It’s kind of amazing that SYWH is now 6 years old, and as such has been around long enough to see the trends change a few times. Back when I started this thing, BROKENCYDE were at their peak of buzz, OF MICE & MEN were a brand new band best known for their LADY GAGA cover, and easycore was the dominant flavor of pop-punk. Then as we all know, the tr00nami hit, washing away MySpace, neon, major-key breakdowns and everything else we loved, replacing it with a sea of black-and-grey merch, braying donkey vocals, and sadboi bullshit.
But friends, WE MADE IT! We knew if we just kept the faith that this day would come, and here it is: tr00 is definitely on the way out, and fun is BACK in pop-punk. Don’t believe me? Think how long it’s been since anyone gave a shit about MAN OVERBOARD, CITIZEN, TRANSIT and the other tr00 hype bands of 2012. Seems like a different world, doesn’t it??
Don’t get me wrong, tr00 is still here, but it’s dying. Think of this as a transitional year like 2011, when all the crabcore bands were at their peak but clearly about to take a fall. Tr00 is still a force to be reckoned with, but right beneath the surface is an ez/fun revival about to boil over. Mark your calendars so you can answer the question, “Where were YOU when tr00 died??”
Supporting evidence:
Exhibit 1: Perhaps the most obvious and meaningful example is FOUR YEAR STRONG returning to their easycore roots after putting out a bunch of crappy rock albums that nobody liked. Given that FYS were one of the main reasons easycore died in the first place, it is a very significant move. On the one hand you could make fun of them for transparently caving into fan demands, but on the other hand it’s kind of cool and I wish more bands would have this kind of customer service!
A few years ago FYS wrote a butthurt song called “Fairweather Fan” about how if ur a REAL fan, u wouldn’t ask them to play breakdowns and synth parts. Fast forward to 2015 and they are embracing the same fans with open arms. Beggars can’t be choosers, I guess.
Exhibit 2: Just a couple years ago, you could charitably describe NECK DEEP as “The British TSSF,” but their new album is pure hollistercore goodness, like if I CALL FIVES were still around (and people actually cared about them). Or actually, now that I think about it, like a slightly tr00 version of SIMPLE PLAN lol. In the same way as FYS are kind of the torchbearer’s of the last generation of pop-punk, ND are one of the hotter commodities in the new generation, so it is noteworthy to see this happening on both ends of the pop-punk spectrum.
Exhibit 3: Speaking of hollistercore and americaneaglecore, this STATE CHAMPS song and video would not be at all out of place playing on the monitor in the back of either of those stores while some cute, slightly-slutty-in-all-right-ways mainstream girl shops for a crop top to go with her new white jeans. I feel like this is indicative of what to expect from the next wave of a pop-punk, a weird-but-awesome combination of tr00 and mallpunk.
Exhibit 4: Lots of newer mid-level/up-and-coming bands playing stuff that sounds straight out of 2008/2009 like SEASONS CHANGE (above), BROADSIDES, SETTLE YOUR SCORES, and so forth. Basically, this is the default template for new bands on No Sleep/Pure Noise/etc.
Exhibit 5: If you’ve ever had the misfortune of looking at the “Defend Easycore” group on Facebook, you know that it’s about 3,000 annoying tryhards who basically just parrot memes that me and Alex Bigman made up years ago. And it’s full of new bands like this one who are all tripping over themselves to be validated as “ez.” Beyond embarrassing, yes, but also solid evidence that the next wave of bands are going to be more 2008 than 2012.
