certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments
Canada (Music Canada)[5] Platinum >80,000

References

  1. ↑ http://www.absolutepunk.net/showthread.php?t=2516242
  2. ↑ Monger, Timothy. "Ever After – Marianas Trench". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved January 4, 2015.
  3. ↑ http://melodic.net/?page=review&id=10519
  4. ↑ "Marianas Trench Set November 21 for Ever After". Universal Music Canada. Retrieved 2011-09-29.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Canadian album certifications – Marianas Trench – Ever After". Music Canada.
  6. ↑ "iTunes Canada - Marianas Trench - Ever After (Deluxe Edition) Preorder". 604 Records. Retrieved 2011-09-14.
  7. ↑ http://www.marianastrench.net/news/announcing-desperate-measures-as-the-new-single-
  8. ↑ http://www.marianastrench.net/news/help-us-shoot-our-new-music-video-
  9. ↑ http://musiccanada.com/GPSearchResult.aspx?st=&ica=False&sa=marianas%20trench&sl=&smt=1&sat=-1&ssb=Artist
  10. ↑ http://www.marianastrench.net/news/australian-tour-contest-
  11. ↑ http://www.novafm.com.au/article/marianas-trench-touring-australia-september-2012
  12. ↑ http://blog.muchmusic.com/face-the-music-with-muchpresents-marianas-trench/
  13. ↑ http://www.marianastrench.net/tour.php
  14. ↑ "Marianas Trench Album & Song Chart History" Billboard Canadian Albums Chart for Marianas Trench.
  15. ↑ "Marianas Trench Album & Song Chart History" Billboard 200 for Marianas Trench.
  16. ↑ "Marianas Trench Album & Song Chart History" Billboard Top Heatseekers Albums for Marianas Trench.
  17. ↑ "Marianas Trench Album & Song Chart History" Billboard Independent Albums for Marianas Trench.
  18. ↑ "Marianas Trench Album & Song Chart History - Canadian Hot 100". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved May 30, 2014.
  19. ↑ Canada CHR/Top 40 peak positions:
  20. ↑ "Marianas Trench Album & Song Chart History - Canada AC". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved May 30, 2014.
  21. ↑ Canada Hot AC peak positions: