Holly Would Surrender: a study in pop punk keywords

Good Days and Clichés is a confusing name for some.  It’s an in-joke based around paying tribute to and making fun of pop punk bands. I love pop punk, but have loved it for so long that I see the same lyrical themes/style of names/fashion sense come and go and come again.

Through the Skatepunkers forum I think I’ve found the most cliché-drenched pop punk song ever! Holly Would Surrender are more than a clever name. I’ve listened to this song on repeat all day because it is 3 minutes, 10 seconds of joyous pop punk. And besides the glaring emission of ‘pizza’ the boys have hit every keyword about Summer pop punk available. That’s it folks, they’ve used up all the keywords!

So, want to start a pop punk band? Here is a handy guide to the lyrical keywords you should include!

One Mile Left go full blink-182 worship

Don't get me wrong, I love blink-182 as much as the next guy whose teen years started in 98/99. I even really wanted Tom hair back in the day, but genetics were against me. Moreover, finding a band your own band all dig is a cool moment and a great team-building opportunity.


This, however may be taking it too far. While the bassist slowly betrays his Mark influences as it gets further into the video - shot, I'm assuming in the warehouse that one of them work in - the guitarist is full Tom worship from the start.

While Mark and Tom are both talented songwriters, Travis is the only 'real musician' in the band, and it's interesting that the drummer of One Mile Left seems to be influenced by the technique but thankfully not the style of Mr. Barker.

For the record, this is a cool version. But it's 2001 style, not 1999 style.

The new A Day To Remember video is fun

For the last year or so I've started to feel my age whenever I checked out newer pop punk bands, and not for the reasons you might think. Y'see kids, in my day, pop punk bands were fun. They dyed their hair stupid colours and their videos were a vehicle to show how funny and rebellious they were compared to the rest of their suburban friends!

So needless to say, I'm happy that A Day To Remember are keeping the faith, with their video for Right Back At It Again.



Sure, the lyrics rhyme 'school' and 'cool', and the video is essentially a three minute version of a gag from the My Friends Over You video by New Found Glory, but we gotta take our victories (sorry) where we can find them.

Hookie sound alot like early blink 182

Lots of bands try to sound like blink-182. Some unintentionally sound more like blink than they mean to. And somewhere in between is Hookie!

Holy Tom Delonge, Batman! The guys from Hamden, Connecticut say they are influenced by MxPx, Home Grown, Inspection 12 and NOFX, but it is impossible not to hear strains of blink in this. In fact, if someone told me this was a b-side from Cheshire Cat, I'd believe them!

While the band, who are still in their teens, are trying to distance themselves from blink, I wouldn't be so hasty. blink have gone from pariahs to godfathers of the melodic punk world, whether that one GG Allin fan on your street likes it or not!

And also, they don't actually suck, at least  not as much as they'd like you to believe they do. Sure, the recording is crude at best and it sounds like they're using instruments from WalMart, but it's a catchy song underneath all of that and lots of people do like this stuff. What set blink-182 apart was the desire to grow as songwriters. Sure, they maintained the 'loveable loser with ADHD' persona, but their output got steadily better over the years.* If Hookie can expand their MP3 collection, stick to demos for a while, and invest some time and money into their band, who knows where they could end up.

*Until the self-titled album, that was a small dip..
*Also, finding Travis Barker was like winning a musical lottery. Like seriously, that man is ridiculous at taking some shitty riffs and making it a song. A song that can be played on the radio!

New Tunes: Cliffhanger

Cliffhanger are a pretty slick pop punk band from Chicago, who have no qualms about bringing the pop, but are also old enough to remember when punk was on film and game soundtracks in the nineties. They blend new, shiny pop punk, with 'Epifat' melodic punk and for the most part this works really well.

The excessively titled They Used to Call Me "Anal Girl" is the best offering on their three track EP, 'Ignite'.





Songs that have a catchy pre-chorus and chorus = $$$. Plus I've had the 'You used to say' part stuck in my head all week. Thanks, guys.

Their preferred choice of song, City Skyline, was a slight let down to me as it started with Alkaline Trio type vibes, however I get the feeling the singer gets uncomfortable at the thought of his friends smoking, and he only drinks on special occasions and always in moderation. What I'm getting at is that they sound very polished, in that 'might actually get some airplay and female fans' way. So while skate punks in their late 20s like myself might want something with a bit more bite, the people who matter when it comes to merch/music sales, ie. young teen girls, will probably lose their tiny minds over this.

Plus, the fuckers sneak in a breakdown towards the end so the dudes at their shows feel more macho.

'Just Ignite' is a none-too-subtle subtle reference to a band on the brink of going places in terms of music and success, and I hope they follow through on their potential.

As they have their shit together, you can check them out on Soundcloud or any other form of social media there is out there. Get to it, so you can say you knew them before they got big!

New Music Crush: Midtown

Growing up in the middle of nowhere in Ireland, you tend to miss out on bands that a lot of people know, while often loving bands that never really got that big. My punk rock family tree had it’s roots in Epitaph/Fat Records, P-Rock TV and Tony Hawk’s skate games. To me, Alkaline Trio were the cool but slightly emotionally fucked up cousin of the family. I didn't discover other bands like Bayside until much later, or my new music crush Midtown until this year. More than a decade after the band split up...

Not sure what they're going for here

Simply because Drive Thru Records didn't have the same gravitas where I was from as some other punk labels, I missed out on great songs like Just Rock and Roll


Look how zany this videos is, totally unfair that it was kept from me, I would have loved it as a teenager! They're playing a bar mitzvah...but the people there don't understand rock music! It's just noise to them! What a hilarious concept! Who could possibly have made such a booking mixup?

Seriously though, I love this mix of pop punk and punk rock. Despite trying to look more bad-ass with the all black stage outfit, the nerdy, stupid fun side ultimately wins out through all the 'comedy' elements of the video, the drummer's DGAF attitude while wearing his glasses and the mandatory girl with big boobs.Also, dat 'jump' riff at 1.20 is delicious.

On the same album is depressingly-titled We Bring Us Down



This is a more PUNX song! Well, it's short and kinda fast, at least. Not sure if the lyrics are about an ex-girlfriend or some guy having sex but either way, it's a good song.

Like more pop in your pop punk? Try Like A Movie


This is a song they released after the last two, when I guess they signed to a bigger label. They act and dress kinda like douchebags in the the video but I guess they were hoping that would make them more popular or something. Still a pretty good pop punk song now that summer has hit.

The band broke up after this and one of the guys joined Senses Fail, while another made a synth pop band called Cobra Starship. This is obviously a very divisive issue amongst fans of these various projects, which is pretty funny because it's all music made by awkward dudes with the aim of trying to get girls to like them, whatever way you slice it. Makes no difference to me, I just get more albums to check out!

Pennywise, Lagwagon and Stick To Your Guns. Commodore Ballroom, Feb 21st

***Usual disclaimer: If you are looking for an in depth review that includes a set list then this is probably not the place for you, soz bro.***

So, I thought Pennywise were pretty good with Jim and really good with Zoli but now Jim is back even though it seems a bit awkward and forced but hey who am I to judge? If you've been a punk band 25 years and are making a living out of it then you can do whatever the hell you want in my book.

I showed up early and had the misfortune to be second in line behind a wigger in his 40s who was off his face. The gentleman in question had a pretty haggard wife sitting at the bus stop and he seemed genuinely amazed that I had heard of Bouncing Souls. I took a quick walk to rid myself of his attention and was rewarded with the sight of Joey Cape from Lagwagon walking towards me. We gave each other 'the nod' and said hey, just as a scalper asked the bemused singer if he was buying or selling any tickets for the show tonight. And so an incredulous Joey went back into the venue and I lost my chance to talk to the guy. Oh well.

Stick To Your Guns

Sticking out like sore thumbs, these passionate, vaguely emo hardcore menchildren (and a man from Evergreen Terrace) were probably always going to struggle to make an impact on this tour. I quite enjoy them in small doses so I joined the other 11 people who decided to watch them and they weren't half bad until the singer started his motivational speeches. The BELIEVE IN YOURSELF type of POSITIVE THROUGH STRUGGLE hardcore stuff is pretty lol already, but when they guys saying it are younger than 99% of the audience the lols go into overdrive.

'Yo, if you're in a bad place I understand man. I know most of you have kids and mortgages and I spend most of the year in the back of a van with a bunch of dudes, but I understand. My cousin is in prison so I've been through some shit.' - Jesse Barnett, Stick To Your Guns

Lagwagon

DAT SIZE DIFFERENCE

Undoubtedly on my list of 'bands I'd love to see but will probably never get to see' I was probably most excited about this set. On many levels they didn't disappoint! Cramming tonnes of old songs and new favourites into their relatively short set, Lagwagon strike a balance between fun, punk and good musicianship, a combination that is a rare thing in the punk world. The sounds was pretty awful, which sucked doubly as the sexy guitar work is half the appeal of the band for me. The sound is pretty much out of their hands though and they still joked and rawked their way through a set that included Mr Coffee, Lazy and May 16 amongst others so I was happy enough overall.

Pennywise

As well as the backdrop and general stage layout, the sound also magically transforms when headliners Pennywise go on. I picked my usual gig spot just behind where the bros were OPENING UP THE PIT and tried to avoid the plumes of weed smoke that are a staple of most gigs in Vancouver. It's pretty lol when men in their 40s introduce a song as being against fathers, but Same Old Story is one of my all time favourite P-wise songs so I headed into the flailing maelstrom that is the punk rock pit. Taking a breather at the front of the sweaty black hole, I got barged in the back in one of the continental drift movements that happens at theses gigs and somehow found myself at the front, with a hand on the barrier. With teenage years of experience at positioning myself as close as possible to bands, it was then no problem for me to ease myself into a spot along the front row, directly in front of Randy.

The Pennywises steadfastly ignored the new album and its solid to excellent material and stuck rigidly to the old stuff, which I guess is the point of a 25 year anniversary tour. I would have thought they could have been the bigger men and just played one or two songs, but I guess when you're still encouraging people to put their middle fingers in the air when playing a song called Fuck Authority 12 years later you're a bit set in your ways. The band are a well oiled machine and it looks like Fletcher at least is still enjoying it.

I obviously like a lot of Pennywise songs that aren't popular enough to be included in the set list (Open Door anyone?) but I had a good time shouting along about the System and Perfect People and all that noise. I got a mandatory neck crushing hug during Bro Hymn, delivered by an overly enthusiastic Mexican gentleman beside me.  While it was amazing to see the performance from a few feet away, it felt more professional than punk. Understandable of course and it did mean the songs were played to near perfection. I just wish I had seen them a decade ago. Best parts of the night were when a fan, confined to a wheelchair, rolled onto stage at various points to drink beer and sing along.

Still, another of the 'bands to see before I die (or they die)' off the list, next up; Bad Religion!

Do ppl want a pop punk drinking game?

While being nerdy and checking the analytics of this blog I was bemused to discover the most common phrase entered into google search to lead ppl here. It was not my compelling, ongoing journey to discover the most lolworthy bad films in Dodgy Film Club, nor was it my revolutionary Twitter-sized Reviews, oh no. The most searched term (that leads ppl here from the google machine) is ‘pop punk drinking game’.

Now, I have a few posts about pop punk, and I also put together a drinking game for The Room...But combining both? Do ppl want a pop punk drinking game? Either way..here is pop punk drinking game v1.0