If you've listened to Avril Lavigne's multi-platinum albums, you're already familiar with the musical talent of Evan Taubenfeld. The 25-year-old Baltimore native was Lavigne's musical director and lead guitarist from 2001 to 2004. He co-wrote several tracks on her last two albums, including the gold single "Don't Tell Me" from Under My Skin and "Hot" from her latest release The Best Damn Thing, and toured the world with her in support of her 6x-platinum debut Let Go. Now Taubenfeld is stepping out to show the world what he can do on his own by releasing his debut solo album, Welcome to the Blacklist Club. Produced by John Fields (Jonas Brothers, Switchfoot, Lifehouse), the album is a self-assured set of thoroughly addictive, radio-ready pop-rock anthems that showcase Taubenfeld's melodic gifts, driving rhythmic sensibility, and engaging personality. Together, Taubenfeld and Fields have come up with a meticulously arranged album that brims with youthful energy and unrestrained glee, starting with the knockout opening track "Pumpkin Pie" — a song about being a hopeless romantic that Taubenfeld says "sounds the most like me in a nutshell. If you put on that song and listen for three minutes, it'll give you a sense of what it's like to hang out with me." From there, Taubenfeld sketches out his life story on songs like "Boy Meets Girl" ("a timeless love song that will hit you in the heart whether you're eight or 80," Taubenfeld says), "Story of Me and You" ("about a long-term relationship and how what was once magical is now tarnished"), "Matter of Time," ("about a crazy summer love affair"), and "Evan Way," which addresses the issue of alcoholism in his family. "It's the story of a terrible car accident my father had been in a year to the day before I was born. They thought he was going to die, but he pulled through. The circumstances of it are still unspoken in my family, so writing about it was my way of confronting it. It's the toughest song on the album for me." Overall, Welcome to the Blacklist Club "is about being a hopeless romantic trapped under a cinnamon-coated shell that is L.A.," Taubenfeld says. "I think your outside hardens when you live out here. Most people don't express how much they want to fall in love. For me, half the album is about being able to expose that. The other half, on songs like "It's Like That," "Love/Hate," "Better Than You," and "Cheater Of the Year," is more about having fun. Like, 'Come hang out with me. I'm going to take over the world. You're all going to work for me one day but I'll take very good care of you.' That's just my personality." 

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