Pittsburgh pop-punkers Life Is Short recently dropped their new video for their eponymous track, taken from this year’s excellent ‘Everything Never Intended’. A brilliant, time-bending depiction of a raucous house party, it’s a witty and smart take on a pop-punk staple.
Inspired, we just had to get the lowdown on band’s that influenced their positive brand of up-tempo pop-punk.
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Fall Out Boy
Dave Stewart (Guitar/Vocals): My early days in punk rock features mostly Fat-Wreck and Drive-Thru era punk bands like New Found Glory, NOFX, The Starting Line, and Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, I love all those bands.
But, during my freshman year of college, my roommate turned me on to Fall Out Boy. At first I was sceptical, mainly because I thought the name was really stupid, but once I heard ‘Grand Theft Autumn (Where is Your Boy)’ I threw my hands up and surrendered. I just couldn’t get over this idea of this pop-punk band with R&B vocals. It was insane to me! The song ‘Tell That Mick He Made My List of Things to do Today’, the opening song of ’Take This to Your Grave’ still gives me goosebumps. That entire album is somehow super heavy and extremely poppy at the same time.
Every Time I Die
Dave: This band, and specifically guitarist Andy Williams, changed the way I approached playing guitar. I feel like every album he re-invents his sound, style and tone. This might seem like a strange choice for a guy in a pop-punk band, but if there’s one band that I feel brings the party every time, it’s ETID.
New Found Glory
Josh “Moose” Mitchell (Guitar/Lead Vocals): I love and have a deep respect for early and 1st wave type of punk music like Operation Ivy etc, but my heyday was probably mid 90’s to mid 2000’s when Jerry Finn was alive and producing some of my favourite bands. Yet my love for punk goes far beyond Jerry’s artists and you can never go wrong with New Found Glory.
In my opinion, these guys helped to build the foundation of modern pop-punk. Even though they weren’t the first in the genre, they are still going strong. They are going to be one of those bands I go to see with my wife when I’m 50, sitting down in theatre seats like my parents would do to see the Temptations. The high energy, catchy riffs, and catchy melodies are an obvious reason to love these guys, but they also put on a great live show. I think the simple fact that they just keep going is what’s most inspiring. They’ve experimented with different musical styles, lost a band member, but never said a word regarding negative criticism. For me, I just love anything they do.
Steriogram
Josh: They were a one hit wonder in the U.S. in the early 2000’s. The reason why I love them so much is because even though they only had one big hit, they kept going! They still make music to this day and their sound is solid. They will have the catchiest hooks then throw in some odd chord or timing then go right back into being catchy. It’s like the perfect balance of complex musicianship and pop sensibility with a side of extra rhythmic feel with the rap vocals. New Zealand seems like a cool place too, so I’m down with the Kiwis!
Watsky
Josh: Honestly, I’m not really sure why I’m putting him as one of my biggest influences but, I’ve been listening to his ‘Cardboard Castles’ record a lot lately. I think the biggest thing for me is that he constantly reminds everyone that he always has his middle finger held up high and directed at the majors. The dude is always creative and most importantly, himself. He then consistently translates this into catchy music, which for me is cool; knowing that you don’t have to adhere to an ‘industry standard’. Also, once, in one of his poems, he mentioned that he’s a Sum 41 fan. That makes anyone OK in my book!
‘Everything Never Intended’ by Life Is Short is out now.