The Wonder Years Have Started Working on a New Album • Page 2

These two bands want TOTALLY different things though. Yellowcard left for another shot at radio, and that's not TWY's endgame.

 

yellowcard has been a scene band forever. if twy takes those weakerthans influences they've done for years they'll be fine

 

Super pumped for this. No Closer to Heaven is super underrated, I really think they've hit four home runs in a row. Cigarettes and Saints might be their best song. Cardinals is probably top 10 TWY. Really dig Stained Glass Ceilings, You In January, Palm Reader, Bluest Things on Earth and the title track as well.

 

Hopeless has decent diversity. It's not like Yellowcard came back and jsut released pop punk albums, they let them do what they wanted with their sound.

 

I wish they'd leave hopeless purely so they'd stop touring with all the terrible bands on hopeless.

 

Hopeless has quite a lot of great bands in my opinion (Bayside, Have Mercy, Milk Teeth, Moose Blood, Neck Deep, New Found Glory, Trash Boat, Trophy Eyes).

 

I'm responding to a couple people but I'm too lazy to multi-quote, anyway here are my thoughts:

1. I'm pretty sure they're not happy with Hopeless because Hopeless isn't putting enough resources behind them (that's why the mixing was kinda shit on NCTH). I saw comments from Nick Steinborn on facebook in a group about this but don't remember the details.

2. Their tour packages are getting stale and leaving their label could provide new opportunities to broach indie and other rock markets.

3. I think Epitaph is a great choice if they're still aiming big (so they need budget and resources) but want to keep their sound rooted in more punk/emo/alternative genres.

4. They've kind of peaked in terms of their current reach and are going to really need to shake things up if they want to continue to grow the band. Pop punk just doesn't pay as much anymore and these guys are getting older.

 

I guess I'll throw my opinion in on this 'should they stay or should they go' label conversation. It would be awesome to see this band pushed out to a bigger audience, but honestly I don't see anywhere they could go that would be more beneficial than Hopeless. They definitely need a bigger budget and wider net for producers. I think the albums have suffered a little on that side. On the other hand I'm sure that Hopeless would provide a good enough budget to get their albums to sound better...it might have to do more with the band choice of producer or okay of the mixing lacking. I will say Hopeless is 100% to blame for the terrible original pressing of The Greatest Generation. That being said in this day and age tons of labels have lackluster vinyl releases.

So I guess that's my long winded way of saying...I vote for stay on Hopeless at this point and time .

 

I'm a huge fan of The Wonder Years and love their relationship with Hopeless but I agree with a lot of this and it makes sense if they go elsewhere.

 

Epitaph would be a good move for sure, especially if they move a little further from pop-punk.

 

I like the bands on Hopeless well enough, but I gotta be honest and say if Hopeless is making the Wonder Years take 3 other bands with them on every tour then that is the big qualm I have with them. I went to a show on their last tour and they had 3 opening bands and TWY only played an hour maybe. I felt kind of robbed because the band before them played 45 minutes.

 

you didn't even list the only active hopeless band (RIP somos) that i have any expectations for liking music from, haha. hope this dryjacket record is good.

 

Yellowcard did take a creative leap when they left Hopeless. They didn't succeed commercially but it's undeniable that they shifted their sound...

 

That was my point. That their shift in sound flopped and ultimately halted their success run that they had on Hopeless. It was a terrible move for them.

 

TGG has gone down as my favorite TWY album and one of the albums I come back to most from any band lately, I wish I enjoyed their last album more but I'm always happy for more music from them.

 

I don't quite get this "NCTH sounds the same" thing. It feels to me like there is a definite shift. The key feel on TGG is a sense of irony, from the title down to the I think deliberately very poppy music. NCTH is far more direct. Plus you've got songs like Cigarettes and Saints, which without wishing to sound too pretentious is the closest I've ever heard to "post-pop-punk".

Also, they won't be starting anything more than writing just yet, they have a UK/Europe tour to do at the end of the month.

 

because success is all bands should care about am i right?

 

They are touring with PUP and Tiny Moving Parts so that should be awesome.

 

Really? That sounds good but another bill of all white dudes wouldn't really push pop-punk forward at all in any way

 

Oh I guess this is a UK tour. hmm

 

Their UK Tour supports usually suck so I'm very excited for that TMP and PUP tour

 

no, but it would be stupid to leave and then end up coming back like Yellowcard did.

again, they can change their sound, but leaving a label that they've had such good success on would be stupid.

 

Their UK tour is just three bands, neither of which are on Hopeless so I don't think that's the case.

The debut Trash Boat record was a massive jam. If you like your pop-punk on the punkier side (lots of hardcore in it) then it's worth a try.

I appreciate the sentiment, but this feels a little out of context?

 

yeah...........not my thing haha

 

I would argue that yes, they did have success with Suburbia and TGG but Hopeless didn't help them much at all on the recent album cycle and that hasn't been great for the band. They could find more helpful labels out there.