The weird thing about Straight Outta Junior High (SOJH) is that ever since initially discovering them a few years ago, I've heard them mentioned by absolutely nobody. But, everything I hear their music, I wonder why the hell my friends haven't discovered them and brought it up to me ever. Their songs are befitting to their bandname, because namesake has not died out yet. The topics are as juvenile as they ever will be for most pop punk efforts, but you get the feeling that these guys would never punch a couple girls at a hipster event.
Don't you love songs about fantasy football? My brother probably would...he's like a giant 12-year-old who some how is a legitimate adult with a family now. His google search history is honestly "boobs", "porn", "ESPN", and "videos of people getting hurt on youtube". So basically, my brother might be this band's target audience for the most part, other than the chicks they clearly are in this biz for. The first song, "Fantasy Football", is obviously about fantasy football.
The vocalist reminds me of if Dicky Barrett ever decided to sing way softer, and never developed a growl to his voice. It's on the deeper end, and chooses to express no emotion, while still being very energetic. I wouldn't directly compare this band to anyone, because they're kind of different in general. It's not like they do anything crazy or experimental...they just kind of have their own sound to me. They definitely have elements of surf punk in tact, and can sound similar to a more developed version of the Queers...just without the Ramones influence.
The intro to "If I Was Dead" sounds like a fucking video game theme. It's pretty awesome...this song is way less on the pop punk song, and more on the arena rock side. The lyrics are all like "If I was dead, would you remember my name? Cause I didn't blow up my face or blow my car in a drag race?" and other stuff people think about when their thoughts approach ever ceasing to exist. The song goes on to talk about a lot of dead people or people they wish were dead and whatnot. It's catchy and different.
Then there's a song poking fun at ska. Because that's how they roll I guess. It's called "8th Wave" and includes horn lines. The lyrics are actually funny, because when he talks about this gang and he says "don't you dare call them ska. More like punk; pop-punk with horns is what they like to be called." Because I'm always telling people I play trombone in a punk band, to which my friends always give me shit and say, "I'm sorry Idle, but you're in a ska band." Then I hang my head in shame. If anyone knows who they're talking shit about, let me know. Because this song is hilarious, and awesome. And does a perfect job of sounding like Reel Big Fish.
You can pick up this album over at their website if you're oh so interested. Because you should be.
Love,
Idle
they are talking about the band "8th wave" out of lincoln ne.
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