Like that part at the Oscars where they show everybody who has died this year, 2014 has also said goodbye to some of our favourite pop punk acts and a part of our own UK heritage, not to mention address certain negative issues that have been surrounding our community.
It’s been a really bad year for Welsh pop punk, having 3 of their flag bearers announce that they are disbanding. First on the list is one of more recent bands to break out onto the main stage and have varied commercial success. Yep, those Kids In Glass Houses decided to call it a day, not before touring one of their most successful albums Smart Casual, one last time.
Next on the chopping block was South Wales finest Save Your Breath. These guys perhaps did not always get the commercial or even underground success they deserved but they were a constant fixture on the UK pop punk circuit for many years and always put on a great set every time they set foot on stage. Be sure to catch them on their farewell tour in 2015 with Cardinals and As It Is.
Finally for the Welsh hat-trick of bands to split and one of the bands who will definitely be missed on the live circuit is The Blackout. After enjoying many years of tearing most clubs down with their live performances, Sean Smith et al have decided that they will be calling it quits with their farewell tour in March 2015. They may not have been everyone’s favourite band but they out out a few great tracks and always managed to put on an entertaining show. Rest In Piece The Blackout, you’ll be sadly missed.
The pop punk world did a double take this year when everyone’s fifth favourite band A Loss For Words announced that 2015 would be their final year together. ALFW never seemed to make the top of people’s top ten pop punk list, but they normally managed to be apart of it. Their versatility vocally, and stylisticly with a motown album, may have contributed towards this but they managed to remain pretty solid throughout. At Slam Dunk North last year they announced that it was their favourite festival to play so let’s hope they make it over next year so we can all have one last chance to sing ‘I Want You Back’ at a rock show.
Finally, The Swellers announced after a over ten years as a band they too were going their separate ways. Notably, Jon Diener has recently written an excellent article of the struggles in being a part of an ‘almost successful’ band with the continuous obstacles of money, commitment and gruelling travel schedules eventually take their toll. Musical direction also seemed to be a contributing factor, starting as a punk rock band, getting noticeably more success with ‘Ups and Downsizing’ the more poppier of the records as well as getting signed to Fueled By Ramen. Then a succession of mediocre punk/alternative/pop-punk albums seem to have been the straw that broke the camels back, with all members wanting to focus on separate goals. The Swellers knew how to put on a powerful show and it will be a shame to not see them progress towards the fame they perhaps could have had.
Personally, more upsetting for me than these bands dissolving was the news that one of the UK’s primary venues closed it’s doors for good. The Cockpit in Leeds had been home to some of the best gigs I’ve ever been to and was an institution to the alternative scene in the north of England for twenty years. For those of you who love the Slam Dunk Festival, this is where it all started, when every Tuesday night a pop punk / Ska / alternative club night started to separate it’s self from the pack by playing a blend of relevant and new songs instead of stagnating with classic alternative music. Most bigger bands will have played there at one time or the other, including the like of Fall Out Boy. At only a 500 capacity and situated underneath the railway arches, what the The Cockpit lacked in size it made up for in atmosphere and booking as it cemented it’s self onto the circuit as a ‘must play’ venue. As an institution for local and commercial music, it was sad to let go of but positively it has put Leeds and the north on the map, and with a wealth of new venues springing up in the city, it’s legacy will always be remembered.
This year has also seem some confused aggression in the pop punk work with the emergences of a band called 5 Seconds of Summer. Without opening Pandora’s Box, the jist of the argument is this, a band who have roots in the pop punk world have had huge commercial and mainstream success but whether to classify them as pop punk seems to be tenuous or debatable at best. Whilst some argue that they are helping to push pop punk into the mainstream, others argue that they are as manufactured as One Direction that have nothing to do with pop punk whatsoever. I won’t fan any more flames, but it appears the mere mention of them can incite some pretty serious contention in the pop punk community.
Finally, it seems that one of peoples favourite gig past-times got called into question this year, when Joyce Manor stopped their show for a stage diver and continued to voice their disapproval of this activity, including bombarding the ‘offender’ with personal insults. This sparked bands and workers in the industry to either defend or push against this incident, questioning whether stage diving is safe, does it affect the bands, is it within the rights of the venue or band to stop it, and what about the individual’s right of freedom of expression. Again, I won’t use this article to start a debate, but it seems that now this issue has been raised it may start impacting rock shows in the future.
We’d like to know what your low-lights have been for 2014, what albums had you been waiting for only to disappoint you? Who else has broken up that you’re going to miss or what do you think about the inside debate about what constitutes pop punk? Let us know what has made this year hard for pop punk and leave a comment below.
No matter what, we’ve still got a great year to come. Stay Posi, and all of that.
By Matt Henson
The Pop Punk Days