The Wonder Years recently tweeted saying that the latest album was finished, so what can we expect from this album?
The first album “Get Stoked On It” is a far cry from the two albums that followed it. With catchy, clever and thought provoking lyrics you would think it was a great album but the scratchy synth that is on most tracks ruins the album, Vocalist Dan “Soupy” Campbell refers to this album as a train wreck.
The album that followed however is a master-class. The Upsides, one of my favourite albums of all time. What sets The Wonder Years apart from every other Pop-Punk band is how relatable and personal the lyrics are. The themes that flow through this album are the loneliness of tour life, social awkwardness and persevering through tough times. The opening line of the album is “I’m not sad anymore” and that is the message that carries on through the album right until the beautiful final track “All my friends are in bar bands” which features a number of The Wonder Years talented friends singing gang vocals the finish the album.
The Wonder Years Third album “Suburbia I’ve given you all and now I’m nothing” has a lot of reference’s to the Allen Ginsberg poem America. Fans of the band will also be able to hear a number of reference’s to the first album “The Upsides”. The album can be split into three sections, each section split by songs that put together create the album title. Track 4 named “Suburbia” is the barrier between section one which comments and explores the band’s year following The Upsides and how drained they are from touring and how sometimes Soupy is still sad and still struggles. The second part of the album looks at the bands hometown in Philadelphia and what it means to them. The next barrier (Track nine) entitled “I’ve given you all” leads us into the final section which looks at the emotional core of the band like learning from the mistakes of the past, appreciating those who are close to them or just making it through life. The final song of the album (Track thirteen) “And now i’m nothing” finishes off the final album title and closes the album in beautiful style.
So what can we expect from the fourth album due out later this year? If latest single entitled “The Living room song” which is taken from the deluxe edition of “Suburbia I’ve given you all and now i’m nothing” is anything to go by it could be about finally being better and ultimately being happy. For me “The living room song” is about how lead vocalist Soupy is finally “Not sad anymore” and how he can finally sleep through the night without having panic attacks and nobody will be able to take this achievement from him. The chorus of the song tells us that he Soupy won’t be what the universe wants him to be since it seemed to be against him and he won’t stand for it anymore.
Whatever the new album is about I am very confident that it will rival The Upside and Suburbia as one of my favourite albums of all time and continue my love and their abundance of fans love for the band.
UK fans of the band can see them at Slam Dunk Festival in May.