When I became friends with the close friends in my life right now they introduced me to a bunch of bands that I love. At one point they played me Punchline: Action and said ‘it’s a shame that this band never made a good album after this one.’ Since they had never misled me previously I believed them and only bought Action. Then I met Jonathan London.
Jonathan sent me the trailer for his TV show Pilot Singledom and I hear this insanely catchy song in the background. It was a piano-driven pop punk song called “Somewhere in the Dark”. When I asked him about it, he informed me it was a new song off Punchline’s upcoming album. I picked up the album Just Say Yes the day it came out. A week later my girlfriend broke up with me. I’d be a liar if I said that Just Say Yes didn’t help me through the roughest patches of that break up.
When the album came out Jonathan’s website Geekscape.net wrote various reviews on the album. One particular review was written by Ben Dunn. He discussed how the album works as a perfect companion-piece to 37 Everywhere. Since Just Say Yes had made such a huge impact on my dealing with the break up I decided to pick up 37 Everywhere as well and it immediately became one of the top pop punk albums I’d ever heard.
My friends will always make fun of me for my preference of this album over Action but I don’t care, 37 Everywhere is the best album Punchline ever put out in my eyes. Over the years I’ve become friendly with the guys in Punchline (Specifically Chris) and enjoyed seeing their E.P. most recently top the iTunes Rock Chart for a few hours but as much as I love all their albums, none will hold the place in my heart that 37 Everywhere did.
Just Say Yes sang lyrics about surviving the break-up and that was nice and helpful. But 37 Everywhere spoke of the of anger which I was feeling and felt. Songs like Flashlight, The Getaway and The Fake, The Snake and the Birthday Cake all spoke of the anger and confusion of a break up. I’ve read rumors that say that the songs are actually about former guitarist Paul Menotiades but I’ve refused to ask the guys if this is true because I want to continue to believe they are about the heart-break I was feeling.
Everytime I hear this album I can’t help but think that this should have been the biggest pop punk album of all time. Sadly the band was release sandwiched between Fall Out Boy’s massive From Under The Cork Tree and after it was released Gym Class Heroes: As Cruel As School Children came out a couple months later.
Punchline has continued to remain the underdog in the pop punk game, but I like it that way sometimes. So thank you Steve, Thank You Chris, Thank You Greg and Thank you PJ. You helped a depressed 23 year old get through a rough break up in 2008.
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