Pop punk with a sprinkling of emotional trauma and relationship problems is an equation that California pop-punk band Wavves is pushing on its newest album “V” due out Oct. 2. Coming out playing a multitude of festivals and the West Coast leg of their fall tour, the band is primed for another successful year in a genre experiencing some revival.
Guitarist Alex Gates talked about the perception of the band just a day after Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy fame debuted the Wavves song “My Head Hurts” on his Apple Music station and called the group “the analog to Odd Future.”
“It was weird for us,” Gates said. “I think he’s reached out before and said he liked our music which is cool. I don’t really know what he means by that.”
The praise from Wentz comes from the band’s dedication to shredding guitars and brutally honest lyrics that are self-reflective and self-loathing in tone. By avoiding the clichés of the genre, the group carves out a unique niche by balancing the fun sound against the somber self-critique.
Gates pointed out that this style of music comes from each member’s influences and how they come together to still arrive at a pop-punk sound.
“We can’t shake it,” he said. “It’s music we grew up with. I think it’s stuck in our subconscious and no matter what we do it ends up sounding like that.”
With “V” coming shortly after the release of a split EP with the emo pop-punk band Cloud Nothings called “No Life For Me,” fans of the genre and Wavves have been treated to a plethora of new material this year.
Singles such as “Way Too Much,” “Heavy Metal Detox,” “Flamezesz,” and the aforementioned “My Head Hurts” display the groups desire to shred at all times. When asked for a favorite song, Gates hinted at an even faster more blistering song on the album.
“Probably ‘All The Same,'” he said. “I think it’s the shortest song on the record. It’s less than two minutes long and it’s super poppy and fast-paced. We’ve packed a lot into that short song. I feel like the song is too short to be a single but I really like playing that song. We played it for the first time in New York and it was a blast.”
The band stops in Phoenix on Wednesday, Sept. 16 to play at Crescent Ballroom with Twin Peaks and Swimmers. After the group's U.S. tour, they'll head over to the U.K. to round out a busy year of playing shows and making music. Gates credits their creative momentum to the relationship the band has through the process of writing out new material.
"I've known Steven Pope, the bass player, since I was a little kid," he said. "We grew up in Memphis together so there's a bond there I don't have with other people. It's also a comfortable environment to write music in. We aren't hard on each other and we just let the music happen."
That environment results in pop punk with a healthy dose of lyrical depth. An equation fans of the genre appreciate and look forward to enjoying at local shows.
Reach the reporter at dloche@asu.edu or follow @DMLoche on Twitter.
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