"You spent the days inside avoiding social landmines, That poke at every bruise." This week we bring in Sean and Laura to check out the debut album from punk rock multi instrumentalist JEFF ROSENSTOCK entitled WE COOL? (2015)

We Cool? is the debut solo studio album by Jeff Rosenstock.[3][4][5][6][7] It was released by SideOneDummy Records on March 3, 2015.

The album crashed the SideOneDummy website upon its release.[8] It debuted on the Billboard charts at #7 for Heatseekers Albums, #43 for Rock Albums, and #157 for Current Albums.[9] It features guest appearances by Laura Stevenson, P.O.S, and members of Shinobu. Jeff Rosenstock toured the album with AJJ, Chumped, and The Smith Street Band.[10] The lead single, Nausea, was a song written much before the album's conception. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Cool%3F

Transcript

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hey everyone steve here we've been off for 2 weeks so i just wanted to give a brief announcement to let everyone know that on august 16th 2025 my father passed away we'll be running a number of episodes in his memory including next week's episode on tom petty's full moon fever album which is an album we had in the car's tape deck and many times we listened to it together while i was growing up so it really reminds me of him My dad had a huge love for rock music, and I think it would be safe to say that without his influence, I would have never become a musician. So many of my own favorite records came from his collection, and now that I've inherited his music collection I think it's safe to say that his influence on this podcast will continue to be significant. I will have a lot more to say next week, including many stories about us enjoying music together, but also his impact on the music careers of myself and my friends. He had such a big personality and all of my friends and bandmates seem to have a great story about their interactions with him. It's truly amazing to me. Love you, Dad. I might not be a religious person, but I do believe that death is not the end, so I am looking forward to reconnecting with him on the other side. I also wanted to give another announcement to honor the memory of another musician we've covered on the podcast. Sadly, Brent Hines, formerly of Mastodon, passed away in a tragic motorcycle accident. To me, Brent was a big part of what made Mastodon special. He said many times that he was never really a heavy metal guy, and I think that was a very essential part of what made Mastodon stand out to me. The void left in music culture by his death is going to be very noticeable to absent friends. I want to be surprised. So I want to like pretend or well, not pretend. I want to be like, maybe if it sucks, I can be like outraged. So, you know. Yeah. Especially like when we did the Eisters one. I was really pissed at that one. Eisters. Iced Earth was terrible. Got you. It was so fucking terrible. And then we have the salt rubbed in the wound when he fucking won. Like, God damn it. That made me not want to air that episode. It was also one of our best episodes is the unfortunate part. We did an election special where we reviewed the Iced Earth album. That's like the lead singer for Iced Earth was did a January 6. Like he was one of the first people in. Yeah. And so we did that for an election special. Sheesh. And then that became hard to listen to. Nobody wants to listen to it now. It got the normal amount of views we get on the first day and then nothing after that. Yeah, a lot of things became a lot less funny or enjoyable after the election. It was like a I think even part of me was like, do I even want to do a podcast anymore? I think I just want to lay on the couch all the time and do nothing forever now. See, I made a good choice in that I'm going to do this from now on. You have to keep shouting. Oh, I'm just like we recorded it before the election and we were we were guessing incorrectly how it would go. And but and so like I was in Chicago during the election and I was in Kansas City during the last mayoral election, which went a lot better. But, you know, I still don't realize, hey, I'm not checking my phone all the time when I'm traveling. I'm just going to travel for every election since I vote early anyway. Yeah. I voted really deep. Well, see, on the election episode, he fucking said Kamala was going to win, which he lied. He lied. I love that. With voter suppression tactics and a bunch of other things. Did she? But anyway. Anyway, and then I said when we were doing the May, we recorded one right before the mayoral election. And I said, well, pretends Gene, mean Gene is going to win. And he said, yeah. June is going to win. And then she fucking lost, so. I think we need to have a podcast every time, like right before an election, and just have you predict the wrong way. Because then we'll fucking win everyone. Well, you want communists to win because you're a commie bastard, so. Yes. Yes. Or at least, I mean, I'd be happy with a socialist. Yeah. You fucking fascist. Yeah. It's the opposite. I'm probably philosophically more of an anarchist than a communist, but I mean, I don't think it's really going to matter until we get out of whatever this bullshit is anyway. Don't have the luxury of being granular. Yeah. Yeah. That's okay. Climate change is going to knock out the power grid in our lifetimes. Oh, this is so upbeat. to Side One, Side B. I'm Dave. And I'm Steve. I'm Laura. And I'm Sean. We got all returning guests this time. Woo! So, well, actually, usually we have returning guests, but we have all returning guests this time. But this is a new combination. Yes, brand new combination. So, what does everyone know about Jeff Rosenstock? Not a fucking thing. I am part of the know-nothing party in that aspect. Same. He looked at the window. Was the know-nothing party a racist party? Maybe they shouldn't have done that. No, they were like, they were, it was back in the 1800. They were a party that, you know, people would say like, do you know about such and such? And they said, we know nothing. They were a racist party, but so were a lot of parties back then. Yeah. Even John Brown, who was like, kind of like one of the first, like, oh, I did some fucking horrible things, but he was an abolitionist, but he was still racist. I mean, come on now. It sounds more anti-authoritarian, like conscientious objector, like, hello, narc. I know nothing. I think know nothing was an anti-immigrant party. I'm Spartan. Oh, shit. Like, specifically. Okay, well, I'm not part of that party. Anyway, this podcast is about records. Yeah, this podcast is about records, not American history. Thank God. This is Jeff Rosenstock. He is a fairly new artist. Like, this album is from 20 15, so it's ten years old, but it's pretty new before. This is like right when he was going solo at first. Before that, he was a part of a music collective called Bomb the Music Industry and a ska band called the Arrogant Sons of Bitches. Nice. He can play a lot of instruments. He doesn't play every single instrument on this, but he plays a lot of them. And he toured this album as a 3piece. Now I think he tours as a 5piece. I don't know. I'm going to know in October when I go see him in Denver. I'm going to go see pup Canadian punk band with, uh, Jeff Rosenstock opening and then opening, uh, the whole show will be echo astral, which is, uh, I think they're DC based, uh, punk bands. I think they're DC based because their lead singer used to be a, uh, reporter. And then she came out as trans and realized how many people in Washington, DC hater. Um, but yeah, uh, That's heavy, dog. Yeah, I know, man. That is heavy. Like, all of, like, the staffers who, like, all of the white, like, all of the congressional staffers who knew her were, like, were, like, willing to treat her as, like, one of the good ones, but then were to be, like, pushing transphobic policy, and she's like, you know what, I'm just gonna start a punk band. Well, there you go. Sounds like the right decision. I don't like Ska. This is not a Ska album, and I know you don't like Ska. Oh, you didn't know? Yeah. Oh, okay. This was him going off of playing in a Ska band, though. He does There is one song with a little bit of horns, which I think he plays. Oh, boo. I hate it. No, I'm just kidding. It's like a big single. Nausea. Oh, it's going to make me nauseous. I love when you play black metal without distortion. It's just ska. Yeah. There was one that was like, it was surf rock. Yeah. like Master of Puppets, as that sounds like surf rock. But yeah, yeah, this album was fairly new. It's 20 15. It's not the newest album we've done on the podcast, but it's definitely on the newer end. It's only ten years old. And that was 20 15. What? That was like 3 presidents ago. That was a bungler. Oh, bummer. Oh, bummer. That's one of the good days. It was the beginning of the end in my memory. It really was. It was the election year before the bad times began. Well, everyone thought Hillary was going to win. Yeah. Like, no one thought. But that was pretty shitty, too. I know. We were all, like, naive. Yeah. We were all naive at that time. Young and naive. Spent a lot of that year being like, yeah, I fucking hate Donald Trump. And people were like, yeah, I'm so with her too. Like, no, I fucking hate Hillary. Shut the hell up. Yeah, I was like, this is the best we got. That was my feeling, but I still voted for Hillary because I was like, yeah, I'm not gonna. You hold your nose and you still do it. Yeah. I caucused for Bernie, so it's not my fault. But yeah, that was ten years ago, which is wild to think about. It's been a decade. I was still a guitar player back then. You were. Yeah, Megaton was still a thing then. Still active for probably another year. Yeah. But yeah, this album was called We Cool. And Steve, what do you think of that cover? It should have had a question mark. Doesn't it? So, we cool? We cool? We cool? It's a really smashed up car. In a driveway. In a driveway. It just says we cool under it. We cool, bro? Oh, that's great. I love it. I can picture the kind of guy, too. Yeah. Well, and then, yeah, you turn it around, and it's a guy in a bathtub with a bottle of barefoot wine, so That's him, no? Yeah, that is him. Great cover. I love it. Yeah. I first became familiar with him because he opened for AJJ for a while. Oh, I love AJJ. Yeah. And, like, yeah, they toured together for quite a while. And then I just started checking out his records. And I really liked the video for, like, the big single off of this, which is Nausea. And just kind of started getting into his stuff as I was in that phase recently where I started listening to new music a lot more, which is good. But, yeah, now I'm going to go see him. I I'm looking forward to it. Denver's always a good trip. Gonna go to the goth tiki bar while I'm down there too and have the, uh, and have the Mai Tai that's, like, old style and malort that they serve there. So, uh, your method of transportation, are you gonna be staying on the rails on a normal train? Yes, I'll be staying on the rails on a normal train. All aboard! Yeah, that kinda looks like your car, Steve. Yeah! It doesn't look like my car we talked about. It's the same color. Well, I mean, all cars look the same. I don't know. Did we get the file fax on that thing or whatever that fucking Remember, give me the fax. Oh, Carfax? Carfax. That was a sponsor of the show today. I liked how I listened to an episode and I said, I think I said some sponsor that sponsors everything and you bleeped me. There's also a point where you said it 5 times in a row, but I let it. stay under the beat, because I thought it made it funnier. So you can still hear it. Yeah, on this first side we have Get Old Forever, You in Weird Cities, Novelty Sweater, Nausea, Beers Again Alone, and I'm Serious, I'm Sorry. All of these fit the, uh, all of these, like, when you look at the cover, kind of fit the mood of the cover, too. Like, all these song titles. And if we don't like it, he's apologizing for it at the end, so there you go. Although you and weird I don't know, this could fit you and weird cities. But yeah, we will get it started. Hell Don't stop believing. I do like the collage of noises that you put at the end of. Like when we're mic checking. Those are always fun. It's getting pretty long, but I think it is probably about time to wrap. Collage of noise. I think it's about a minute now. Yeah. Well, I saw, like, because I listened to the last, or no, it was the Joy Division one. I just finished that one on Friday. And I was like, there's 2 minutes left. And then all of a sudden Anyways, sorry. I'm gonna go change my pants. I always wonder how many people know that that's actually there. I wonder if people just start skipping. If it wasn't for there being a new bit at the end each time, I would start skipping. I know, that's part of the reason why I started putting those there. Because I don't know what you put there, because you don't tell me, and so it's just like it's a fun new surprise every week. Well, he doesn't let us know what's in the cold opens either. No, yeah, that's part of the fun too. It's good. Gotta keep it fresh. Yeah. Gotta keep it exciting. Exactly. Yeah. But you also have to watch out what you say, because one of the cold opens, I'm sitting there eating. Because I was like, oh, he's not recording. Yeah, and then you were saying all this funny shit. And it's like punctuated by me going And it was probably like that bag of It was probably that bag right there, yeah. That bag's lasted about 6 weeks now. Yeah. All right. And we are back from side one of We Cool by Jeff Rosenstock. Good inflection. Yeah. I heard the question mark this time. The question mark was heard this time. Before we really get started on it, one thing that I was going to mention but forgot. He has his own pride flag that he designed that he puts on stage behind them and you can buy. He's non-binary, still uses he, him. But yeah, this is the pride flag. Ah, that's excellent. That's pretty good. That's pretty good. So I've seen all the starts of a pride flag, but in the corner, like with the American flag, there is Where the stars would be. Yeah, where the stars would be. There's a blue square that says 6, 6, 6 that's surrounded by marijuana leaves. I know a few people who own this flag, too, so yeah. Hell yeah. It's a good flag. Steve's excited. Yeah. Maybe when I go see him, I'll see if they're selling it at his merch table. See if he'll sign it for you. Yeah. you know all those people that are signing flags and stuff that's like desecration of an american flag they should be put in jail and then all the people who like kid rock who wear the flag as a poncho for some reason because that's respectful yes that's respecting it i saw some dude in russia got arrested because he like tore down this like russian flag but it had like a picture of putin on it so it wasn't like really a russian flag yeah but Actually, I have an American flag on my shirt. You can't. They're all over the goddamn place. It's impossible. Well, yeah. So what did we all think of this side of music? It is a lot sadder than I thought it was going to be. It was good. I enjoyed it. It was pretty cool. We cool? We cool? Yeah. It was sad. It wasn't like a happy upbeat side of music. Some of the production and the songwriting reminds me a lot of like Pete's favorite bands. So like part of me is thinking like, oh, I think Pete would like this. And then I'm like, well, I don't exactly have a great track record on some things that Pete would like. Or Sean. I don't even know what Sean likes sometimes. I like it quite a bit. I liked how every song kind of built up. Noise and that kind of stuff. Like how there would be a lead guitar part that wouldn't come in until the second verse on a lot of songs. I liked I liked how it would start all quiet and then get loud, but not like in a pixies way, like in his own way. Yeah. Yeah. There were a lot of moments where it suddenly like slowed down and then suddenly it would suddenly it would come back in like it didn't build back up. It's just, you know, 0 to 60, you know, the crescendos and the cutoffs where or maybe more like 60 because it was like still moving. But, you know. Yeah. This is very much what a lot of, like, present-day punk is a lot like, too. It's kind of taken a soup of, you know, like, 77 punk and hardcore and post-hardcore and post-punk and all that and, like, mixed a lot of the elements together. And when you take that many elements, you can do kind of your own thing a lot more, too. Like, it's gotten to the point, you know, like, in the nineties, There's a point where punk kind of was starting to get formulaic. And now it's just been around long enough. There's so many elements you can draw from that you can do all kinds of things. I will say about the production, though, like it did seem like everything was turned up to an 11. Yeah. And it was just like I think some of the nuances were missing a little bit. Yeah. Like, especially in the louder parts. Like, when it was quieter, those are the parts I enjoyed more than the actual, like Yeah. Because, like, I could hear more of the production. I could actually hear his voice because there were times when it was really loud, I couldn't hear a fucking word he was saying. Exactly. And the lyrics, I appreciate. I appreciate it a lot. Very interesting word choice. Yeah. I related pretty hard to a lot of the lyrics, which might say some things about me. Exactly. The way I currently relate to a lot of them, I'm like, oh, fuck. But yeah, that was my, I think if I had a complaint about it was the production and not being able to hear things like the nuances and stuff. production does sound like it came from someone who came from a collective band called Bomb the Musicians. It is very indie sounding. Or, well, indie punk sounding. Yeah, it was lo-fi. Like, the quiet moments were lo-fi, but so were the loud moments. Yeah. Like, usually when you hear lo-fi, you think of stuff that's like That last track off that Dinosaur Jr. album we did. I did notice the playing wasn't perfect. And I'm not saying that as a derogatory thing. It was just very honest takes. If there was an imperfection in the playing, I noticed it tended to be left in. Yeah. I'd be curious if they recorded it analog or if they did digital. Because sometimes that makes a difference too. Oh yeah, because you only have so much tape. Yeah. It doesn't say on here, but I wouldn't be surprised if this was analog. It sounded It had a hiss to it. Yeah, analog has like a warmer feel to it sometimes, I think, in my opinion. Yeah. Overall, it's a pretty strong side of music. I felt like it had a good flow to it in the way the songs were flowed in one to the next. It was Like, he knew when to put in the slow song and when to speed things up. It was overall, like, pretty well, well-crafted as a side, too. It did have a variety of different vibes and whatnot. Sometimes within the same song. Yeah, there was one moment where I was like, Oh, is this still the same song? And you're like, oh, yeah. Yeah. Well, he was he was doing kind of the seamless song to song. So I thought it was the next song. So that was one of the best songs, too, I think, partially because of that change. But yeah, I guess it's this is a good time to go track by track. first one, get old forever. intro did sound very jackson uh andrew jackson jihad very very because like it was acoustic yeah and like you know how they would sing he kind of said he kind of sounded like him a bit yeah And then, like, I liked it, too. You know, like, how kind of, like, that kind of lo-fi sounding synth drum came in, and you're like, okay, this is going to be the instrumentation for the rest of the song. And then, nope. Loud punk music by the end. It went from, like I called the build from Not Ben Shin to Skate Punk. The step in between. Not Ben Shin, Jimmy Hobbs is a friend of ours who does like acoustic anti-folk stuff. But yeah. And his songs are like 30 seconds long. Yeah. Hell yeah. I thought it had some interesting percussion in it. And there were some dynamic moments where I mean, we mentioned this during the the other part but at some dynamic moments where the song shifts down a bit and then and then it just ramps back up like out of nowhere um i've already i already talked a little bit about like the the production that on this song kind of applied to the rest of it just kind of a yeah a lo-fi like almost pop punk or skate punk production but not quite Yeah. And then, like, for, like, a pop punk, state punk stuff, there's still, like, a lot of synths in it once it gets loud. Yeah. It was, like, it was a pretty, for a lo-fi song, like, even in the loud, like, the loud parts were pretty busy. There was, like, a lot going on. Not in a bad way either, too, I think, but I But I thought, like, all the parts fit, but there was, like, a lot layered in there. Which, I don't know, yeah, maybe a higher fidelity thing where you could pick out all the parts might have worked too, like you were saying, Sean. Yeah, I mean, if I could I'd probably have to listen, like That's the thing about, too, listening to things for the first time. You're always trying to pick out something to take you through the song. So when it's like a production that's all the way up, I'm like scrambling. My brain's scrambling to pick out something to latch on to. Like sometimes it's the vocals or sometimes it's like the guitar and stuff. So, But I just thought it was, I liked it when it kicked into the punky part, but I couldn't, like I said, I couldn't hear his vocals very well. This was one of the songs where I was like, interesting word choice for like Debride, for example, is just painted a picture, set a tone. And for, you know, the first song, pretty good. like, yeah, good word choice for, like, a first impression for where the whole thing is going to be, too. Yeah. And yet I still found myself song after song being like, oh, this is the sad one. Oh, no, wait, this is the sad one. Which one's the saddest? It's either I'm serious, I'm sorry, or nausea. Like, one of those 2, but they're all pretty sad. Yeah. Next up was, I don't know, if you wanted to make a case for the least sad one, You in Weird Cities. The title of this one reminds me of how I just drive around the small rural towns. Yeah. I like weird villages, I guess, but I noticed it had some really fast and loose playing, and slows down suddenly, and ramps back up with a guitar lead, and I really enjoyed it. I thought it was cool. this is the one that had that stop and totally different picks up totally different thing only thought it was a maybe at the different song yeah that me the one who's listened to this album before it's like no the song is not over yeah i was like not not because i because i was already writing the next name of the next song and i'm like wait a minute and then you're like no it's not the song i was like fuck Yeah, I really like the growl the bass had in this one, like the galloping growl it had, especially at the beginning where the bass was holding down the song while he was singing, and then when he would finish a line, there'd be like a guitar stab almost. Yeah. Yeah, and it sounded like an Andrew Jackson Jihad song fast. Yeah, yeah. Like their later stuff where they picked up the pace and stopped doing all acoustic. Yeah, about Knife Man on. Yeah, Knife Man. Knife Man. oh man if you haven't heard andrew jackson jihad steve we need to bring in an album for you i say knife man knife man sits at the like sits at the edge between like their early you know like like younger all acoustic kind of edgy jokes phase and they're um like later more electric i'm depressed because i worked with homeless people for a while uh lyrics and so like it's it's like it's it's like a perfect intersection between those 2 Yeah. The first song is an acoustic song called the Michael Jackson of drunk driving. They have another song later on called sorry, bro, which is I would hate to be like you, but I'm still rooting for you. So it's like the full, full range of emotions. Yeah. They're, they're, they're a great band. They're a nice man. Suddenly made me remember that story you told me about how that one band would play Dodge Knife and it freaked Metallica out. No, The Replacements. Yeah, The Replacements. The Replacements scared Metallica. Yeah. I love the titles of their songs. Like, one of the songs is, like, People to the Reckoning. Yeah. Yeah. so anyways anyway uh back to uh one more note on you and weird cities i did like that part at the end though like that little that little shift and change i thought that i thought it was a good dynamic yeah it worked really well i think this is the second best song on the side really um let me take can i see the album cover real quick yes just See, you comma in weird cities. I just enjoy what he did with Because it feels like it's talking to you. You in weird cities. And then it's in the song, in the lyrics, he's talking to someone else. I just, I like the double usage. Well, yeah, he's like the double Because he's like, when I hear your records, I feel like we're hanging out or something like that. Yeah. The least sad song on the side, really. Yeah. The way you are or the way you are in weird cities. It's a nice one. Yeah. The second biggest hit on this side, too. Next up we have Novelty Sweater. This was my favorite on this side. You mentioned the bass in the last one, and it had a similar sludgy distorted bass on this one. Oh yeah, bass was all fleshed out on this one. I love that it had synths that sounded like old eighties arcade cabinets. Yeah, like that burbly kind of sputtering synth. And also the spooky vocals were cool. The verse didn't get me right away until it came back in after the chorus. But the chorus elevated it so much that when I got back to the verse, it's like, okay, I'm on board for the whole thing. it sounded a lot like like weezer to me too like i was gonna say it's very this song is very sounding uh i can imagine it being on the blue album yeah but i'm thinking of the sweater song you know might be a reference to them like yeah like i have this idea it sounds kind of like weezer let's make it be about a sweater only let's have it being about getting drunk and uh throwing up on a sweater Which is funny because Rivers Cuomo apparently didn't start drinking until sometime after he finished writing the songs for the Blue Album, so say it ain't so. It was about him freaking out about his stepdad having beer in the fridge without realizing that it was a healthy, normal amount of drinking that his stepdad was doing. Because he's a dork, but yeah. Oh yeah. Weezer's like the geek rock before it was a big thing. Yeah, yeah. Novelty Sweater was It was fun. It was a fun song. It was a little bit of a slowdown after You in Weird Cities, but I also think that's a good thing to do with the third song on the side is It only made me want to slip my wrist halfway instead of all the way. It wasn't as upbeat as You in Weird Cities, but it wasn't as depressing as the 3 songs after it. Are we ready to move on to the 3 songs now? Nausea. Great music video, big hit from this album. I think it's my favorite song on the album. Definitely my favorite on the side. I do like porn and RoboCop, too. Oh, yeah. You took my joke. Motherfucker. Extremely relatable. It's incredibly relatable. Like that chorus, I got so tired of discussing my future, I started avoiding the people I love. When I was in my twenties and didn't know where my life was going, and when scream calls from my parents because I was depressed. That really hit that feeling. That whole thing, you know, like you Fall asleep alone, wake up with a hangover, then just kind of bum around town for a while. Yeah. And avoid calls. Yeah, that's Nausea, like, as a state of limbo. Like, it's just uncomfy and you can't get rid of it. You can't just throw up and get past it either. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that one was Also in the music video, he gets disemboweled by a crowd at the concert and they pull tacos out of his guts. I did like the There was one part where it was kind of the breakdown and then there was a choir that came in kind of thing. There's a part where he's singing kind of just he lets his voice crack and he's singing just slightly off key yeah i like that part it's such a good control over a voice crack too yeah yeah you can tell he wasn't doing it on purpose it wasn't like the note was out of his range he was just doing it to make it crack yeah It was really good, and I liked the piano in the first and second verse, and I liked the little horn thing in the bridge. It didn't sound like Ska horns, it sounded like they might be giants horns. Yeah. If it had been Ska horn, I would have been punching you, Dave. Or like Chicago horns. Yeah. Yeah, piano was a nice little clear, crisp something to come through with all the distortion. And I like how Winnie, think it was, well, I don't know. I feel like this song, I don't have, like, the tools to talk sound engineering or anything like that, but it sounded cleaner when he had, like, cleaned up in the in the song well if it was the single it sounds like it was a little bit more produced so they like the record label may have actually like cleaned it up to make it more uh radio friendly and they said there was a music video so yeah we should watch that we should yeah we'll put that on after the record put it up on the Yeah, and then, like, he did, it's also interesting to see, like, him doing it live at this time with, like, a 3piece where instead of, like, the horns and the piano and all that, he's just doing the whole thing on guitar, and then the drummer is doing, like, a little synth part on a tablet. Yeah. during slower parts when he's when the drums aren't there. It's it's cool. This is, yeah, just like a really strong single. And it's depressing how much I relate to the lyrics. It's sad, sad, sad, sad, sad. The next one's pretty sad. Yeah. Beers again. Hello. No song. Big sad. No, no song called that is going to be happy. This song totally reminded me of Flogging Molly. You know, I bet Lemmy could do beer singing alone and they'd be happy. That's probably about it. Like, all they were missing was him having the Irish accent singing it, and it was like a flogging Molly song. Yeah, that sway your glass back and forth. Yeah, slow and anthemic. Put your arm around your Your buddy. Had some slide guitar in it. Take your hand off. Yeah, I didn't need a fiddle, too. That's all I needed. Oh, yeah, and an accordion. Well, I guess replace the synth accordion with the accordion. Yeah. Not a fiddle, it's a Blocking Molly song, yeah. But yeah, it was pretty good. It was I think it was I could hear this one a little bit better than some of the other ones. It was like a It's a good last call song, too, you know? Yeah, but I think I don't think it would have been a good side closer. No, I'm glad that it wasn't the side closer, that it was the penultimate song, I think. I thought it sat in a good spot, but I'm glad that the songs are short enough that he could fit six and six, so that We could move on to another song that was a good side closer, which is, oh, are we done talking about Beers Again Alone? Any more thoughts? Last call for Beers Again Alone? Last call for alcohol. Last call for free speech. I said everything I had to say about it. All right. And I just wanted to say it was flogging Molly. I'm serious. I'm sorry. I'm sad. I'm glad he apologized to me. I do. I do like songs that are about, you know, kind of like wistful songs about things that could have been that just didn't happen. I think that's more relatable as an adult than like the kind of lost love songs that are written from a younger perspective. Mm hmm. I think It's truer. Yeah, yeah, it's truer. If you're, like, 21 and saying, oh, I'm sorry. Yeah. That's just you, like, being sorry about your teen years. It's like, fuck you, dude. You have a lot more time. Yeah. But when you're in your forties and you're saying, I'm sorry about it, and you're like, dude, you don't have much time. You're probably gonna die alone. Yeah. I liked kind of, like, how the beginning arrangement was kind of like the Billy Bragg, just, like, voice and kind of muted electric guitar, and then when it got loud, I liked that dynamic, and then I liked the kind of more subtle whistle over the place with the lead guitar coming in on the second verse with the Billy Bragg type arrangement, and just how I kept layering things on as it kept going kind of felt like the layering on of regrets as you think more about it. This one didn't really grab me as much as the rest of them. And I didn't keep any notes. This one, I only said I liked the verse part where it's just the guitar and him singing. But this one was really the one where I'm like, man, everything's just fucking turned up so loud when it goes into the chorus i'm like i can't hear any uh the nuances and stuff i think this one was probably the worst of the bunch that did that to me in my opinion Yeah, I do wonder how a cleaner production would fit this. I mean, I read the lyrics as we listened, and there were a few that I would have never caught. I would have missed a lot with that. I don't remember this being one of them, but I'm also like a sucker for a kind of a narrative song. Kind of reminds me of a murder ballad. Yeah. Like a white collar murder ballad? Like a Reba McEntire murder ballad. But it was, I just, I am always down for a wallow and this is the sort of song I could wallow in. Yeah. Yeah, I, well, yeah, I like songs that have a good narrative too. Like, I, like I said, I didn't read the lyrics, but I couldn't hear what he was saying. So. guess I know I never thought about reading the lyrics I figure like a lot of times it's like I want to hear it like clean like so I want to be surprised sometimes because like sometimes like musicians will throw in a lyric that like just really you're like what what the fuck did he just say All right. Well, that was the first side. On side B, we have Hey Allison, Polar Bear Art Africa, Hall of Fame, All Blissed Out, The Lows, and Darkness Records. He should have totally named the other one The Highs. Like, The Lows, The Highs. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that would have worked. Yeah. Dude, talk to me next time you make an album. Call the podcast. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, Jeff. Hey, Jeff. I'm going to be at your show in Denver in like probably a month after this comes out. Every artist we've done is invited on the podcast. Especially if they're dead and they can become zombies. Especially if they're ace freely. Oh god, that would be obnoxious. It would be so obnoxious. I would do it though. I would own Sean on that one. Ace, you are invited on our podcast. Yeah, I would go on it and just tell him how much I think his tone is shit. Actually, I think what would be the most interesting would be the Iced Earth guy. Oh, God. I'm sure no one's talking about him. I think we would legit have fun with Ace Frilly. I don't think we would legit have fun with him. No, we wouldn't, but it would be good to listen to. John, what the fuck were you thinking? So, John, what was it like in the Capitol? Were you the one that shit on Pelosi's desk? What was it like getting shit thrown at you while you were in the cell? Anywho. Are you happy you narked on everyone, John? Yeah. Have you gotten any death threats from anyone that you've narked on to try to shorten your sentence, even though it didn't end up mattering? Yeah. Oof. Oof. Oof. Yeah. Fuck you, John. Thank you, John. Thank you for your service. Yes, thank you for all the comedy you've brought us. We are rolling. Keep rolling, rolling, rolling. Chocolate starfish in the hot dog flavored water. I did it all for the nookie. The nookie. Come on. The nookie. So you can take that cookie. And shove it up your Yeah. Anyway, we are back from side B of We Cool? By Jeff Rosenstock. What did everyone think of the side as a whole? I think I liked side B more than side one. Usually Yeah, listening to it closely, I felt this side a little more, I think. Just the way it flowed. I think Nausea is still my all-time favorite track on the album. It was a great choice for a single, but I liked the story this was telling by putting these songs in this order. I think side one would have benefited with a song that was the same pace as Hey Allison, I think. Yeah. I actually like this side better, too. I thought it was a lot It seemed like he was Like the first side was like his, uh Maybe I'll get a little bit famous or whatever. I don't know. It was the safe side. This was the more fun, experimental side. I agree as well. There was more variety in this side. That's what I liked. I felt like it had a flow that the first side didn't have. The first side was as far as vibes go. I liked where it put stuff. I liked how it Yeah, how it chose when to put which song and how it would wait longer before getting loud than some of the songs on the first side. A lot of the slower songs on the first side, too, gave it more time to breathe before before coming in with, like, the bass and the drums and the really loud lead guitar. Yeah. I feel like this side was a better thesis for, like, the other side to be under, and I thought they would have been better swapped as far as side A and side B. Yeah, I think if I was- if I owned this record, I would probably start with the second side. Although I might put, uh, Darkness Records at the end still. i did feel like that was a good closer yeah there's a there's a few things that i would rearrange like the the one the more experimental song on this side i think belongs on side uh b but yeah yeah i liked how the uh i actually like the transitions into the songs uh each song it actually like like he like there was times where we're like oh it's new this next song like i we because he went into something completely different like uh from Polar Bear Africa in the Hall of Fame was completely seamless. And the same thing with Hall of Fame. The middle songs were all into each other, almost Ramones style, where it was just like, next song, next song, next song. I'm wondering if you'll do these songs when I see them, and if you will do them in the same order, because it's hard to imagine placing them in a different spot, other than just next to each other, because of how seamless those transitions were. Um, first song was Hey Allison, which was a great side opener. I agree. I think it was a really needed, like, pick-me-up after how depressing the previous 3 songs were. Totally. I wonder if he likes the Pixies, because they have a song called Allison as well. Which is about Moe's Allison, the blues player. Oh, no, I thought it was about, uh, it's about Alien. Like, he makes it Didn't know that I thought it was about it. I thought it was about alien. I mean it could also be about It was their aliens album where every song has aliens kind of yeah Yeah, like this was like a good like a good like pogoing song and like how it just like started for to the floor just Just like hey fuckers. Let's stop being sad. Let's dance. I Yeah, this and Polar Bear or Africa both had more like a classic, the closest I can get to my listening experience, like skate punk rock. Oh, yeah, yeah. This is definitely the kind of thing that you would rip onto like a cheap cassette tape and then bloody your elbows too while falling off your skateboard. Yeah, I made a similar note about the first 2 songs in my own notes. Yeah. at the boardwalk one thing i liked too was like especially in the second verse he didn't necessarily do what was expected with the vocal melody like you know like when you expect him to say he zigs a little bit yeah which i thought was cool it was like like a moment to be like yeah i think you know where the song is going oh wait that was really neat yeah Next up, I think Polar Bear R Africa is my favorite on this side. Kind of like the new wave power pop vibe, like it reminded me a lot of the cars in terms of just like the guitar and synth sound together and just like how many hooks were crammed into it and like the dynamic between like the palm muted with the louder guitar cutting in. the intro sounded like jesse's girl though it did jesse's girl sounds like a cars song it does even though it's not but yeah i i i know this is a uh i found a like a meme where it was like or a video where it was like these guys were like recording of jesse's girl and like the drummer was jesse and like hey and so like as he's going through the song lyrics like hit jesse's girls like sitting right next to the drummer and he's getting like more the drummer's getting more and more pissed off and jesse's like giving uh rick springfield like the eyes you know I was like, what the fuck, man? I think the cars were first, but I've always thought of Jesse's girl as kind of like a It was a cars ripoff. Or like a reference to my best friend's girl. Yeah. She used to be mine. On this one, I liked the synth sound that they had on the slower anthemic part. That was what stuck out to me the most. Yeah, and then I loved how it came in with the vocal harmonies after that. Yeah, it was, yeah, just like, and then ended with the shredding guitar. Yeah, the rest of the song didn't sound like Jessie's Girl. Yeah, like, yeah, this one, yeah, this is just a really solid song. It's a lot of, like, the pop elements that I like in a punk song just all crammed into one place. Any more thoughts? I think that's it. No, I never do. Yeah. Hall of Fame. The fuck you song. Yeah. It sounded very nineties emo, like, like, you know, like, like before emo, like broke huge and like the late nineties, early aughts, just like that kind of thing. Like. Like the kind of like early Jimmy World type of song. I like this one probably the best on this side because I could actually hear more of the production and like hear the instruments a little bit better. Everything was kind of turned down just a little bit so I could actually hear the nuances. Yeah. And it was like a slowdown but not like a complete slowdown. Yeah. It was just a slowdown from 2 really fast songs. Yeah. I like the buzzy bass sound on it. Yeah. I liked what the synths added to the chorus, too. I thought that gave it a little boost. It transitioned really well from the previous song as well. Yeah. Yeah, this is when they started going from song to song to song. Or he. I guess it's him. Yeah. And then all blissed out. That was totally the, I called it. I said, because it started being weird. I'm like, this is the experimental song. And Dave's like, yeah. I'm like, all right. Right in the middle of side 2 is where you put the experimental song. That's where I'm planning on putting the experimental song on our record. This one is probably my favorite on this side. Of course it is. I like it a lot. I'm just fucking with you, Steve. This is the most Steve song on the record, I think. I know. He's like, oh, it's Lucifer, man. I did not make that comparison. But if you want to, it's okay. I actually said it kind of reminded me of a Beatles song because it had this reverse It was either guitar or synth, but it had that reverse sound. I wonder if you're thinking of Tomorrow Never Knows. Probably, yeah. What I really liked about this song, though, is it had this really sad desperation in the vocals. It sounded like he was at the end of its rope. But then it also got spooky and picked up a bit. Yeah. I liked how the vocals had, you know, kind of like that buried kind of distortion on them. Yeah. Like, kind of like, sounded like he was sinking. Mm-hmm. Like he was underwater. Yeah. It was like a melancholy sea shanty. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Said reverse synth, that harmonica vibe. Yeah. Sweet. Yeah. Kind of made me want to play that pirate game from Microsoft. I forget the name of it. Sid Meier's Pirates? No, the multiplayer one. I know what you're talking about. Sea of Thieves. Yeah, Sea of Thieves. You can all play your instruments on it and have one in your hand. You can play That was fun. A squeeze box? Yeah, a squeeze box. Back when I still used to do game streaming with Serena, we'd play that one once in a while. Yeah, it was a lot of fun. We weren't very good at it, but it was fun. It's hard to be good at it. Especially if you're playing with any unserious person. Sometimes we like to just hijack ships and go into that section that automatically sinks the ships. LAUGHTER And, like, if you kick somebody off their ship, like, they respawn in that ship later. So you have to keep, like, fighting them off. So it just becomes this game of, like, hijack your ship. I wonder how long I'm going to have it. I played an earlier version. I heard it got a lot better later on. Because the version I played, it was a little janky. It was really hard to shoot fuckers with cannonballs when you're doing ship-to-ship battles. The last time I played it, I remember it being really hard to To hit him with the cannons a lot of times I like to sneak on board and sabotage from from within I like it whenever like a first-person shooter Gives you like flintlock guns speak it and you have to do like a like sped up little reload animation shots Cuz it takes much longer to do that, but it's like it's cool to see that Yeah Anyway, the low is kind of like Ship of Thieves. Yeah, it was the lows. It was the lows. Yeah. Oh, although I'm all blissed out. I did. I did like how brief the loud part was at the end. It felt like a climax and then how that led perfectly into the lows. And then, yeah, the lows was I like the sound of this one. I thought I had like an older like rock song vibe. Yeah. But I liked how I liked how much he spat out the lyrics in the chorus. It sounded, like, appropriately snotty. Yeah, he sounded angry. Yeah. So angry! But it was like a nice little pickup and more of a straightforward song right after the real experimental one. But also masterfully handled a transition from the weird experimental one into a more straightforward rock song, which is hard to do. Yeah. well yeah it it kind of just because he did that big he did that big outro from the other song into and then like like you said a seamless uh transition into this one and then finally darkness records this one this was a good song this was a very good one I like the bluesy and folky vibe for the first part. I will knock it a couple points because during the loud part, it was really overblown, I think. I was going to say the same thing. I hated the middle part. It could have cut out the loud part. The loud part was pretty brief, but if it would have just done the ooze that was in that part over just like an acoustic guitar, just like fast, you know, like strumming or droning, it would have, I think it would have worked a little better. yeah that like folky acoustic vibe was very uh very good and then the like the bass coming in around the after the second verse gave it like a bit more structure but i wrote distorted drum salad yeah i was like why is this here yeah Just started drumming. It was just loud and didn't really Because it was no longer musical at that point when they just Like everything. And I was like, well, this is everything I didn't like about this album right here. This one section. Yeah, and it was pretty brief, but it was like It would have felt more confident if it would have just like, had that, but without, like, the loud part, just, like, the oohs, maybe, like, an acoustic guitar strumming, and I think it would have worked really well, because I thought, like, when the bass and drums did come in and the bass was doing kind of, like, that country doo-doo type thing worked really well. Yeah. And then the circus music outro was cool. Yeah, the circus music outro was really good. Well played, sir. Well played. Well played. Yeah, this But, yeah, this was I think as a whole, a pretty strong record, a pretty good debut. One of my go-to songs by him, though, is from a later album, which is called The Future is Dumb, which I like to listen to whenever the news stresses me out. But this is still a really great record, one of his stronger ones, a pretty cohesive one. I liked how I liked how he played with the dynamics, and I liked how he followed the flow of things. I would like to hear a remix where some of the parts are easier to pick out. Yeah, I think that was my issue with it. I think it was fine. I think it was a fine record. I wouldn't say it's one of my favorites, but it was I liked I liked aspects of it more than I liked the whole thing. That sounds bad. Anyways. I don't personally see myself revisiting this one, but it was cool to listen to it amongst friends. Yeah. I liked the songwriting quite a bit. Like, the lyrics and the structure of all the songs I thought was really good. I might listen to it on a different format just to see if it sounds different. Because sometimes record can kind of distort things too. They do have to mix it differently. Yeah, because maybe this was recorded with CDs in mind or something like that. Or streaming. So maybe I might try streaming just to see if it sounds different. Yeah, there's a lot of really standout tracks on it too. Nausea is great too, but yeah, so is You in Weird Cities. So is Hey Allison and Polar Bear and Darkness Records. Like, there's really a lot on here. Like, there are any number of songs that I would put on a mix. Yeah, any final thoughts? It looks like Steve's strangling his cat. Are you knuckling his ear? Hell yeah. She loves that. Give that ear a good fisting. I say this is a good album. Fisting his pussy? What? I say this would be a good album if you're looking for something that's like in the like skater punk vibe, but, but not really like a fresh take on it. If you want some, if you want, if you want skater punk songs with like a lower production value and really sad lyrics. That's, that's really good. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This sounds, yeah. This sounds a lot like musically it sounds a lot like what would be on like yeah fat records in like the late nineties uh early aughts but lyrically a little a little sadder yeah uh but yeah that was i uh i don't know real quick i i just thought it was kind i thought kind of an andrew jackson jihad and like oh yeah like uh if i had a choice i'd probably just listen to andrew jackson jihad but i mean it's not it's not bad i don't want to knock one of your yeah an album that you love But I will, so fuck this album. Was it better than the Ace Frehley record? Yes. I didn't even have to think about that. I think a person farting in a microphone for 30 minutes would be better than the Ace Frehley album. Oh, the Airheads record. Alright, yeah, that was That was We Cool. Laura, do you have anything you want to plug? We Cool? We Cool? No. No? Okay. No. Maybe. You're going to get up and walk out like Gallagher walked out on Marc Maron. Yeah. No, I don't have any specific shows coming up, but check out Comedy at the Backline Theater. I'm usually around there. Yep. Laura does comedy. Check them out there sometime. And I'll plug Steve's single. It's fantastic. I've listened to it several times and I would listen to it again. What's it called again, Steve? Where can we find it? Where can we find it? On August 13th, which will be after this airs, I am releasing a cover of Black Sabbath's Paranoid in honor of the recently deceased Ozzy Osbourne. And that's paired up with an original song called General Malaise. And Go check that out on my website. You'll love it. Hell yeah. See, that's how you plug a fucking thing. Oh, what's your website? Oh, it's in the outro, but it's killrockmusic.com. Okay, cool. I'm John T. Killrock. And I'm Shorty Lode. We should start crediting you as John T. Killrock. On releases. Well, I guess it's better in mine, Boozer Slug. I tag you on everything in Blue Sky, but you don't use Blue Sky, so you never see it. Oh, me? Yeah. Oh. Yeah, I haven't opened that app since I downloaded it. Like, I'm like, I have so many fucking social medias, I can't keep up with them. Or you can go on there and, like, say a joke and then have someone respond completely seriously. It's really funny. Like, any kind of joke? Any kind of joke. Or, like, you'll say, or, like, you can post a picture of your dog and people will be like, I don't think it's appropriate to post a picture of your dog while the U.S. is falling to fascism. It's like, okay. Yeah. blue sky seems to be liberals and communists arguing well yeah i just want to say i am teaching my dog how to play guitar nice it would be inappropriate for you to post that i should post the picture though see her guitar dogs my dog my dog is For the visual people, my dog has a little stuffed acoustic guitar that she's been like, like we've been playing with for the last couple of days. Does it squeak when she bites it? Yes. And she's like She likes to, she's a, my dog's a boxer. She likes to, um, when she, she'll have a toy in her mouth and like kick a ball around, like playing soccer. And like, while she's kicking the ball around, she's like biting the toy. So it makes a squeaking sounds. I was like, Oh, So she's double fisting toys? Yeah. And I can hear her coming into my room because she does it while I'm reading. She's like, stop reading, motherfucker, and start playing. She doesn't really like to be pet. She likes plays. Yeah, she likes to play. You try to touch her, she's like, what the fuck you doing, man? The fuck? Don't touch me. Pull on this rope. Don't fucking touch me. Don't fucking touch me. Pull the rope, but don't touch. Touch the rope, not me. Knows what she wants. Respect. It's kind of like my wife. Pull the rope, don't touch me. Which you can see on their joint OnlyFans. Yes. Which is on sale. For half off. Starting now. Sean wears a Gimp mask. My name is Gimpy. See how many butt plugs I can Did you borrow the Gimp mask from Pete or did you get your own? I borrowed it and he didn't want it back. I told him I cleaned the stains out, but he didn't believe me. He's like, what's this? I was there when I got it. So in our old band, our drummer would wear a gimp mask sometimes. Not for the entire show, usually, because he couldn't make it through the whole show. Yeah. I don't know. I don't think I could actually wear a gimp mask. I think it would feel suffocating. I hated wearing gas masks when I was in the military. Yeah. And what are gas masks, but gym masks for the military? Last time we played outside, I couldn't keep my shirt buttoned through one song, so It was a sexy chest there, Dave. It was. It was I think that's the best I've ever looked, so I'm going to be exposing my chest out a lot more shows now. That's going to be the cover of the first album. It's going to be like Black Sabbath Volume 4, except it's Dave with his chest out. Take off your sweater, Dave. Oh, yeah. This was Side One, Side B. Catch you on the flip side. Flipity flopty. Bugs are good if you dip them in ranch. I had crickets in Colorado. They were not bad. Yeah. I had Rocky Mountain oysters in Colorado. How was that? Terrible. Really? No, I'm just kidding. Oh, okay. I've never been to Colorado. How have you never been to Colorado? Wait, like Denver? I've been to the Denver airport. You've been to Colorado the way I've been to Utah. You know, that makes you part of the Illuminati now. Yeah, but Utah isn't right next door. Yeah, I just, I've never been. Interesting. Oh my gosh. I wanted to go. I wanted to go to Estes Park and visit the stand. Oh, thin, beautiful, spooky. We should book an illiterate show in Denver and go do that. Yeah, just like that. I think my wife would kill me, though, because she keeps talking about going Let's make it into a band trip. Me and Dana had a blast when we went to Denver and Tower of the Elephant God was playing. We turned it into a trip. Oh, okay. Great camp in Estes. I'm not much of a camper, though. But then don't camp in Estes. There's a ton of great bookstores in Denver that you can stop by. And there's also a lot of really cool bookstores at any given mountain town. You just have to look a little bit. Yeah. Me and my ex, Jill, saw Soundgarden at Red Rocks, and that was awesome. Nice. Well, that's kind of what I do when I first get to a new town is I always look up used bookstores to kind of see what's around. Oh, they've got a bunch of cool ones. Oh, yeah. Side one side B is a floof goof studios production. Please check out the description for more information about the guests and the album reviewed. You can find us on blue sky under the names, kill rock music. That's K I L R a V O C K and Dave under beast master general. You can find us on Instagram under kill rock music, S W S and Dave underscore diction. And you can also find our regular contributor, Sean, under the name Boozer Slug. You can find Steve and Sean on threads with the same usernames as Instagram. Check out our post-punk band, The Illiterates, our experimental group, Lucid Fugue, and Steve's solo project, Kill Rock, on most major streaming platforms. You can visit Steve's website, killrockmusic.com, for easy access. That's K-I-L-R-A-V-O-C-K music.com. And if you want to check out Dave's past band, A Gong Farmer, and their album, Pop Dada, you can do so on Bandcamp. Thanks. Everyone we've worked with is dead. I'm really ripped. I need to change my pants. Check, check, check, check, check, check. Check, check, check, check, check, check. Leonard Bernstein. I hate it so much I skipped the whole Destroyer. Allow me to play you out. Dirty Dave just pooped his pants. Hmm. Hmm. Yes. Yes, indeed. Perfect hooker murdering song. Kick out the jazz, motherfucker! Are you ready? Steve's got some cheese. Get my podcast boys ready to go. Cha-wobble. What a name. I'm Ivan Moody, and I'm having a psychotic break. Testicles. That is a fun fact. There's a jazz hole. What do you mean this song is called Sweet Pea? Now that we're done with Steve's Rorschach test, let's talk about the album. For fuck's sake. That's not very Vivian of you guys. It's a professional operation over here. This is Fantasia for people who had to repeat the 9th grade. Heavy metal. Yeah, hands off, Britain. Dump it in the sea again. Shove it, shove it, shove it. You know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know. I love California. Cunt. Aight, aboard! All right, all right, all right, all right, all right. Collage of noise.