Bouncing Souls / Bayside

I’ll start by saying that Bouncing Souls are one of the great iconic bands of modern punk. They’ve been playing music together almost as long as I’ve been alive. Yes, I’m aware of how much I’ve dated both them and myself by saying that. Hopefully they can forgive me. Jersey punks are not on the list of people I’m willing to piss off in writing. Regardless, they’ve been penning fun, upbeat punk since the ’80s, so they know how to do it right and how to give an audience what they’ve paid for when they play. More than that, though, Bayside by themselves are worth the price of admission. You’ll be hard pressed to find another band in their scene that is as committed to writing good songs and having integrity while doing so as they are. And they’ll actually give you a good show while you’re at it, with their unique brand of melodic and emotive, but still rough and gritty punk. Buy them a beer or something while you’re there, too, they’re great dudes. - Brien Overly