The moment I heard the vocals from Just Barely, I was taken back to 20+ years ago to a show at the Sidebar in Baltimore where my old band, The Overprivileged, was playing with Osker, that snotty fucking dope punk band that was on Epitaph Records, because that’s exactly what Just Barely sounds like. And to me that’s a fucking compliment ‘cause I loved that band. I’m probably one of a few people that have both their CDs as well as their split 7” with Blindsided. Coincidentally, when I mentioned it to the band, they told me they actually cover an Osker song, so fuck yeah.

The first song “Just Barely” is about the pain of loss which two band members wrote when they were at sea and had to find ways to deal with the death of both of their fathers. Having experienced my own share of loss, I can totally relate, and I really dig this song, and can really feel the emotion both in the performance and in the lyrics.

The second song “Someone other than Me” starts slow with muted guitar and plaintive vocals that diverge from the Osker sound. The song soon explodes into a full on skate punk song filled with melodic acrimony about a girl that he met about a decade ago. I dig that guitar riff in the middle when everything else drops out. Rad song.

The third song “Candid” musically reminds more of a RVIVR song while still keeping the Osker style vocals. Like the other songs, I really dig how the vocals are in the mix and not too much above them like so many pop punk bands do. This lets them be are part of the song instead of feeling separate. This is a dope song about love gone wrong—which there can never really be too many of.

The fourth song “Well Fuck” is their shortest and fastest with some rapid fire snare beats driving the song and some rad call and response melodic vocals. Reminds me a little of The Ergs. I appreciate them using both their guitars to do different things verses just doubling up on the riffs. Good shit indeed.

The fifth song “Pigeonholed” really takes them out the pigeonhole I had them in as a pop punk band because the vocals come in with a much more melodic hardcore growl that is more reminiscent of bands like Western Addiction or New Mexican Disaster Squad. Good to see they have the ability to diversify their style. I’m betting, they have two vocalists, but I’m not 100% sure on that.

The last song “I Loved Myself More than I Loved You” makes me think of The Descendents not only in the title but also the song itself, especially the second part of the song that brings an indignant apology the like of which I could hear coming from Milo’s lips.

They’ve got a show in Tukwila on January 5th, so I’ll be telling my old bass player that lives in Seattle to get his ass out to this show.

Check them out on Spotify or on my punk playlist

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