Cartel

Cartel's earnest take on emo/pop-punk emerged out of Atlanta around 2004, when vocalist Will Pugh, guitarists Joseph Peppers and Nic Hudson, bassist Ryan Roberts, and drummer Kevin Sanders released an initial EP that caught the ear of the California-based Militia Group label. Militia signed Cartel, and the Ransom EP reappeared under Militia in 2004. The label then released Chroma, Cartel's full-length debut, in September 2005. The album cracked into the Billboard Top 200, as bloggers praised the band and the video for "Honestly" found moderate airtime on MTV. The majors noticed all of this activity, and in early 2006, Cartel inked a deal with Epic. Touring continued through the rest of the year, opening for acts like New Found Glory and the Starting Line. That same year, Roberts decided to leave the band. He was replaced by Jeff Lett, who joined on just in time for their 2006 Warped Tour dates.

Track listing

1. Say Anything (Else)
2. Honestly
3. Runaway
4. Matter of Time
5. Burn This City
6. Save Us
7. Luckie St.
8. Settle Down
9. If I Fail
10. The Minstrel's Prayer
11. Q
12. A

"Say Anything Else"

And baby don't follow their lead
'cause you'll never know
Just how the story ends, or how the story goes
And you are so confused
And baby it's just like you
To say anything else
Whenever you get this way
Just getting up for the let down,
Mmm here they come, and yes, they're here to stay
Just getting up for the let down
Oh I'm here to say that you're the star you wanna be
Just open up and look inside and you will see, yeah
Someday you'll sing it out loud
One day this will make you proud
Whoa oh, "I know..."
Whoa oh.
And baby don't follow their lead
'cause you never know
Just how the story ends, or how the story goes
And you are so confused,
And baby it's just like you
To say anything else
It's time for you to understand
Stop getting up for the let down
Oh, who you are is not up to them
Stop getting up for the let down
And I'm here to say that you're the star you wanna be
Just open up and look inside you will see
Someday you'll sing it out loud
One day this will make you proud
Whoa oh, "I know..."
Whoa oh.
Someday you'll sing it out loud
One day this will make you proud
Whoa oh, "I know..."
"I know..." is never good enough
So say what you want
(You know I'm wasting all my time)
You've gotta mean it when you say what you want
(You're only safe when you're alone)
And everybody's on your mind
Saying anything to get you by
And so to get what you want
(You know I'm wasting all my time)
You've gotta mean it when you say what you want
(You're only safe when you're alone)
You're wasting everybody's time
You're saying anything that gets you by
It's not, not, not gonna get you,
Gonna get you by
Someday you'll sing it out loud
One day this will make you proud
Whoa oh, "I know..."
"I know..." is never good enough
Someday you'll sing it out loud
One day this will make you proud
Whoa oh, "I know..."
Whoa oh,
Whoa oh, "I know..."
"I know..." is never good enough

SAMPLE MUSIC