The Best Thing Ever

Infobox musical artist
Name = The Best Thing Ever


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Origin = Boston & Westchester, U.S.
Genre = Punk
Years_active = 2003 – 2008
Label = HIG Records
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Current_members = Noah Britton
Alex Billig
Jen Page

Past_members = Emily Brodsky
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The Best Thing Ever is a punk band formed by baritone singer/songwriter Noah Britton in the summer of 2003. The label "punk" is adequate to describe the band's influences and ethics, but the sound that they exhibited changed drastically from show to show.

Biography

The Best Thing Ever's original lineup consisted of Noah Britton, Alex Billig, and Jennifer Page, and an eighteen year-old soon-to-be singer/songwriter that he met over the internet (Emily Brodsky). Although the band officially consisted of four people, they played in various incarnations. Britton was the only constant member.

When they started out, they displayed a very clear stylistic duality. When performing with Emily, the other members harmonized to her cutesy Stephen Merritt-inspired pop songs. Without her, The Best Thing Ever took on a Half Japanese-like art-project character. The highlights of their early Emily-less performances include improvising musicals in subway stations, broadcasting two-hour band practices over a college radio station (WTBU), and playing a noise-based rendition of an Olsen Twins song at a social justice concert.

Emily landed the band big gigs opening for such acts as The Dresden Dolls, The World/Inferno Friendship Society, and The Gossip, but when she was offered a spot opening for the Magnetic Fields at New York University (NYU), she decided to leave The Best Thing Ever to make it on her own. Soon after she appeared on a K Records distributed [http://www.krecs.com/Shop/product_info.php?products_id=1516 7"] with Mirah and The Vibration.

All four original members of The Best Thing Ever played together for the last time on November 13th, 2004 at the home of Franz Nicolay. They recorded "Would You?" and "What I Want." These recordings were never released. One month after this recording session, The Best Thing Ever went on hiatus.

In March, 2006, under the name Where Were You, the members of The Best Thing Ever played a set of republican hardcore songs at an [http://www.thestudentunderground.org/article.php?id=180&issue=56 anti-war benefit] . They concluded their set by doing a sincere cover of Alan Jackson's "Where Were You" followed by a feedback-driven recitation of "The Royal Anthem of the Kilted Yaksmen". The same month, The Best Thing Ever's song "Stop Waiting for Death" was featured on [http://www.saidthegramophone.com Said the Gramophone] .

On May 1st, 2006, Noah, Alex, and Jen officially revived The Best Thing Ever moniker before embarking on The Bathroom Tour. For twelve straight days, The Best Thing Ever invaded bathrooms across New England to perform their music for unsuspecting audiences. Though the band was often met with resistance, the tour was meant to be enjoyable for the audience, and was considered a great success.

Immediately following the completion of The Bathroom Tour, the band began another indefinite hiatus.

"The Bathroom Tour DVD", which documents the events of the tour, was released by Noah's label, [http://neonvomit.net/higrecords/ HIG Records] , in April 2007.

In the summer of 2007, the band reunited for [http://www.thebestthingever.org/thesurprisetour.html The Surprise Tour] , playing exclusively unbooked shows all over the country. A film documenting the tour is scheduled for a 2008 release.

During the last week of June 2008, the band went on what was allegedly their last tour (ever), [http://www.thebestthingever.org/theretirementtour.html The Retirement Tour] , a tour of retirement-related venues.

Discography

EPs

DVDs

Trivia

* Jen Page appeared on American Idol Season 4: Cleveland. She dressed as a mime and mouthed the words to Aerosmith's "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing."
* Noah Britton has Aspergers Syndrome.
* Alex Billig was [http://www.nytimes.com/specials/teens/stein.html interviewed for the New York Times] when he was 14.

References

* [http://www.tinymixtapes.com/spip.php?article2733 Interview from Tiny Mix Tapes.com]
* [http://www.thephoenix.com/onthedownload/PermaLink.aspx?guid=5b133f98-6fd3-4a3d-a972-3b3ab497ede1 "On the Download: The Best Thing Ever" from The Boston Phoenix]
* [http://www.thestudentunderground.org/article.php?id=180&issue=56 Review from Operation Over Benefit]
* [http://www.americanidolwatch.com/americanidol/Article00399.aspx Jen Page on AmericanIdolWatch.com]
* [http://www.thephoenix.com/PrinterFriendly.aspx?id=27148 "Why I Write" inspired by TBTE]
* [http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/archives/2007/06/flyer_of_the_we_1.php Flyer of the Week: Best Thing Ever's Bathroom DVD Premiere from Village Voice's Sound of the City]
* [http://brooklynradio.net/live-from-the-bathroom Live From The Bathroom from BrooklynRadio.net]
* [http://www.hearnewbrunswick.com/loudblog/index.php?id=220 Justin Freid Radio - July 19: The Best Thing Ever]
* [http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/archives/new_yorkers/noah_britton/ MLK Day Special: "Got MLK?" MP3]

External links

* [http://www.thebestthingever.org Official Band Website]
* [http://neonvomit.net/higrecords/bte.html HIG Records]
* [http://myspace.com/emilynbrodsky Emilyn Brodsky's Official Website]
* [http://godlivesonline.com/host/neverheardofzeppelin/ Never Heard of Zeppelin Official Website]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqYkcLXTrt4 Day 1 of The Bathroom Tour on YouTube]