MP3: The Bones - Mighty touchdown
The Bones are the kind of band I would've loved as a teenager, but find harder to get excited about as I near 30. I still love a lot of the pop-punk from my youth, but I'm not exactly clamoring for more, y'know? Still, The Bones are good at what they do and far more enjoyable than most of their Warped Tour-ready brethren. Part of that is personal nostalgia as their sound definitely harkens back to 90s-era SoCal punk ala NoFX or maybe The Vandals and Guttermouth. They don't indulge so much in the typical fast Fat Wreck-style skatepunk beats, but they've got the same smooth, super-tight sound, ripe with unexpectedly dense vocal harmonies and the same sort of self-depreciating juvenile humor. Like I said, not necessarily my thing, but I can still appreciate it. There's certainly enough strong powerpop hooks to make it work and I dig the dual vocalists. For contrast, consider fellow Swedes Smalltown, a contemporary melodic pop-punk band I like a lot. They both come from the same place, 'cept that Smalltown takes a rougher, more heartfelt approach that wins me over. The roughness of The Bones comes from more of a superficial, Social Distortion-esque place; you know the type: black leather jacket, heavy drinker, down on his luck, probably has the number 13 tattooed somewhere. I can't help but that of that stuff as some sort of glamrock pose. So yeah, definitely not my scene, but good enough for a few listens.
The Bones - Mighty touchdown