"It takes a band like Lock And Key to remind me why I loved this type of music so much in the first place. On Pull Up The Floorboards, Ryan Shanahan's hoarse voice, when singing, is gruff and when screaming, impassioned. The instrumentation is loud and intense, taking a page from the band's heroes like Hot Water Music and Fugazi, incorporating emo and post-hardcore into a vicious blend of pounding rhythms, driving yet melodic guitars and vicious intensity. It's the way emo used to sound: pure urgency and powerful guitars and rhythm. Pull Up The Floorboards is a great record, well produced and well played. It reminds me of a style that never really died out." - Delusions Of Adequacy

"If more bands aspired to master emo as it was known courtesy of Jawbreaker and Samiam, we'd have more bands like Boston's Lock And Key to listen to instead of an embarrassing myriad emo-lite groups. Their debut full-length, Pull Up The Floorboards, comes on the heals of their much heralded No Fate EP and several stateside tours. Showcasing the formidable presence of Ryan Shanahan in the midst of a bevy of angst-laden songs that bleed sincerity and desperation, Pull Up The Floorboards is one of the best emo releases in recent history." - Weekly Alibi

"Lock And Key breathes new life into the post-hardcore sound championed by Hot Water Music, Fuel and Fugazi. The rough vocals give them a raw edge, but the music is textured and atmospheric without seeming complicated or indulgent. Pull Up The Floorboards is best thing Deep Elm has put out this year." - Punk Planet

"Best Boston Band 2004!" - Boston Phoenix

"Hailing from Boston, post-hardcore purveyors Lock And Key have been making some serious headway in their hometown (and outside of the area, too). Boasting a fast and frenzied rhythmic assault, dynamic guitar work and an intensely raw vocal presence on Pull Up The Floorboards, the group's releases for Deep Elm Records have earned them plenty of critical kudos and favorable comparisons to Fugazi and Hot Water Music." - Artvoice

"This Boston-based post-hardcore quartet delivers masculine vocals that are gruff, but not indecipherably screamy, layered in guitar parts that weave between thick-and-low and melodic-and-flowery, recalling intelli-punk like Boy Sets Fire." - Charlotte Observer

"There are many indie rock bands deserving of attention and praise, and Lock And Key is one of them. They carry on the tradition of Fugazi and do it well. Songs are bold, sincere and refreshingly lacking in irony. Pull Up The Floorboards is colorful and indicative of the band's eagerness to express its burnt-wire psyche." - Savannah Morning News

"Lock And Key is throwing tenderness to the sharks and embracing abrasion, which it brings in droves on the gruff punk of Pull Up The Floorboards." - Columbia Free Times

"Lock And Key can dish the intensity, but this rampaging act also has a heady dash of hope in its music. Their intense new album, Pull Up the Floorboards, bristles with a punk drive, yet the hope is never far away. Ryan Shanahan has a barking voice that could peel paint, but the group also has a promising melodic sense amid the locomotive rhythms. Lock And Key is one of the hot Boston bands to watch in 2005!" - Boston Globe

"Lock And Key rock very hard on Pull Up The Floorboards; so hard in fact that I couldn't care less about a slight resemblance to one of the coolest hardcore bands currently rocking the free world with their gruff vocals and abrasive guitars. Lock And Key are younger and more urgent than their heroes. Ryan Shanahan's ferocious growl refuses to let up and has the immense power of a gale-force wind battering down houses that dare to stand in its destructive path. Convulsive guitars careen around like a monstrous cat having an equally monstrous seizure. The rhythm section feels like a powerful punch in the gut. The energy that Pull Up The Floorboards gives off is almost tangible. This really is how post-hardcore should sound." - New Noise

"Pull Up the Floorboards is a step forward for a band already entrenched among the best of the best. Conceptually delicate and tender and true to keeping their heart on their sleeve, Lock And Key have pushed the envelope as far as it will stretch. Aggressive yet poignant in delivery, Pull Up The Floorboards is the album Fugazi or Hot Water Music never wrote." - Smother

"Scratch away at the rough surface of Pull Up The Floorboards from Lock And Key and you'll find plenty of great songs underneath. Tracks like 303, Volatile and Albatross have plenty of dual-guitar riffs that make the record sound really good. At a shade over 35 minutes in length, Pull Up The Floorboards never outstays its welcome and proves to be a really solid record. Ryan Shanahan's vocals are spot-on and add an extra layer of emotion to proceedings. It's a record where you can believe in what the band is saying...there's no falseness here. It's typical of the standard you come to expect from Deep Elm, a label that very rarely needs to bury any of their records under the floorboards." - Punktastic

"Lock And Key are one of those bands that you wonder why you haven't heard of sooner. They have the power of the best Leatherface-inspired punk bands out there, the raw emotive capability of Hot Water Music at their finest and the mature song craft of seasoned, accomplished musicians. With those characteristics it would be hard to make an album that wasn't frickin' awesome, and thankfully for us Pull Up The Floorboards is, indeed, frickin' awesome. Tracks like Ammonia, which swings violently between rhythmic post-hardcore, sparse emo and full-on melodic punk, are a joy, keeping you on your toes in the same way that a totally over-the-top metalcore record does, but without all of the goofy histrionics and bad influences. My favorite songs are ones like Albatross, which is more of a straight-ahead punk song with the thick, multi-layered guitar sound of Leatherface. If you typically jock Florida punk rock, you should definitely set your sights on New England long enough to pick this one up. - Deep Fry Bonanza

"In the finest tradition of post-hardcore music, Lock And Key are a blasting, full energy rock band and on Pull Up The Floorboards, they're tighter than a Republican's chastity belt. Ryan Shanahan phrases a lot of his lyrics with deliberate force, with a mixture of growl and snotty intonation. Think Darby Crash meets Bob Mould. On a superb track like the nuanced Process Of Molting, the vocals complement the anger and frailty in the music. Lock And Key's main strengths are in their twin guitars and a steady rhythm section that fills in the spaces without overplaying. As heard on Volatile, they can chug as hard as Swiz then soar melodic like Slint in the next measure. Pull Up The Floorboards is full of strong passages of intense, muscular rock where all the instruments are pounding like pistons in a racing-tuned machine." - Culture Bunker

"After an impressive EP, Lock And Key return with their debut full length Pull Up The Floorboards. Alchemy sets the scene in sublime fashion, meshing the music of Fugazi and Yaphet Kotto with Ryan Shanahan's distinctive, almost Three Penny Opera-ish vocals. Likewise on 303, the chorus is just sensational after a nice build-up and break. Considering how overworked this genre is, Lock And Key are obviously a very talented bunch as they continue their crusade making post-hardcore listenable once more. Quality stuff." - Pee Magazine

If you want a group who brings out genuine emotion in its listeners, Lock And Key is a prime example. Their first full-length, Pull Up The Floorboards, delivers on the promise of their debut EP with a bulldozing guitar attack and a noticeable dose of cranky tunefulness. Ryan Shanahan matches that output with vocals that sound like they're coming from a former king of the prison yard discovering his inner poet. With a formidable rhythm section backing the guitars, Lock And Key march through the concrete and steel of Volatile and the heart-racing immediacy wrapped in warm chimes on Albatross. You won't find many workhorses as brutally forthright and bleedingly open as Lock And Key. And as long as these four never get their spirits broken, their innate passion will march on." - Journal Review

"On Pull Up The Floorboards from Lock And Key, burlap voices sing, scowl and celebrate; guitars - both shiny and rusty - serrate and soar; and the bassist knows when to hold back and when to explode." - Alternative Press

"Lock And Key is a lot like a chainsaw. Full of fury, you can tell they - like the rusty tool of choice for lumberjacks - have seen their fair share of things. The band is currently making its way across this great land, stopping occasionally to fire out blazing post-hardcore shows in any city that will have them. Deep-tissue emotion voiced with a shot-out throat meets furious music not afraid of hooks to create a crowd-pleaser of a set." - Times Of Acadiana

"Lock And Key are insightful, ala U2, down to earth yet able to incite, as in Fugazi, and pretty darn rocking when it comes to their visceral, six-string hardcore attack. They have a freshly released disc on the streets, Pull Up The Floorboards, with the aforementioned six-stringers tuned up and the van fueled for the enlightenment of youngsters." - Creative Loafing

"Pull Up The Floorboards from Lock And Key delivers on the promise of No Fate by stripping down music to post-hardcore basics. Although the term 'emo' has been so casually applied that it's basically useless anymore, Pull Up The Floorboards reminds listeners of what the term meant in its earliest incarnation. Lock And Key is influenced by echoes of Fugazi, Hot Water Music and to a lesser extent Sunny Day Real Estate, but the key factor is that the quartet do this sort of thing really really well. Ryan Shanahan has the gruff, barking vocals, and he and second guitarist Mike Vera rarely succumb to the sort of lockstep unison riffage that weighs down so many albums of this type. Songs like The Process Of Molting are passionate without the irritating affectations that dogs so many less mature bands." - All Music Guide

"On Pull Up The Floorboards you can literally hear the hopelessness engulfing Lock And Key's music, channeling their relentless wire of riffage and razor-cut vocals into a void that's creaking at emotional breaking point. Much has been made in recent months over the dilution of true hardcore values through the waves of Wal-Mart-friendly teen proto punks, but Lock And Key make an utter mockery of these plentiful and pitiful pretenders, and by rights Pull Up The Floorboards should see them catapulted to the very top of the hardcore pile." - Noyz

"Lock And Key are back with their debut full-length Pull Up The Floorboards in which they construct a raw, abrasive, urgent and always on the brink of panic dual vocal attack. Far from shy, the band kicks straight into things with the abrasive Alchemy, going from panic mode, dropping everything and finally converging into a huge wall of sound. Next up is Process Of Molting and 303, two songs comprised of the same grainy vocals we've grown to love, as well as the the constant jarring guitars and drum work. Unlike most albums, Pull Up The Floorboards only took me one listen to completely fall in love with it. The pure ingeniousness and creativity within will leave you awestruck and at the same time wanting more. Highly suggested for fans of Hot Water Music and Fugazi." - Adapt

"Lock and Key is dynamic and powerful. Their songs contain a lot of energy and you won't be able to stand still when Pull Up The Floorboards is in your CD player. This is post hardcore at it's finest...listen and learn. Highly recommended." - Punk 76

"Lock And Key's debut full-length, Pull Up The Floorboards, has made me a true believer in their sound. For those unfamiliar, they could be tagged post-hardcore, but I'd describe them as a rock band with several raw elements, including the gruff vocals of Ryan Shanahan. He's joined on guitar by Mike Vera, who brings a great dueling effect to the record. Also key to is the rhythm section composed of bassist Josh Hoey and drummer Keith Casella. Throughout the ten tracks on Pull Up The Floorboards, Lock And Key develop an enjoyable, yet raw and passionate sound. This is a solid full-length that brings raw energy with every listen." - Acclaimed Punk

"The order of the day here is raw, unadulterated passion. Pull Up The Floorboards is stripped-to-the-bone, balls-to-the-wall melodic hardcore at it's guttural, choking best. Immediately the most striking aspect of Lock And Key is that lead vocalist Ryan Shanahan is a tobacco advertising man's wet dream, coming across like he goes through at least a couple of packs a day and sounding extremely fucking cool at the end of it. Coming in a close second, though, is their obvious ability to churn out infectious melody after infectious melody. Yeah, this is gritty, rough and ready punk rock, but it's eminently hummable, too, a remarkable testament to Lock And Key's capacity for combining pace and power with subtle invention." - Alternative Nation

"On Pull Up The Floorboards you can hear everything critics ever called post hardcore. The difference is that it's real post hardcore: not pop with hardcore riffs or screamo / nu-emo music. Lock And Key put all heart in their songs and it shows. You can feel the energy on Process Of Molting and Cover The Tracks. The drumming and the guitar riffs are furious...like listening to a machine gun with bullets of sounds. Pull Up The Floorboards is a never ending surprise. If you're looking for original post hardcore like it's meant to be played, listen to this." - Truepunk

"If you've been big on Lock And Key and loved their EP, then you will just wet yourself over Pull Up The Floorboards. Ten tracks and not a single let down or clunker in the bunch. Power backed by emotion. Hooks filling grinding verses and catchy, melodious choruses. Alchemy got me right from the beginning while 303 just keeps me singing, tapping my foot and rocking out. Volatile has hardcore riffs and explodes into moments of fury. Lock And Key want to make a living off the music they produce, and I think they're on the right path. Their live shows must be a roaring spectacle of kids fighting for the mic and oceans of bodies jumping like heartbeats. Keep it up fellas." - Feast Of Hate And Fear

"If I ever make a high budget action film, Lock And Key will fill out the soundtrack nicely. At every explosion, revenge arson sequence and every rebellious cigarette-clad reflective nighttime drive, there will be a track from Pull Up The Floorboards accompanying it. This is furious, technical and yet it never loses the emotion and passion in the veracity. Melodies excrete from every pore. Lock And Key brings to mind the intensity and vocal approach of Hot Water Music with the urgency of Cadillac Blindside, but through the whole disc they culminate a sound all their own. There are songs about memories, growth, heart, change and love...which you don't have to be embarrassed to scream along to. This is real. Pull Up The Floorboards is versed, chugging furiously through two guitars. The drumming is tighter than Dick Cheney's button-ups, and Ryan Shanahan's fist-pumping vocals are throaty but accessible enough to be singing along to on only the second spin of the disc. This is a definite new favorite." - Crooked Camera

"Lock And Key found a hospitable home on Deep Elm for their prior EP and now follow up with their debut full-length, the scrappy, post-hardcore cracklin' Pull Up The Floorboards, which finds the band plowing their way through thirty eight minutes of momentum and sweat pouring emotion. The rhythm section is exceedingly tight and ambitious, throaty sing-alongs lurk around subtle corners and I love the feeling of sincerity that comes from the vocals. I think that Volatile shows what Lock And Key are most capable of, especially with its tumultuous timing changes and thunderous guitar work. I dig how both guitarists double up the thickness of their sound at certain points, and then immediately transition to each doing its own thing yet remaining perfectly layered against the other. Lock And Key definitely have something special with Pull Up The Floorboards. Working with a sound that screams nothing but honesty, the band has made a studio recording sound like it was recorded in a humid basement, packed with 100 kids following along to every word. For fans of Against Me, Hot Water Music, Planes Mistaken For Stars and even Alkaline Trio, this release begs your attention." - Pastepunk

"Lock And Key brings forth a new level of intensity, and Pull Up The Floorboards is an excellent introduction. The band is hard hitting, but is quick to change and slow down. The singing is more rough than melodic, yet mixes well with the music. Lock And Key isn't without spot-on instrumental sections either. They aren't afraid to try something slightly different, and these sections aren't often heard in a genre where bands are more than willing to scream their lungs out a bit too frequently. Lock And Key have released a very good album in Pull Up The Floorboards and the band is on the brink of being something special." - Mammoth Press

"Using a mix of catchy hooks, thick melodies and a sneaky aggression, Boston's Lock And Key rip out ten tracks of bad ass rock and roll on Pull Up The Floorboards. The music is intricate, layering guitars over changing drum rhythms and vocals and that can be both heartfelt and ferocious. I love Ryan Shanahan's throaty, gruff vocals and the roughness plays perfectly over the crisp, super tight music." - Impact Press

"Lock And Key are up for 'hot' nominations all over town, but we won't pat ourselves on the back too hard. Just enough to remind you that you heard it here first. This month they're releasing their first full-length disc on Deep Elm, Pull Up The Floorboards. We got an early earful, and it's amazing. Jealous? The new tracks feature a raw, propulsive, post-hardcore sound, complemented by gravelly vocals laden with honest and sentimental smarts." - Stuff@Night

"Deep Elm has managed to stay closer to the 'classic emo sound than any other label and Lock And Key is the latest find in that vein. On Pull Up The Floorboards, these boys combine strident riffs with hoarsely-sung anthemic choruses and plenty of aggression. Poppy? Not exactly. Most satisfying? Yeah." - Aiding & Abetting

Alchemy Those defining moments, the ones you'll never forget. Like a bitter cold day, you can't think yourself warm. I wish I never knew my worst fears were all true. Phrased so innocently. Right then, right then. Right then, you proved you never cared. Took some time to admit to me. Right then, right then. Right then you proved you never cared. We tried so long to mend it, you can't change a person. Like alchemists, we tried the impossible. I wish I never knew my worst fears were all true. Phrased so innocently. Right then, right then. Right then, you proved you never cared. Took some time to admit to me. Right then, right then. Right then you proved you never cared Process Of Molting I don't know who you are I only know who you were. We have changed. What we had, will always be there. At least in memory. We have a choice, we can let it run us into ground. Or pick up and start again. I choose to stand stronger and learn from my mistakes. Live for the moments when I can release. For me its therapy. If you ever need it you'll have a friend in me. A friend in me 303 If we go with what we think feels right, if gut instinct proves true. If we run with this, if we take the chance. If we try for something new. If anybody's got my heart it's you. Right there hiding in the shadows, you had your hood drawn tight. Too shy, or too scared to come out, you kept yourself inside. The next time you let a little bit out, enough to catch my eye. Best friend who left to find himself, ended up in your hometown. The winter's snow into the spring's new growth. The spring's new growth into a summer on the phone Ammonia Let's take this chance. Let's forget about all we've learned. We'll learn to live like we used to when we were young. Extinction, extinction of the mind. Free will, the thing that used to bind us. Bind us together with open minds. No preconceptions, just desire to live and learn on our own. We'll try. Let's fill the tank. Let's run this block into the ground. We'll live harder lives, at least we'll never forget them. Just because we've tried once over. Doesn't mean we can't start over Volatile This is an excerpt from my journal. Words run in circles as blood boils. Dancing around my defensive decoy. It's an example of how I can never let things go. That's not the way it was supposed to be. I tried to see their thought. My eyes can open shut. It's obvious now how the pattern repeats. I need to fight my impulse. Keep sight of what might help us. If it takes a man to admit he's wrong. Then I am ready to take that step. To take a risk and not look back Albatross Tired song of love and loss. You're back but with an albatross. Growing closer makes more to lose. Time apart is a coward's refuge. Don't always like my point of view. Had a tough time seeing it through. But with you "that much further west." We're better off I guess. It's time to prepare myself for the end. Cause you won't come back. And you won't look back this year. It's time to make our last amends. Cause we won't have time. And we won't forget what we said Cover the Tracks When you aren't alone. You can't admit there's more. To this relationship. Thoughts untold the truth unfolds. Words that you'd never think you'd hear. Cover the tracks none of it is fact. Whispered words (that) were never really said. We swore we'd learned ourselves a lesson. We swore we'd never go through this again. Sometimes you can't deny the feeling. Sometimes you can't stand being called a friend. But when you aren't alone you can't. Admit there's more to this. Than just another relationship Beneath the Surface Searching for some peace of mind. Filling the gaps with things I find. But you aren't ever going to see my inner side. Find the truth to be deafening. Like the glass he smashed not feeling. But the blood won't bring her back to your side. Now I've messed it up again. Look for answers within my friends. But they aren't ever going to see my inner side. It's time to realize the answer is here. Beneath all the shit I've come to fear. But the answer won't surface this year. Just in your mind Winston Churchill Don't just stand there faking. Don't just stand there making like you're one of us. You can't just fit the part. You have to set yourself apart. The story of the rejected, the outcasts of everything thought right. Saw through their bullshit, questioned the ways taught fit. We wear these badges of heart forever inked in. Don't just stand there faking. Don't just stand there making like you're one of us. You can't just fit the part. You have to set yourself apart. Predict your actions, you fit the mold so well. Who could have thought that you'd choose that shell. Never thought you'd change like the rest out of your own will. Never thought you'd change like the rest now you always will Opening Ambition crumbles like the wintered Boston streets. Another day of rain, an empty promise repeats. Salt stained leather bound the soles of your feet. Amongst good company, a drink to empathy. Morning breaks and it's a brand new day. Growing outward like a plant in the shade. Hung over from the night, and my back isn't right today. But the sun brings back a feeling like the end of a long work day. Soil breaks, new life penetrates, and we move forward