Real Friends

Chicago punk-pop group Real Friends found success in the mid-2010s with the explosive, emo-driven sound of albums like 2014′s Maybe This Place Is the Same and We're Just Changing and 2016′s The Home Inside My Head. After taking a more personal bent on their third album, Composure, the group parted ways with their longtime vocalist and began a new phase with 2021′s Torn in Two EP.
Real Friends were formed in 2010 in Tinley Park, Illinois, a suburb on the South Side of Chicago, by bassist/lyricist Kyle Fasel and guitarist Dave Knox. Heavily inspired by bands such as Brand New and the Starting Line, the group’s introspective, cathartic songs featured lyrics that often addressed physical and mental health issues, as well as the troubles of moving on. Also featuring vocalist Dan Lambton and drummer Aaron Schuck, the band self-released their debut EP, This Is Honesty, in 2011. Drummer Brian Blake replaced Schuck shortly afterwards, and Eric Haines joined as the band’s second guitarist. Three more self-released EPs arrived in 2012, and in 2013 the band’s Put Yourself Back Together EP was simultaneously released by Synergy Records, Banquet Records, and Glamour Kills.
After signing with Fearless Records, Real Friends released their debut album Maybe This Place Is the Same and We're Just Changing in 2014. The album was an immediate success, hitting number 24 on the Billboard 200 album chart and netting the group a spot on the 2014 Vans Warped Tour. Fearless released a limited one-sided Real Friends EP, More Acoustic Songs, on Record Store Day in April of 2015. In early 2016, Real Friends entered the studio to record their second full-length album, which featured more deeply personal and emotionally hard-hitting material. The Home Inside My Head appeared in May 2016. Released in 2018, Composure proved to be Real Friends’ final release with lead singer Dan Lambton, whose vacancy was eventually filled by Cody Muraro (Youth Fountain, Parting Ways). Now signed to Pure Noise, the band marked a new era with the 2021 EP Torn in Two. Surrounding the EP were various smaller releases, including acoustic versions and alternate reworkings of songs like “Nervous Wreck,” “Storyteller,” and “Teeth.” ~ Jason Lymangrover