Formed in 2006, San Diego’s Punchcard are coming up on their 19th anniversary as a band which is quite the milestone. Even as they are knocking on the door of two decades together, the band’s new album ‘Soapbox Hero’ is full of raucous power, astute political observations and a sense that this band is nowhere near done.
The twelve tracks on ‘Soapbox Hero’ are a furious blend of ska, skate punk, some subtle grooves and some late 90s/early 00s nostalgia. Each track is bursting with a particular Punchcard energy and although many of the songs sound like great fun, there’s some serious commentary about the state of the world in many of the lyrics. But whether it’s a tongue-in-cheek song about intoxication or a comment on the ever-increasing political divide, the pace will leave you breathless as most tracks come in at 3 minutes or under.
If you’re looking for songs about the state of the nation, then ‘Soapbox Hero‘ can help you out. The band are not shy about dealing with topical issues head on, and as we start 2025 in such a globally calamitous way, there’s plenty of aspects of society for the band to get stuck into. You can go back to Punchcard’s 2018 ‘Making it Great…Again’ to see evidence that the band are no fan of the current US President. Songs like ‘Dump the Trump’ and ‘Election Year’ from the first Trump administration show their disdain for the results of our political systems and processes.
In their new LP, tracks like lead single ‘Stealing My Identity‘ and ‘Whataboutism‘ bring us bang up to date exploring digital existence and societal decline respectively. As they sing in the former:
“Now everything is done virtually/ When I exist it’s only digitally/ I don’t know /I guess I’ll give up control”.
With increasing panic around how technology is affecting our lives and the creative industries, this snappy track is a cautionary tale and one that show a band keeping things relevant whilst also keeping it catchy- all the better to communicate the message.
“At making something great again when all you did was make a mess/The state is falling. A declination/ A blatant move to obstruct our rights” So sings the band in ‘Whataboutism‘, a more blatant comment on the state of things as we move into this next stage of history.
The title track is a standout on the album- a wonderfully crafted mosh-along anthem with yet another very relevant lyrical content- this time the band take aim at those whose political concern and activism doesn’t extend beyond farming for likes on social media.
Balancing out the more serious tracks are the ones where they’re young, dumb and full of fun- ‘PBR’ is a riff-driven, melodic singalong about relationship troubles and dumb arguments. ‘Common Censorship’ showcases the band’s ska chops in a track that shows some real musical depth and guitar noodling- going for a ska-come-stadium-rock vibe. And a song that teens can play full blast to make their parents wince is goofy pop punk track ‘I’m On Drugs’.
The album gets some bonus points for giving us the punk cover version we didn’t know we needed- the penultimate track sees the band give the Punchcard treatment to the 4 Non Blondes’ BANGER ‘What’s Up’.
What Punchcard have achieved so well with ‘Soapbox Hero‘ is keeping the kind of youthful spirit that you need to inject to make the skate punk vibe work- their snotty snarling vocals and relentless pace give us all a new lease of life. But they don’t stick to the sort of things you would write about when you’re 17- they’re talking about serious shit going on in the world around them so their lyrics have a maturity that is fitting in these times. Influenced by many of the late 90’s skate punk bands like NOFX, Lagwagon and Strung Out, Punchcard are clearly going to make connections with new fans whilst keeping things relevant for those of us who may have been round the block a few more times.
‘Soap Box Hero‘ drops on 22nd February 2025 via Felony Records. Head to the band’s Bandcamp for streaming/purchasing/pre-ordering options for this album and all their music.