Taking Back Sunday reunites with John Nolan, Shaun Cooper

    Taking Back Sunday has returned to its “Tell All Your Friends”-era lineup and is now at work on a new album with John Nolan and Shaun Cooper, who left the Rockville Centre-based band in 2003 to form Straylight Run.
    “This crazy idea came up and once we started exploring it and talking on the phone it was almost like all that time hadn't passed between us,” said singer Adam Lazzara, who, along with guitarist Eddie Reyes and drummer Mark O’Connell, has remained at the band’s core for all of its albums. “Given the history and the years that had passed, I don't think any of us really knew if hanging out again let alone writing and playing together would actually work. For it to feel so comfortable and effortless so quickly made us realize that we had to give it a chance.”
    Nolan, who announced earlier this year that Straylight Run had gone on hiatus, said he was also surprised this version of the band would ever get back together. “I never would have imagined that this group of people reuniting would be possible,” he said. “Since we parted ways we all went down very different paths and somehow everything we've experienced individually over the past seven years has brought us back to a point of genuine appreciation and love for each other as people and musicians. There's a shared excitement and enthusiasm within this group that I haven't experienced since the early days of the band.”
    The return of Nolan and Cooper led to the exit of bassist Matt Rubano, who had been part of the band since replacing Cooper in 2003, and guitarist/singer Matt Fazzi, who joined the band in 2008, replacing Fred Mascherino who had replaced Nolan in 2003.
    Taking Back Sunday is already working on new material and plans to record this summer in Los Angeles with producer Eric Valentine, who led the band’s “Louder Now” album. A preview tour is also in the works. “I’m so glad this is happening,” said Reyes, “because I can already hear something in the songs that reminds me of why all of us were so passionate about this band to begin with.”

PHOTO: The new (old?) Taking Back Sunday from Warner Bros.