Oh Hey That Band You Like Put Out A Song This Week
As usual, there was an absolute deluge of new songs this week as bands stake their claims to various dates across the calendar for upcoming tours and album announcements. I've put the best of them in one place for you because I am a kind and considerate member of society.
Sum 41 - Waiting On A Twist Of Fate
Man, I remember when Sum 41 first popped up in my life during college on the now defunct Much Music USA (it was like Canadian MTV but they actually played videos during the 2000s). They had the usual amount of "wait, are they really punk rock™?" that was popular at the time (right up alongside "wait, are they actually a Christian rock band, or just vaguely spiritual?"), which sometimes overshadowed the fact that they wrote really catchy rock songs more often than not anchored by the underrated performances of former drummer Steve Jocsz and current guitarist Dave Baksh.
Now that the band is hanging up the studded bracelets and sleeveless denim jackets after one final tour, it's nice to see that they're going out sounding a lot like they did when they broke into the mainstream. And I'm no authority on whether they are or aren't or have ever been 'punk rock' or not, but thankfully it seems like we've moved on to other stupid things to care about. And having your fans break into the Punk Rock Hall of Fame for an impromptu concert seems pretty punk rock to me, which is what the music video vaguely seems to be implying.
Heaven :x Hell, the band's final album, comes out March 29. Tickets to Sum 41's final tour are available here. Don't forget that they're probably most likely definitely playing Riot Fest here in Chicago this summer too.
Kings of Leon - Mustang
TRIPLE POWER PLAY ALERT! I'll come up with a better name at some point, I swear, but we got one from Kings of Leon today. New single/new album/new tour announcement all rolled into one "remember when they called us the Strokes of the South?" nostalgic bundle.
Ahead of a tour later this year, the band will release Can We Please Have Fun?, their follow-up to 2021's When You See Yourself. The first single off the upcoming album ('Mustang') starts out promising, like a Kings of Leon song from the Youth and Young Manhood - Because of the Times era. And then...it kinda doesn't go anywhere. Kind of a mishmash of their older and more current sounds. It might grow on me over time, but anything hinting at a return to their early sound certainly has my attention.
Bayside - The Devils
Starting off with a chorus of voices solemnly singing about having a God that never wanted you in the first place and sounding more like a Tim Burton song than something by Bayside, the Queens, NY quartet deliver a thrashing combination of menacing and hopeful sounds that are hopefully just a taste of what's to come on their upcoming April 5th release There Are Worse Things Than Being Alive.
Tour dates and tickets to Bayside's summer performances can be found here.
The Wonder Years - Year of the Vulture
I was working babyface
Out of Mid South in the 80s
I kept a blade
Hidden in my wrist tape
The Wonder Years have always had connections to wrestling in their lyrics, but never anything as direct as this. Their new song 'Year of the Vulture' may be a bit heavier than you expected from a Wonder Years song, but there's a reason behind it:
It’s the Year of the Vulture.
— The Wonder Years (@thewonderyears) February 13, 2024
Late last year, we heard @WWENXT was looking for a theme song for Stand and Deliver, and we thought we’d take a swing. We stepped outside of our comfort zone to write a song that matched the passion and fury of the champ, @UNBESIEGBAR_ZAR, journey. pic.twitter.com/DCH99gD2K2
The result makes me want to run through the very brick wall referenced in this song. Which is rare to want to do at my age.
Microwave - Bored of Being Sad
Why can't we just have the whole album? This is the fourth single from Microwave off their upcoming album Let's Start Degeneracy. The album doesn't come out until April 26, but we already have FOUR of the ten songs on the album. Might as well just give us the rest, right? Just do it. No one likes a hold out. And while you're at it, might as well just bump your upcoming tour to next week. And then when that wraps, go around to those cities again on the original dates. Then come play Chicago for a week straight after that.
How am I not your manager? I have such good and realistic ideas.
Alright, that's all I have. Enjoy the weekend, nerds.