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Fun Size

Since We Last Spoke

Written by: PP on 28/12/2013 21:47:36

There's a fun little story on the Facebook page for Richmond, Virginia's very own Fun Size, which recounts the band starting as a pop punk band between high school friends in early 90s and using it as a way of growing up together and playing shows during school breaks across the East Coast. After a brief stint on Fueled By Ramen during the label's early days, the band broke up after releasing their first full-length in 1998. 14 years later, the band members all found themselves living in Richmond again, and so they thought it'd be fun to write a release another Fun Size record.

"Since We Last Spoke" is what came out of that writing session, ten songs worth of polished pop punk with few skate punk vibes, and of course plenty of references to late 90s greats in the genre. Millencolin circa "Life On A Plate" / "Pennybridge Pioneers" is what comes to mind first, thanks to their lead vocalist owning very similar pipes to Nikola Sarcevic, but if you look at bands like No Use For A Name during their "More Betterness" record, No Fun At All, or even Strung Out (minus the technical guitars), you're not that far off from how Fun Size sounds like in 2013. So in other words, a throwback towards the golden era of melodic punk rock, as is evident in tracks like "Everything You Need", "Hell", "Soundtrack", and many others on the record.

But even as Fun Size reference some of my favorite bands and my favorite era in music, it's clear they're not writing choruses and melodic riffs quite on the same level as the heavyweights in the genre. There are quite a few catchy tracks here and there, but the heavy amount of polish in the production and in the skate punk guitars does them no favours, just like it didn't help Millencolin too much on "Home From Home", which aside from "Machine 15" is still my least favorite record by the Swedes. A little more edge, a little more character would do wonders here to make the songs stick out from each other a little more.

Download: Everything You Need, Hell, Difference, Soundtrack
For the fans of: Millencolin, Mike, No Use For A Name,
Listen: Facebook

Release date 09.04.2013
Self-Released