This is turning into the summer of pop-punk for me. Perhaps that's because there's so much music being released that just feels like the music that made me fall in love with punk rock in the first place. Know Who Your Friends Aren't is the second album (and first in five years) from Moncton, New Brunswick's The Follow Ups. It's out now on Faster and Louder Records in Canada and Mom's Basement Records in the U.S.A. In a totally good way, this album reminds me of the '90s. The Follow Ups take me back to a time when the lines between pop-punk and straight-up snotty punk rock were blurred. These guys play ballsy three-chord punk rock with snotty vocals and lyrics that are humorous in a wonderfully obnoxious way. Vocally, they give off Vindictives/Sloppy Seconds vibes. Musically, they seamlessly move between that Lookout! Records via the Ramones lane that is such a sweet spot for Mom's Basement and a faster, more aggressive '80s-influenced approach to punk rock. This is a really fun album. These guys never take themselves too seriously, but they are serious about playing high quality pop-punk. Their ability to write consistently good songs in varying styles is rare in this genre. Know Who Your Friends Aren't is a super-solid record that doesn't try to break any new ground and doesn't need to. You might like this one even if pop-punk isn't always your thing!
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