Although pop-punk has fallen out of vogue in recent years, Pennsylvania rockers The Wonder Years have never been fazed by the fickle nature of mainstream culture.
Defined by blunt honesty and a heart-on-sleeve mentality, the group return to Australia for the sold-out Soundwave shows next year where the band will be among many mates.
“We have heaps of friends playing. I'm super excited for Motion City Soundtrack, Fucked Up and This Is Hell,” says lead singer Dan Campbell, who also admits that Blink-182 tops his “must see” list. “I'm a huge wrestling fan too, so naturally I'm super excited to see Chris Jericho's band Fozzy.” Campbell sounds super excited and goes on to list at least ten others.
The band’s latest release is a deluxe edition of their most recent full-length, Suburbia: I've Given You All And Now I'm Nothing. Campbell is eager to explain the decision to release a book with the package.
“We think it's a cop-out to release a deluxe edition for no real reason, so we approached our label with an idea. We had a photographer tour with us for a year and he took about a hundred thousand photos of every moment of our lives. We whittled those down to about a thousand, put them in a book with handwritten tour stories and lyrics, and attached comes the download for the deluxe version of Suburbia... with B-sides and acoustic versions.”
The band enjoy staying busy, and the next 12 months will prove no exception. Their relentless tour habits are set to continue and a fourth album is almost entirely written, awaiting recording early in the new year.
“We're hopefully in the studio January and my fingers are crossed for a late May release for the album but it may not be out until early June.”
The subject of the recent re-election of the President Obama is raised, and Campbell discusses the role of politics within the band.
“We're pro-gay marriage, we're pro human rights and we're particularly concerned with trying to sway people from the idea that they should vote for the candidate with the same religious beliefs as themselves.”
Suburbia: I've Given You All And Now I'm Nothing deluxe edition is out now. The Wonder Years play the following shows on the Soundwave tour:
Sat Feb 23 - RNA Showgrounds (Brisbane) SOLD OUT
Sun Feb 24 - Olympic Park (Sydney)
Fri Mar 01 - Flemington Racecourse (Melbourne)
Sat Mar 02 - Bonython Park (Adelaide)
Mon Mar 04 - Claremont Showgrounds (Perth)
