Pop punk comes in many forms, including comedy. The upbeat cheeriness of the music just seems to lend itself to goofing around literally and lyrically. It exploded in the 90’s mainly thanks to MTV, including pop punk on every soundtrack to every single show they had at the time. Indeed some of the “harder” more established bands of the time even got sucked into it (take a bow Sick Of It All and H20.) Many of the bands were throwaway and made a mockery of the scene, but the genuine bands stuck around and are largely still active. Now in 2019, Idaho’s Urban Outfielders are here to take us back to that time and on this evidence they are going to be around for a while as their new E.P “Out Of This World” is pop punk at its finest.
Looking to conquer the world in sports themed pop punk they kick off these 4 tracks with “Big League Chew” an ode to their love of all things baseball including its chewing gum evidently. A solid punk attack with a sing along chorus and simple quick solos. Perfect. Next. “Do it With You” examines the relationship with small home town teams as opposed to big city teams-a love song, punk style if you will, or is it just a giant F-you to the Yankees. You decide. Vocalist Deano Barengrill is instantly likeable with his Rivers Cuomo/Laura Jane Grace tones which are none more palpable than in “Where Did He Go? (Tito)” another ode, this time to lost players. The final track is a ferocious shout out to Major League Baseball legend Ichiro Suzuki, who I’m sure lists this as one of his crowning achievements.
Urban Outfielders have managed to create a fun pop punk album, with a genuine heart and some truly outstanding moments whilst avoiding all the horrible whiny teenage high school clichés that so many bands play up to in that genre. They’ve added a bit of bite to their sound from previous releases, which serves them well and I can honestly say that “Out Of This World” is just that.