MLK Day 2014

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Saturday, October 19, 2013

Local Artist Profile: The Wonder Years

By Alex B.'14
(the first post of his music column)

Credit: altpress.com
Music has always played a huge role in my life, but Philadelphia-born-and-raised pop-punk band The Wonder Years have been the most crucial facet of my adolescence. Their music is complex – the lyrics are literal, yet poetic and sometimes strike allusions to legendary beat-generation poems, and the instrumentation is well orchestrated and layered. The band put out their first album, Get Stoked On It, while still in college at Temple and Drexel Universities. Although the lyrics are comical and the instrumentation is simple, the album brought the band local fame.
After local shows and do-it-yourself east-cast tours, the band recorded its second full-length album, The Upsides. This CD proved to be a dramatic change: a shift from college-boy humor to realist, poetic lyrics. This album highlights the singer’s life in pure honesty, using real names of people, places, and objects that affect his everyday life. For example, in his song “Logan Circle”, lead singer Dan Campbell sings, “They turned on the fountain today at Logan Circle / And I felt something in me change.” This album elevated the band to national recognition.
The band toured off of this album for a year, playing the Vans Warped Tour and other national tours. The Upsides caught the eyes of larger record labels. The Wonder Years signed to Hopeless Records for their next two albums, Suburbia I’ve Given You All And Now I’m Nothing and The Greatest Generation. These albums, each artistically more intricate than the album preceding it, earned the band international success. They quickly embarked on an Asian tour and numerous European tours. Currently, the band is on a nation-wide tour with A Day To Remember, All Time Low, and Pierce The Veil. The Wonder Years are a local success story. I look forward to seeing them in concert again soon.

Check out their music here.

Find them on tour here.