We’ve got our next instalment in the Punk Rock Philosophy series that asks some of our favourite current punk musicians about the band that helped shape their sound! In this post, we speak to Christopher, the frontman of melodic punk band Hedge about the band he has loved since he was a kid…
Punk Rock Philosophy is firmly of the belief that when it comes to the music we like, there should be no such thing as a ‘guilty pleasure’! If you like a side order of pop, or jazz, or drum and bass alongside your diet of punk then you will receive no judgement here! Tastes and perceptions of what is ‘cool’ can be a fickle mistress and navigating what gets your peer’s seal of approval during your formative years can mean sometimes having to like a band in secret! So it can be quite freeing to reach a stage in life where you are unapologetic in your tastes, and you may even find that the band who were once dismissed or denied come back round to getting the kudos they deserve!
Christopher- frontman of Massachusetts DIY pop punk band Hedge- is certainly decisive when it comes to who his favourite band is. He first heard a certain Massachusetts indie rock/ punk adjacent band at the tender age of eight, and decided that this would be his top band forever. Decades later, he still hasn’t changed his mind! With the benefit of age and wisdom, Christopher can reflect on the true impact of the band on his own musical journey and no longer needs to worry about incurring the disappointed head shakes of the music snobs who hampered his enjoyment as a teenager! Christopher beamed into a Zoom chat with Punk Rock Philosophy, to talk about embracing your unique vocal abilities, playing on the same bill as your heroes and finally not caring what the Pitchfork-reading snobs think of your music choices!
Christopher is a stalwart of the music scene- he has been playing instruments and writing songs since his teenage years and experimenting with his sound to find where he wants to settle musically. Growing up not just where he did but when he did meant he was coming of age at a time when alternative music was booming-grunge, ska punk, pop punk, emo, indie were all hugely successful, visible and pretty prolific genres. It was an embarrassment of riches for someone with a very early love of music, nurtured by an open minded dad. The music Christopher was exposed to as a kid sparked a lifelong love and appreciation for the art of the melody as the 90s rock scene was eclectic and pop-infused:
“I think the first album I bought was either ‘Blue Album’ by Weezer or ‘Tragic Kingdom’ by No Doubt, so pretty cool, melodic stuff. I started playing drums when I was 12. I played for a year and loved playing drums, but I really liked writing songs too so switched over to guitar. It was tough to do vocals because I didn’t have the most traditionally ‘fitting’ voice compared to other bands so I used to start a band and then have someone else sing the songs I wrote. But hearing J Mascis [frontman of Dinosaur Jr]– who has an objectively bad voice- made me realise that I can have a bad voice too and still sing my own songs!
I was probably around 14 when I started writing 100s of songs and was trying to get them out into the world, which at that point probably involved putting them on MySpace or something like that. I just used to throw songs up there and hope people would listen. I would just record stuff and it was cool to have that vehicle to put songs out there”.
At the age of 17, Christopher started a band called The Young Leaves who put out several recordings capturing the sound of some of his most pivotal influences including Hüsker Dü and other mid-90s indie rock acts. Their biggest influence though was Amherst, MA legends Dinosaur Jr- the band that Christopher declared as his favourites as soon as he heard them. His relationship with the music of Mascis and co has endured, and Young Leaves even supported them andThe Replacements at a celebratory 2015 gig at Boston venue The Sinclair:
“We could not believe what was happening. It was like this magic show happened and we were part of it. It was awesome. I have been such a fan for so long…I was so nervous, I don’t know how to describe it, this is like my idols and I am next to them! It was super fun to be next to all of J’s full stack amps and I got to stand in front of them when I was playing so it looked like I was playing through them!“
Christopher has followed the band’s recordings for most of his life and their releases are as plentiful as you would expect for a band that formed in 1984, even factoring in their hiatus between 1997 and 2005. But as much as he loved the band, they weren’t always so well received by those who consider themselves the Credibility Police. But perhaps the fact Dinosaur can be difficult to pigeonhole musically, aesthetically and in terms of the scene they belong to, has gone some way to explaining the different waves of adoration that have washed over them throughout their long career:
“They started out as a hardcore band called Deep Wound and were affiliated with 80s hardcore in Massachusetts. When they started being Dinosaur Jr, they had two records released on SST so they kind of got that punk rock credibility. And in terms of selling out, people didn’t care too much because they were more a guitar rock band that punk.”
But fast forward a few years and things had changed:
“When I got older, Pitchfork had a big influence over that 2000s period and what to like. Dinosaur Jr were so deeply uncool when I was growing up. For me, when I got really into music in the early 00s and by the time I could go to shows which was the late 00s, the thing that was popular in the North East in US were bands that sounded like Taking Back Sunday or Brand New. They were blowing up and that was not my scene at all so I didn’t have a lot of direct references for what punk was. If anything I was trying to break into the indie world and liking punk was not cool in this world!
When I was in high school, I liked Dinosaur Jr and Superchunk and these indie bands and I was 16 trying to hang out with these 20 somethings who were into Pitchfork indie and it was so toxic. I talked about liking Superchunk to some 24 year old and he was like “it is just Blink 182 for people who don’t wanna say they like Blink 182” and I was like ‘oh OK, yeah…its not cool you are right’. Soooo elitist! I love Blink 182 and Green Day and Face to Face but it was not cool! The first record the Young Leaves put out is slow, with barely any distortion, kinda like a Pixies thing or a Pavement thing. Then I thought, actually, it is ok to like punk rock! So I just leaned into that and made a record that was super loud. At that point, I could just be myself. I didn’t like all the snobby elitist thing and some friends were like “you can like Blink 182 and Green Day and come out of the punk rock closet!” Being able to write a song that sounded like Hüsker Dü rather than Pavement was like a whole new world. Since then, that is how it’s been. I am not going to be shunned at this point in my life!”
Christopher doesn’t need to worry about being shunned by the music community- his new EP with band Hedge ‘Freeze Frame High Five’ has garnered great reviews and is a worthy follow up to 2024’s full length ‘Better Days’. In fact, one of the EP’s tracks ‘Hey Dude‘ is about discovering Dinosaur Jr all those years ago. Hedge formed when Christopher decided to come out of band retirement and with Hedge bandmates Pete and Cody, the trio make joyously crafted and succinctly delivered nuggets of power pop with punk rawness. Christopher reflects on how his love for Dinosaur Jr helped his own musical development and got him to a place where he was comfortable with his niche:
“The two biggest ways Dinosaur Jr have influenced me would be playing guitar and vocally. When I was younger and listening to a lot of punk, the majority of people play power chords. With Dinosaur, Mascis plays cowboy open chords like a country person would, so that got me into that style of guitar.
From a vocal standpoint, I think J Mascis helped me lean into the uniqueness- good or bad- of my own voice. Specially thinking back to 2000s and punk bands like Green Day or Blink, Sum 41… there is a certain nasally register which no matter what I do, I cannot get there. Mascis has a low drawl, it sounds like he is asleep, and I leaned into that version of singing that I have.”
Maybe the Pitchfork crowd of 2007 didn’t fully appreciate the influence of Dinosaur Jr and that of a lot of similar bands that trod that college rock/accessible indie rock path. But in 2026, a band like Dinosaur are getting their dues as we have the benefit of hindsight to see how the musical map was partly shaped by the band. Michael Azerrad in his seminal book Our Band Could Be Your Life said of them: “Dinosaur Jr. was one of the first, biggest, and best bands among the second generation of indie kids… J Mascis achieved the unthinkable in underground rock—he brought back the extended guitar solo”.
They trod their own path through hardcore, pop punk and grunge, borrowing certain musical elements from other genres but staying steadfast to their own mix of sensibilities. Christopher agrees that credit is definitely due and it is good to see them getting it now:
“I was thinking about their influence on punk, long term and I feel like the bands that really took from them are bands that were adjacent to it [punk]. Swervedriver definitely takes from them in shoegaze-y way; some 90s emo stuff was pretty into them, bands like Mineral and stuff like that; Cap And Jazz cite Dinosaur Jr as an influence.
I have a high preference for their second album ‘You’re Living All Over Me’- it is actually my favourite album of all time, right above the Blue Album. That record and ‘Bug’ (1988) and ‘Green Mind’ (1991)… those three albums are some of the best music I could ever ask for. Their sound has developed and changed across 12 albums and I love a bunch of songs from mid 90s…basically with Dinosaur Jr, with every album I am gonna really like at least half of it A LOT. They had reunion album called ‘Beyond’ in 2007 and I love that one too. They have the capacity to write an incredible album at any stage in their career, and I appreciate all of it”.
And although Christopher is still discovering new music he loves all the time, it is very unlikely that a band he found now would be able to serve the same emotional punch as that band he started listening to all those years ago when he was still in single digits:
“It’s funny because my wife and I saw them together as young kids and I have those sorts of memories associated with them. They remind me of my dad and so many different things that are tied to different times in my life. It’s cool having this secure thing that I am like “that is always my favourite band, there’s nothing I can do about it!” No one is gonna top it any time soon”.
Hedge are having a great year in 2026 with the reception to their new EP and the band are going to keep the momentum going with lots more material planned for release. Leaning into that approach that worked in his MySpace teenage years, Christopher wants the songs out of his head and into the world and that is good news for all of us, for whom the more Hedge the better!
“We just put out the EP ‘Freeze Frame High Five’, and then we have six songs that we are playing live and another ten or so we are working on. We are hoping to record by the end of the year and then look for a label – it would be great to have it out next year. I am wanting to be prolific… there are so many songs that have never seen the light of day and friends were telling me to just get them out there! Whatever comes out, we will get out there. The reception has been so much better than I could ever have imagined. It has been a great year so far so I feel super appreciative!”
You can stream and purchase music by Hedge HERE and follow on social media HERE.
We thank Christopher for his time spent with Punk Rock Philosophy AND for coming up with his top 10 Dinosaur Jr tracks! What do you think of his choices?
- ‘The Wagon‘
- ‘The Lung‘
- ‘I Live For That Look‘
- ‘Never Bought It‘
- ‘Feel the Pain‘
- ‘Pond Song‘
- ‘In a Jar‘
- ‘Kracked‘
- ‘Freak Scene‘
- ‘Repulsion’
