This past summer, Yellowcard reunited and performed dozens of shows at large venues across the country. They also released their first new music since 2016.
The EP Childhood Eyes returns to the sound that made them popular, but the songwriting reflects their maturity and sense of nostalgia. It includes collaborations with Dashboard Confessional and Pierce The Veil, as well as the lead single "Childhood Eyes."
The reunion coincides with the recent pop punk renaissance as younger bands reach back for those Y2K power chords and hooks. Yellowcard is enjoying the ride. An appearance at When We Were Young on Oct. 21 is the only thing currently on the band's calendar, but fans should feel optimistic about future shows.
Will there be any more new music? Although there are no plans for a new album, a statement on the band's Instagram says, "The future is bright. We clearly have so much more to do."
Watch frontman Ryan Key talk to Jordan Edwards and Demi Ramos about the reunion, making the EP, and the story behind "Ocean Avenue."
Yellowcard's Ryan Key | It's Real with Jordan and Demi
For more from Yellowcard, follow them on Instagram and TikTok.
Whether we want to admit it or not, this summer is going to be different than any summer that's come before. With the end of the COVID-19 pandemic near, people are heading outside, plans are being made, and trips are being taken. It will no doubt be busy and all consuming. Chances are last summer was not like this for you, and instead of listening to the albums below, you were stuck listening to yearning music about how you felt trapped or caged in.
Well, if you're going to get busy this summer, you'll need the perfect soundtrack. Here are the best summertime rock albums to help you snap into action.
Blink-182 – "Take Off Your Pants and Jacket"
No one quite captured the carefree angst of teenagehood quite like Blink. Pretty much any of their early works would be a perfect summertime collection, but 2001's Take Off Your Pants and Jacket is nothing but a rip-roaring good time.
"First Date" and "The Rock Show" capture the youthful exuberance and nostalgia of summertime romance, and "Stay Together for the Kids" touches on the anxiety of watching your struggling parents find love. The anxieties of being young are sprinkled throughout the album's fun moments, but that's what makes it so relatable to the childhood experience.
Deftones – "Around The Fur"
Deftones Around the Fur, despite its unforgiving grind, feels as toasty as a hot August day. "My Own Summer (Shove It)" is especially steamy, with its merciless guitars and gurgling vocals courtesy of Chino Moreno. The track remains a great nu-metal ode to those loner kids that forever loathe the heat.
"There's no crowd in the streets and no sun in my own summer," Moreno murmurs. "The shade is a tool, a device, a savior / See, I try and look up to the sky / But my eyes burn."
Green Day – "Dookie"
To be fair, Dookie's youthful adrenaline rush works for any occasion, but it especially works in the summertime heat. The album sounds the way Berkeley, California feels and kicked off the pop-punk movement that has since been synonymous with summertime mischief. "Burnout" and "Basket Case's" sticky guitars sound carefree, like they're being performed by the neighborhood band right in your backyard.
Billie Joe Armstrong's voice also radiates with surprising warmth. On "Having a Blast" he sounds like a kid determined to be a kid at all costs, even when dreary reality tries to sink in. "Nothing's gonna change my mind, I won't listen to anyone's last words / There's nothing left for you to say / Soon you'll be dead anyway." It's an album rank with nostalgia, dedicated to a time when the biggest question of the day was: "Am I just paranoid, or am I just stoned?"
Queens of the Stone Age – "Rated R"
Queen of the Stone Age's desert rock grime is perfect for some balmy day-drinking and Rated R captures this feeling the best. "The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret" is saturated in bristling guitars and lo-fi vocals perfect for a top-down drive through the city with a cigarette dangling out of your mouth.
"Monsters in the Parasol" is just pure pulsating adrenaline that sounds as loaded as a daytime blackout, and "I Think I Lost My Headache" is as pulverizing and corrosive as that hangover you get when the party ends. Needless to say, Rated R is a perfect album for those looking to get into some trouble.
Sum 41 – "All Killer, No Filler"
Those that remember this album remember how special those early aught summers were. Summertime in the time of All Killer, No Filler was full of bullshit shenanigans, with teens cruising around on their bikes trying desperately to score a gram of weed.
Sum 41's debut carries a perfect mix of pop punk, heavy metal, and even hip-hop, as the Canadian boys, much like the teen boys they were singing to, aimlessly try on different outfits in the hopes of figuring out who they are. "Attention that we crave, don't tell us to behave, I'm sick of always hearing 'act your age,'" Whibley belts out on "Fat Lip" as if it's a warcry. All Killer, No Filler is at times messy and barely holds together, but remains incredibly charming along the way, much like being a kid.
Weezer – "Blue Album"
If you're in your early 30s and want to spend your days relaxing by the pool sipping on a Rolling Rock, there is no better soundtrack for that experience than Weezer's Blue Album. "The sea is foamin' like a bottle of beer / The wave is comin but I ain't gonna fear / I'm waxin down because it's really a blast…' Cuomo calls out of "Surf Wax America."
The album sparkles like a freshly opened can of beer, and iconic tracks like "Buddy Holly" and "Say It Ain't So" are just as smooth and refreshing as taking a sip. A perfect album for both the social butterfly or the tanning loner, Weezer's Blue Album is a lighthearted affair, perfect for those just needing to catch a vibe.
Angels & Airwaves – "I-Empire"
A perfect summer can sometimes feel intergalactic and out of this world, especially when you're young. So much so that when it ends, it feels like you're exiting a fever dream. But Angels & Airwaves' I-Empire is the perfect album to remind you that those experiences were real and that the heightened emotions you felt were genuine, even if they were corny.
'Over the bands cascading guitars and spaced-out interludes, Tom DeLonge's boyish whines are comforting even if they generate an eyeroll or two. "Did you know that I love you?" he calls out on "Breathe." "Come and lay with me." On "Secret Crowds," he testifies that he will build his lover her own world, devoid of war and filled with "voices of kids out walking dogs, birds, planes, cleanest cars." It's all so heightened, but when you're locked in a summertime trance, it hits the spot like a splash in cool water.
My Chemical Romance – "Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys"
Ditching the emo theatrics for moments of power pop and pop rock, My Chem's final record before their break up is as animated and opulent as the world it takes place in. "The Kids from Yesterday" is a sticky power-pop track that glides like a sunny afternoon drive, and "Summertime" is actually the saddest track on the album, as it taps into a fleeting romance that ends when the sun goes down. "You can run away with me, anytime you want," Gerard Way calls out defeated, knowing that she's already made her mind up.
Yellowcard – "Ocean Avenue"
There is no other album that captures those summertime yearnings quite like Yellowcard's Ocean Avenue. From the album's epochal title track to its humid album cover, the Jacksonville collective's fourth record beams like a ray of sunshine in the Florida heat.
The album basks in innocuous summertime romance and remains a perfect record for those yearning boys and girls who were convinced their infatuations could outlast the balmy weather. "I'm falling into memories of you and things we used to do," singer Ryan Key calls out. "Follow me there." From breaking away from our parents ("Way Away") to begrudgingly returning home at summer's end ("Back Home"), Ocean Avenue is saturated in teenage melodrama.
There was a special kind of angst fueling the music of the early 2000s.
Pop punk, post-grunge, and other guitar-laden subgenres consumed the mainstream. Pete Wentz and Hayley Williams, with their thick eyeliner and greasy bangs, made the magazine rounds, while potty-mouth bands like Simple Plan and Bowling for Soup topped the charts with their dated quirky syntax ("and if you're hearing what I'm saying / then I want to hear you say, "I'm gay!")
As 2020 rages on, the idea of throwing on an old pair of Chucks and moshing to "The Middle" by Jimmy Eat World has never seemed so appealing. While Yellowcard's "Ocean Avenue" became an anthem across the country, it's worth noting the slew of other underrated songs released around the same time that went relatively unnoticed.
It was hard to relish in pop-punk deep cuts without an album purchase in the early aughts, and there remain so many songs that deserved to take off that just didn't. But as the sub-genre has experienced a mild revival thanks to artists like MGK and Vic Mensa, here is a collection of slept on pop punk tracks that deserved more love–and hopefully can get more now in 2020.
Every Avenue - Think of You Later (Empty Room)
Every Avenue was a pop punk band destined for greatness. Their catchy sophomore effort, Picture Perfect, cracked the Billboard 200, and the group began touring extensively with legendary bands such as Mayday Parade and All Time Low. Unfortunately, the Michigan group fizzled out in 2012, but their three albums were all compelling records that remain heavily slept on.
"Think of You Later (Empty Room)" is an especially great late-aughts gem. Frontman David Strauchman, with his metallic gauges and pointy bangs, bellows about the pain of falling asleep heartbroken and alone, a sentiment that still hits home in 2020. The track's catchy hook, rhythmic guitars, and melodramatic lyrics ("so quit your cryin' and wipe the tears from your eyes/ cause this is 'see you later'/ I'm not into goodbyes) should have propelled the power ballad to mainstream stardom, but it instead became a gem in indie circles.
Cartel - The Perfect Mistake
Driven by an MTV origin-story, a super cute lead singer, and a knack for soaring pop melodies, Cartel's Chroma propelled the Georgia pop-punk outfit to mainstream acclaim. But a lot of fans shifted their attention away from the quartet after their lackluster sophomore effort failed to generate as much praise.
On Cycles, the band returned refreshed and re-energized, and as a result, "The Perfect Mistake" is one of their best songs in years. Will Pugh's vocals had never snapped with so much vigor, and the band's guitars churned with a newfound sense of urgency. It's a shame the band's mainstream interest fizzled out, because it turns out Cartel was just getting started.
The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus - Atrophy
While many only associate the Florida sextet with their anti-domestic violence anthem "Face Down," the single's coinciding album Don't You Fake It was actually a great pop-punk record in its entirety. Incorporating screamo with emo guitars and pop-punk melodies, "Atrophy" is an RJA deep cut that showed the band's genre-blending potential.
While RJA's newer records have retained some of their angsty charms, a major sophomore slump buried the group in a way they never truly bounced back from, and that's a shame because at their best, the band was truly captivating.
Story of the Year - Apathy Is a Deathwish
While many associate Story of The Year with their pop-heavy 2003 debut, Page Avenue, 2008s, The Black Swan was one of the band's heaviest and most satisfying efforts. "Apathy is a Deathwish," with its crunchy guitars and hefty screams, is a grandiose ode to the dangers of disinterest and, as a result, offers some of the band's best songwriting. With lyrics like, "Blank stares across the room, taking the dead broadcast/ All ambitions disappear waiting for our lives to pass," the sentiment still remains eerily true in 2020.
Motion City Soundtrack - Point Of Extinction
Another song whose sentiment radiates loudly in the current landscape, Motion City Soundtrack's Even If It Kills Me is rank with pop-punk moodiness. The deep-cut "Point of Extinction" has all the makings of a radio single, but for some reason, it just didn't take off. The Minneapolis outfit spawned plenty of other fantastic hits, and even today remains a treasured pop-punk band. "Point of Extinction's" snappy guitars and infectious melodies make us all wish it was about 3 minutes longer, but alas.
Amber Pacific - Fall Back into My Life
Amber Pacific never took off the way their contemporaries did, which is strange considering their sophomore record, Truth in Sincerity was one of the most anticipated efforts of 2007 and debuted at number 64 on the Billboard 200. But the band slowly dissolved after their sophomore success as general interests in the band waned.
Regardless, "Fall Back into My Life" remains the pinnacle of 2000s pop-punk, even if mainstream fans of the genre don't include it on their "Best Of" lists. The cheesy lyrics and the anthemic chorus made the track a soundtrack for awkward teenage romance.
Yellowcard - Down on My Head
While the pioneering pop-punk band is known for an eclectic collection of hits, "Down on My Head" somehow wasn't one of them. The moving power-ballad touches on a never-ending depressive episode, and in turn, carries heavy meaning in 2020. "I never thought I would wake up in bed, watching the world coming down on my head." As the violins swell in the background, the song reminds us that it's okay to feel completely overwhelmed by it all, and it shows the pop-punk was much more meaningful than the toilet humor of Bowling For Soup.
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