Not much could be found out about the band even after extensive research. They are called “The Wonder Years,” come from Philadelphia, and are on Hopeless Records. With this record, their second album has been released, and they will be playing a few concerts in the USA this year. Otherwise, it's a big mystery.
It's a shame really, because after listening to the album, you want to know more about the band. The intro and the cover already worried me. I thought the band might be doing some kind of emo, but I was far from correct. The guys are in a completely different league. They are cruising in the big punk rock vehicle, a vehicle that is incredibly fast, agile, and very melodic. So fast and melodic that the vehicle sometimes seems on the verge of flipping over. The band has poured all their heart and soul into this record, which is evident from the very first listen. They put in a lot of effort. The sound comes out of the speakers very distinctively and powerfully, and it goes straight to your blood. You just want to pogo dance around your living room.
The beautiful digipack contains the liner notes from the band, sharing their opinions and some nice anecdotes.
Extremely likable is also the story of how the album came to be. This is detailed in the digipack. The band writes about how it was to sleep on the floor in an improvised shared apartment for weeks and to go down to the basement for weeks to concentrate on writing songs while living off Dunkin Donuts iced coffee. They often thought it wouldn't work out and were desperate, but in the end, they made it. What has come out of it is among the best I have heard in this genre for a long time. THE WONDER YEARS set the bar very high with this album, and there are some Fat Wreck bands that could be envious of it.
