Love & Loathing – With Confidence
This article was originally posted on the S&R Blog.
One of the greatest joys of this exercise is hitting play on a new album from an artist I’ve never heard of and having the seconds blow me away while simultaneously be a totally unexpected style. Of course, pop-punk is one of the styles that will always grab my attention, as the genre is still, in my mind at least, rooted in the mid-2000’s rock that dominated airwaves when a Lil’ John track wasn’t YEAHing instead. Even though it wasn’t my favorite or even third favorite style back when I was the age With Confidence’s musicians were when they formed, the sounds will always send me back to high school in the best way. Every movie and TV show was connected to this music and it continues to evoke that sends of excitement and energy that only a late teenager can have, thinking everything they’re doing is new and different from those before them. 10 years later, I know the folly of that thinking. But listening to Love and Loathing’s stellar guitar riffs and soaring vocal hooks helps me to forget the knowledge adulthood slams down on a 20-year-old and pretend, if only for half an hour, that the world is only as large as the town I’m living in and I can rule it if I just try hard enough. I’m too old to be going back to school now, but I’m never too old for music that reminds me of my best times there.
Check out Love & Loathing by With Confidence on Spotify and Apple Music.
And check out Mike Wohl on Spotify and Apple Music and Soundcloud!