Is Run For Cover Records the Drive Thru Records of this decade?
And I don’t mean that as an insult. I promise.
10 years ago Drive Thru Records owned the scene, and more importantly, they owned pop-punk. From their own Warped Tour stages to their annual DVD’s, they seemed to create the soundtrack to every teenager’s life at that time. What happened? It could have been a combination of dozens of reasons. It could’ve been the Movie Life break up, the inferior signing of Senses Fail, or even all of the back-walking. But all that really matters, is that once Drive Thru Records started to demise, so did the pop-punk genre.
Since then, the scene has seen numerous genre’s come and go, such as the “Underoath genre,” where every band needed both a singer and a screamer aimlessly running around stage together, or the incomprehensible “Cash Cash genre” where bands began to wear neon green jeans, gold high tops, and the “drummer” was really just a no-talent who learned how to rip Ke$ha songs with Garage Band. Since all of this was really too much to stomach, I’ve been satisfied for years, allowing my New Found Glory, Midtown and FenixTX records to continue spinning.
Recently, a great friend of mine, GDP, cut a deal with Run For Cover Records. I was aware of the Boston based label because of bands such as Fireworks and Crime in Stereo, but never really gave a good listen to the rest of the bands on the roster until his signing. Afterwards, I got my hands on Run For Cover’s 2011 Winter Sampler and couldn’t believe it - did I just listen to a whole sampler front to back, and actually enjoy it?
The first thing that caught my attention was the fact that these bands, such as Title Fight, the Wonder Years and Tigers Jaw, all seemed to bring back the timeless fun and energy that was associated with pop-punk 10 years ago. Two bands which completely blew me away were Daytrader (ex-Crime in Stereo) and Seahaven. Somehow, these bands slipped under my radar, and I haven’t been able to turn them off for the last week. They are both proof that there might still be a place in the scene for kids writing solid records.
As someone who can honestly see himself still listening to pop-punk years from now, I’m extremely impressed with the amount of quality music that Run For Cover Records has been putting out the past few years. It’s exciting as a fan, and for the pop-punk genre that there is actually a label with bands putting out music worth purchasing again. Their heads and hearts are in the right place, so here’s to Run For Cover Records taking over, and making better long-term decisions than Drive-Thru Records.
©joegeis
Sampler: http://runforcoverrecords.bandcamp.com/album/2011-winter-sampler
Website: http://www.runforcoverrecords.com/blog/
(via runforcoverrecords)
Source: joegeis
