thePULSEBy Alex Kantarelis
Pop punk is one of the best genres of music that’s out there. While I personally come from the hardcore scene, my favorite band of all time is Green Day, and I spent many years of my life listening to Brand New, Taking Back Sunday, and New Found Glory, among many others. While there have always been pop punk bands all over the country, it seems that there is a new era of bands that have been tearing it up. While people will always argue that it was better back in the day, it’s pretty awesome now, too. Cali dude Matt Toka is one of those pop punk fanatics who has brought the genre to a whole new mainstream crowd.
Toka has music running through his veins; he spent his early days listening to his mom’s favorite band, Guns n Roses: “My parents didn’t really get along but music was my escape,” he said, adding, “It was a lot more accessible than drugs, and a lot cheaper.” Like many kids growing up in the 90s, he stumbled across Green Day’s Dookie, and as he put it, “I fell in love.” It didn’t take long for him to start working on his own tracks, using the Green Day formula as the inspiration for his own songs.
When he got to high school, he put together a demo that he sold to kids at school and at the mall. Eventually he burned over 6000 CDs and started putting on his own shows. “I was just 16 years old and I was playing out at local bars everywhere,” he said. Eventually, he started a band called Cherry Monroe that got signed to Atlantic Records. After a strong start, the band was dropped from their label, and Toka decided to pack up and move from his home town of Youngstown, Ohio, to Los Angeles. “I drove out [to LA] and I was playing open mics and street corners for three years trying to get this started again,” he said.
His dedication and absolute refusal to give up landed him another chance with a major label. Warner Brothers signed him as a solo act and he quickly started working on new material for his debut album. Toka had his ultimate fan boy moment when it was finally time to record the new tracks. Warner Brothers set him up with long time Green Day producer Rob Cavallo, who really brought out the best of the songs.
As pop punk makes yet another resurgence across the country, Matt Toka is at the forefront. Earlier this year he was on Bamboozle, and just spent the summer doing his first Warped Tour. He credits the fans for keeping him going. “It means so much to me that people are excited about what I do. “Without [them] I wouldn’t be able to do any of this,” he said.
Worcester is no stranger to good music, and pop punk bands have always been a part of the scene. In the early 2000s, Trance Buddha and the QVCC seemed to have shows every other weekend, and people from all over New England flocked to Worcester for those shows. Nearly a decade later, some newer bands are taking over, and proving that this style of music is alive and well.
Millbury natives Challenges are one of the bands who have been tearing it up lately. This past summer, they toured the UK, and got home just in time to play the Mansfield date of Warped Tour for the 2nd year in a row. Their sound is comparable to New Found Glory and older Blink 182. “We don’t really have genre restrictions,” vocalist Corey Maynard said, describing the band. They have a bunch of music available on their bandcamp page and are planning on releasing a 7 song EP later this year. They have already toured heavily over the past few years and they don’t plan on slowing down at all. “It was just something we had to go out and do,” Maynard said about touring.
The Hotel Year is another local band that has brought their version of pop punk to Worcester. Originally from Dudley and Charlton, the band got their start in 2008, and they take the punk side of pop punk very seriously ~ not the punk style, but more the punk message that seems to be lost sometimes. Bassist and lead vocalist Christian Holden writes lyrics that actually say something. “Realistically no pop bands put a punk element that I like into it. They put a fast beat, and use power chords, instead of the totally organic anti-establishment message,” Holden said. They give their music away for free, and are currently working on a new album that will be out by the end of 2012.
Another awesome band from Worcester, American Verse, is also making a splash in the local scene. Guitarist and singer Dylan Massucco has been making music since he was super young, and has always had a passion for playing. They have already put out a few EPs and released a new record on August 14th. To Massucco, pop punk is more of an umbrella that sits over a many sub-genres. “Pop punk has just become a very broad spectrum to me,” he said. “I don’t think we are that much of a pop punk band as much as we are rock band, but we have poppy parts and a fast part here and there,” he added. They are great songwriters, and put on an energetic live show, too. Definitely check them out…in fact, check out Matt Toka and all the years, because it seems like you can’t kill the pop-punk scene ~ but who’d want to?
