The Wonder Years
Won't Be Pathetic Forever [7 inch] (2008)
Brian Shultz
The Wonder Years are hardly my favorite new pop-punk band, but their new 7", Won't Be Pathetic Forever is way better than their abysmal full-length of last year, Get Stoked on It!.
Musically, they actually sound decent, with the keyboard a little less overbearing. However, they really need to just throw the thing out. It's not doing anything for the sound whatsoever. A good example would be the opening instrumental track, "Mike Kennedy Is a Bad Friend." There's pretty much no keyboard here, and as a result it's a perfect pop-punk intro.
Additionally, their vocalist is still usually pretty derivative of the Starting Line's Kenny Vasoli, notably in "Solo & Chewy: Holdin' It Down." He's less grating than on Stoked too, but there are moments where it could certainly elicit "eh"s at best (the title track, where a chorus would be punchier if the "And today!" repetition didn't sound like it was being phoned in by its third delivery).
I still don't know what to think about their lyrics, which I'd generously describe as "cheeky." You can have fun lyrics, but these dudes pack more annoying pop culture references into a song than Eminem circa 2000; kudos for the Clarity name-drop though, I guess.
For the first time hearing this band, the Wonder Years have moments on this 7" where I am honestly stoked. But they're incredibly brief, intermittent sections, ruined by a boring transition or nasally-hindered vocal note. Hopefully this 7"'s title bears some heavy foreshadowing.