24 weeks ago by John Gentile

Punknews is super psyched to premiere a previously unreleased version of the song “Water vs. The Anchor” from On the Might of Princes. Dead Broke Rekerds is reissuing the band’s seminal LP, Where You Are And Where You Want To Be, just ahead of the record’s twentieth anniversary. OTMOP was one of the more unheralded Long Island bands of their era, but they’ve also taken on a mythical status with the generation of bands who came after them. Their mixture of rock, emo, and hardcore stylings made them one of the most ingenuitive and original bands of their time, and their live shows were often considered some of the most powerful around. Where You Are And Where You Want To Be was originally released back in 2002 on Creep Records and Traffic Violation Records. The Dead Broke Rekerds 2020 reissue is remastered by Carl Saff, and features six bonus songs including three songs that have never previously been released.

The LP, and the song "Water vs. The Anchor" in particular, remains near and dear to the band members. As bassist Tommy O puts it, “This song was a turning point for us, both as a live band and how we were writing at the time, which was negating traditional songwriting and stringing together all of these parts that flowed together dynamically and thematically. Hearing this older version brings back those memories of the shared energy we captured when it was just the four of us in a room. ” Drummer Chris Enriquez similarly offers, “'Water Vs the Anchor" was a huge departure from anything off from our first album… This particular song though, there's also a little dub part in the middle, which the band never did before. This came from a shared love for Bad Brains, which Jason and I bonded about quite a bit. Jason came in with this song mostly written, which was the case for almost all of the other songs on the album as well. He deserves a lot of credit for this particular album for that reason. What you hear is what you get, pretty much. Raw emotion, anger, sadness and searching for hope. "Where You Are…" is undoubtedly the album I know we will always be remembered for and it makes complete sense to me. Thanks to those who still care about this piece of art we created nearly 20 years ago. It means the world. RIP Jason Rosenthal!”

The release is out on vinyl on April 10 and you can pre-order it right here! Meanwhile, check out the new track below!