L.A.-based band, Manners, came out swinging with their debut EP, Robbery, at the end of last year. Boasting an anthemic pop-punk/emo style reminiscent of some major names in the genre, the band really shines here by blending influences with their own style to leave listeners with a dynamic and refreshing sound.
Poppy vocal flows pull you into a wild ride of emotional guitar work, unique transitions, punchy drums, and solid bass lines. Each track flows effortlessly into the next, which is one reason why this is such an impressive debut. The EP feels like a complete set of songs, and it leaves you wanting more. That's exactly what an EP is supposed to do.
We asked the band to give a quick description of each track from the EP.
"The four tracks on the album are the combination of truly our first experience composing music together as a group. Comparing tapes of us first writing the songs to the final product is not only indicative of how much effort we put into the record, but also how much we grew as musicians the more we practiced and played. Not to mention, the mentorship we had in the songwriting process we had from Alex made the songs what they are today as well."
"The song Robbery was based on an unfortunate situation that happened to us at a gig in North Hollywood. While we were playing someone had broken into our car and stole pretty much all of our personal belongings that we brought as well as some expensive music gear. The rage created by that situation leads us to Robbery and all of the innuendos of stealing stuff.
"'Therapy at 5 is pretty self-explanatory. Me (Ayden) and Zach usually had therapy right after school at 5. In terms of the creation of the song though, it was originally a tune that we wrote for a little school dance we played like 2 years ago that we revisited once we started taking music more seriously. We cranked the bpm up 50 and started screaming a lot more and bam, a song was born.
"Infiniti Stoned was written when we just started playing live shows. We were listening to a lot of new emo and based a lot of the song off Jank. Beyond that, the lyrics are about hating the people at my high school and the difficulty of living with drama and negativity plaguing your conscious even though you know you are a good person.
"Movies like Fred is a play on the popular emo song "Movies like Juno". This was another one we wrote right as we started playing shows, and the themes of my school and people being mean reared its head in again."
We're not sure what the band has planned next, but it's obvious that they've found "their sound", and we can't wait to see what their future holds. You can jam along to the EP in its entirety below. We also added a couple of tracks to our Underground Punk playlist on Spotify. Make sure to follow Manners so you can stay on top of what else they have going on!
Manners - Robbery EP