I got into a lot of new music watching extreme sports movies, especially Mack Dawg and the Total Board snowboarding series. Groups like Weezer, Method Man and Red Man, Sick Of It All, Thumb, Black Eyed Peas (before Fergie ruined them), Greyboy, and my absolute favourite, Incubus. I remember it like it was yesterday… It was called TB7 North of Heaven, I bought it on VHS, and my world shifted watching these guys assault the most insane terrain to Incubus’s straight out hardcore sound.

Extreme sports releases have a great track record when it comes to soundtracks; Hollywood, big-budget releases less so. They try and catch a ride on some band’s credibility to make their multi-million dollar action sequence all the more exciting - sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. It’s almost as bad as commercials, except commercials you have to watch over and over again. Which is why I can’t stand commercial radio .. over and over and over they play the same crap that the record companies force upon them. And the ads! Why are there so many ads!?

So anyways, I came across a band called Flyleaf while watching the new Die Hard movie. Bruce Willis swings by to pick up Mac Guy who has some music video on a screen in the background. The female vocalist has a scream that jarred my soul out of it’s complacency. Oh my god - who is that and how do I get my hands on a copy!? A few Google searches later, and I’m all over the topic - the band is Flyleaf, the singer is Lacey Mosley, and the song is I’m So Sick.

I will break into your thoughts
With what’s written on my heart
                        - Flyleaf

Here’s the bad news. The 30 seconds we hear on the movie is the best part of that song. The rest of the song sounds like a collaboration between Avril Lavigne and the Veronicas. That’s not to say it’s not good - it’s fine, if that’s what you’re into. But, you know, like with everything out of Hollywood, I feel that the makers of Die Hard misrepresented this band.

I’ve given the album a bit of a listen, and at first I was disappointed with my new purchase. But after another listen, I’ve begun to hear more to this band. Flyleaf is young, raw, still growing, and full of energy. On stage, they are passionate and fun to watch. In their songs, they are honest and searching, spiritual and hopeful. Are you tired of bands who wallow in despair or rage? Flyleaf goes to those places and then comes out on the other side. There’s almost an innocence about them.

I don’t think their album does them justice - capturing a live feel must be about the hardest thing for a band to do. I have no evidence to back that up as I’m far from a musician myself. But hey, this is a blog, not a thesis. But check them out playing live on the Family Values Tour 2006.

Lacey looks like an Olsen, at times she sounds like a Veronica, but by Christ she has a set of lungs on her. She reminds me a little of Morgan Lander from Kittie. I think I’m in love…