Jeff Rosenstock – ‘Melba’

Jeff Rosenstock has had a huge career in entertainment, with bands and TV work over many years. The musician and songwriter from Long Island New York was the lead singer of ska punk band, The Arrogant Sons Of Bitches, the musical collective, Bomb The Music Industry!, and the indie rock band, Kudrow. He began his solo career following the breakup of ‘Bomb’, and had released his latest track, ‘Melba’, along with a cinematic music video.

Bomb The Music Industry! made a name for themselves with their DIY punk ethic, giving away six albums’ worth of free material online, and ensuring their all-ages shows charged no more than $10 for tickets, as well as allowing fans and friends to play live with the band if they learned a tune and brought their own instruments. They were responsible for inspiring a generation of new punks around the world, and devastated fans when they played their last show in January 2014.

Rosenstock moved to producing records for the likes of Mikey Erg, Dan Adriano, and The Smith Street Band, but his passion for songwriting remained, and he began releasing music under his own name, with 2016 album ‘Worry’ the piece de resistance. The album squeezed 17 tracks into under 40 minutes, and saw Jeff and his new band invited to appear on ‘Last Call With Carson Daly’, as well as high praise from the likes of USA Today, who named it their #1 album of the year. The new found success brought with it a demanding tour schedule, and the band went on the road for two straight years, only pausing to record new material.

The new material became the surprise New Year’s Day release of ‘Post-‘, through Polyvinyl Record Co. Written in a double-wide trailer in the Catskill Mountains, shortly after the 2016 US presidental election, the songs are “chiefly concerned with losing hope in your country, yourself, and those around you”. ‘Melba’, from the album, is pure post-punk reminiscent of blink-182 and is paired with a cinematic music video focusing on breaking free from the everyday mundane. The lyrics about forgetting who you are with age, and losing touch with the dreams of your youth are immensely relatable.

Check out Polyvinyl Records and Jeff Rosenstock’s Bandcamp page for more information.