I Will Fight Every Last One Of You (A Punk Playlist)

I blame Pax Am Days for this. I got Save Rock And Roll for Christmas off one of my aunts, but in a bizarre stroke of genius, she got me the Pax Am Days re-release version. Normal Fall Out Boy is pop punk, but in Pax, they're so amazingly punk that I have trouble not sitting there quietly screaming whenever I listen to it. It reminded me that, if I'm anything, I'd like to consider myself at least a little bit punk. My tastes may stray to other things, but punk always calls me back eventually. Of course, there may be some of you out there who scoff at what I consider punk - consider that your elitist categorising and pigeon-holing of music is really not punk, and therefore I win. You're just a servant of The Man.
In this spirit, I have created a bit of a punk playlist that I wrote in that cool way people do on tumblr. Some of it's 'proper' punk, some of it's hardcore, some of it's pop punk, some of it might be a little bit metal if it suits. It is, as the title is supposed to suggest, get you up, about and motivated. Please don't necessarily fight anyone. If need be, crumble them to dust with your words, but don't get me for inciting violence. There's fighting The Man and then there's being an arse.

My Chemical Romance - Give 'Em Hell, Kid
Fall Out Boy - We Were Doomed From The Start (The King Is Dead)
Green Day - Letterbomb
All Time Low feat. Vic Fuentes - A Love Like War
Good Charlotte - Lifestyles Of The Rich And Famous
Leathermouth - Murder Was The Case That They Gave Me
The Story So Far - The Glass
Blink-182 - The Rock Show
Black Flag - Rise Above
Ramones - My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down
The Used - Put Me Out

The Story So Far

I don't know if it's that time of year, or we're just having a very inspirational year for musicians, or the planets have aligned or something, but there seem to be a lot of new bands cropping up all over the place. One of these, one that seems to have been getting a fair bit of attention in the internet circles I move in, is The Story So Far. With a fair few EPs and two full-length albums under their belt, the Californian five-piece have been around since 2007 (Ok, so more 'newly popular' than just 'new', or maybe just 'newly popular in my narrow social circles'), but it's only the past year or so that I can recall hearing their name out and about. Considering that there are some people out there who will go for any band with angsty lyrics - which I do like - regardless of if they're delivered in a nice-sounding, memorable way - which is really what makes a good band - I was a little apprehensive about trying these guys out.

The moment I pressed play on their 2010 While You Were Sleeping EP, I knew I needed them on my iPod. It's not just 'nice' music that I could listen to occasionally, it's great music that has a sort of uniqueness to it that you need to be a successful band. They have a similar 'we're playing this in a garage' feel that you get on some early Green Day/Blink 182 records, but they don't sound like copies. They understand how pop punk works, and they're doing it well but in their own way, whether it's in Spark Fires, which makes me want to learn to drum again, or Small Talk - off their newest album What You Don't See - which I will probably try and fail to learn to sing along to.

It's fast, and it's kind of angry, but in a more rebellious than depressing way that keeps it on the pop side of pop punk. In every song there's this youthful energy that makes me so glad I've discovered them in summer. It's not so much that I highly recommend listening to them - it's more that, if you don't, you're a fucking idiot. As confirmation of that, I leave you with the video for their song, Empty Space:

Look, A Band - Liar Liar

Excuse me while I get rid of the Taking Back Sunday song that sets off in my head every time I see this band name - although really, reminding people of Taking Back Sunday isn't that bad a place to start.
This is four guys from Sheffield - Joe Daniels (guitar/vocals), Liam Bates (bass/vocals), and Jake Lawton (guitar), and Jack Dudill (drums) - who compare their music to a blend of Blink 182 and You Me At Six, which sounds promising. They've also written their entire Facebook page bio in a rather entertaining third person narrative; "the irrepressible punks emerged with a true declaration of intent . . . melody-drenched choruses so infectious it'll require an exorcist to release them from your head", for example (Edit - it was written by a PR guy, according to the band).

They've actually got some really awesome songs. I can definitely see the All Time Low and New Found Glory in them, and the start of the video for Heart Attack reminds me somewhat of the start of Underdog by You Me At Six. The only disturbing bit is the autotune sound on Joe's vocals, because it's erm . . . it sounds a bit like Finn from Adventure Time, and I'm not quite sure what the need is for it, because when the roboticness is less evident, the vocals are still great.

the video for Heart Attack

They're very good (look, I'm trying very hard to not say 'awesome' all the time), and I will definitely be listening to them again, especially It Doesn't Take A Hero, which is probably my favourite song off their EP, He Said, She Said, which you can get off iTunes now.

I have a load of bands written down to listen to for this particular feature, and a lot of them, to be honest, are kind of shabby and have maybe one song available to listen to. These guys have an EP out already, they actually sound like a band, although maybe not quite at the level their bio would suggest just yet, and they've even got a series of 'yes we are band now' type photos out in railway lines with their hoodies, which is basically an essential for any pop punk band nowadays. But you should definitely listen to them, because they know what they're doing and it doesn't sound like they're going away.

Facebook / Twitter / bandcamp

Look, A Band: Cobalt and the Hired Guns

not sure what's happening here

As with several things, I was first introduced to Cobalt and the Hired Guns by my friend Hannah, because she throws music at people. I did give them a bit of a listen at the time, but I’m going to do it properly now for the purposes of blogging and helping the music industry, and because they're actually awesome.

Thanks to shouting until I was given information about them, according to the Internet, Cobalt and the Hired Guns are Matt Hart (bass, guitar, vocals), Tom Fort (bass, guitar, vocals), Jesse Alexander (drums, vocals), and Mike Roth (bass, guitar, vocals), formed at Oberlin College, Ohio, although they’re mainly based in Chicago now, and have been around since 2003, although their first album, Jump The Fence, was released in 2008 – they’ve done another one since then - Everybody Wins!. No messing about for these guys, this is serious business – unless you count that apparently one of them uses the song Slow Down at the end of the day in a primary school as a soundtrack to the kids packing up.

Their song MySpace (Like You Like Me) is the one I keep getting told to listen to (by Hannah). It’s good and fun, very jumpy-abouty and happy, which probably makes it all the more unusual that I like it so much. It’s the kind of music you use in the background of a Persil advert, if that makes sense – the sort of ‘happy kids roll in the mud and climb trees’ feel to it. I like You Left Your Sweater better though (that kind of rhymes), it’s got even more of the active party-time-ness in it. But then there's also Oregon, I Know, which isn't anything like what I usually listen to because I don't like guitar solos just for the sake of them, but dayummmmm.

I could go on about all their songs, but I wouldn’t want to spoil the fun. What you should know is that it is exactly that – fun. Fun, happy stuff, one of the few bands that I like listening to that I could show to my younger siblings without really being considered a bad influence. The tags on their bandcamp say “americana pop punk rock fun horn section upbeat Chicago”, which sums it all up really and also counts as a sort of tl;dr for this whole post. If you like horns, if you like pop punk, if you like people from Chicago and you like bands that really know how to make very pretty music and are going to be performing at SXSW this summer (14^th March – Haddington’s, noon; 14^th March – Bourbon Girl/Orange Amps Stage, 3pm; 16^th March – Empire Auto Club & Control Room Patio, 3pm, all in Austin, Texas), then you should definitely listen to Cobalt and the Hired Guns.

Facebook / Twitter (kind of) / Website / Youtube

Songs You Need To Defend Pop Punk

(image from canyouseethesunset.com)

So I did that ‘songs you need to live’ thing the other day, and I was thinking that it was a bit too general. The songs you need differ on what you listen to. Therefore, I thought I’d try again, but with a slightly narrower selection.

This time, I’m doing The Songs You Need To Defend Pop Punk (the phrase 'defend pop punk' is apparently the slogan of the band Man Overboard who I need to listen to because bands). What’s Pop Punk? Self-explanatory – it’s the rebelliousness of punk music mixed with the daftness and shiny lights of pop. It’s a bit angsty, but not as much as other genres. It’s what – forgive me for using a very sweeping generalisation – your classical emo kid listens to when they’re happy (which, given the people that I know that would come under this mysterious ‘emo’ umbrella, actually happens quite a lot,so there). Guitars and drums and thrashing about, but in a happy, sunshine-y way (be prepared to hear those words a lot). It’s how you subversively get people into other kinds of rock music. Hopefully, when you listen to the songs you’ll understand better.

Blink 182 – Feeling This

Yes, it’s Blink 182 again. They are, however, the kings of pop punk. You say ‘pop punk’ three times in the bathroom mirror and turn the light off, when you turn it back on Mark Hoppus will be crouched in your sink. This song’s a good one, because it is a bit angsty and it’s about the typical horny teenager, but it’s all happy and bouncy at the same time. I had a phase last summer where I listened to this one about five times a day for a week straight. Then my mum said she didn’t like Blink 182, so I bought their best hits album as revenge.

All Time Low – Weightless

More people know this one than I think people would think. That sentence got away from me a bit . . . But it’s an awesome song, and I think the sort of signature song for ATL, or at least the one most people would recognise them by. It’s definitely the first song I remember hearing by them.

Fall Out Boy – Thnks Fr Th Mmrs

Come on, this is a brilliant song, and one of my favourites by them. You can’t say you know pop punk if you don’t know every word of this (or at least every phoneme, I don’t blame you if you can’t understand Patrick Stump). Big, loud, the kind of song everyone will dance to because everyone knows it.

The Offspring – Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)

This is just a song you need to know to live in general. If someone says “Give it to me baby” and you’re not in a porno and you don’t reply with “UH HUH, UH HUH” then you should be ashamed of yourself. Go and sit in the corner and think about what you’ve done. I’m ashamed of you. You are not fly, no matter what race you are.

A Day To Remember – All I Want

Ok, maybe this one is slightly less well-known than the others (my favourite’s actually I’m Made Of Wax, Larry, What Are You Made Of?), but you can’t deny ADTR’s presence. They’re a formidable force, and I think the fact that they managed to get so many other bands to show up in this video proves that.

Paramore – Misery Business

Off their 2007 album Riot!, this is probably their most well-known single alongside Ignorance, but I like this one better and it’s my blog so I’ll do what I like. I am somewhat opposed to the video for its slightly sexist edge – oh, the girl’s make up has been wiped off, look how much she was wearing ‘cause she’s the baddy in this and only bad girls wear makeup, godddddd – but other than that it’s a good one, and a catchy song (I don’t like saying the word ‘catchy’, I feel like a bad 80s DJ).

Green Day – American Idiot

I kind of wanted to put Basket Case here, but this is supposed to be about the songs that you absolutely need to know and, although you really should know quite a lot of Green Day’s songs because they’re massive, everybody knows American Idiot. Everybody. I was at a party and this song came on and everybody sang it. My nana was in the room while the video for this was on TV and she said she likes a man with ‘some moves’. I’m not sure she likes men with lots of green paint all over them though.

Bowling For Soup – Girl All The Bad Guys Want

I remember hearing this one years and years ago, before I actually knew what music was, or how one ‘creamed over tough guys’ (can I just say, why do they bleep out ‘goddamn’, but not that?). Not my absolute favourite song, but one I think it’s somewhat important to know.

Good Charlotte – Lifestyles Of The Rich And Famous

Good Charlotte is one of my little sister’s favourite bands for some reason. Were all their songs this one, they’d be one of my favourites too. It’s more punk than pop, but I absolutely love this song, and the crazy hair.

Panic! At The Disco – I Write Sins Not Tragedies

I keep saying this, but everyone knows this one. My friend Ryan knows this one and he normally listens to Adele and stuff. But come on, it’s like the scenekid national anthem – stupidly long song title that has some deep, clever meaning that I haven’t figured out yet, similarly long-winded lyrics that still manage to be awesome.

There you go. Now, go forth and defend pop punk! Learn guitar and make boob jokes! Wear tight jeans and hair gel and take your top off on stage! Change your name to Tom Hoppus-Gaskarth! It’s 2:30am and that’s why I’m shouting!