VICTORY KID are Southern California?s answer to a question that has yet to be asked. Their high-energy blend of pop-punk, ska and rock alludes to a time when everything was possible and nothing was off the table. Today, we’re stoked to give you their special track by track rundown of each and every track from their freshly released new LP “Discernation“, available via SBÄM Records.
“Discernation contains fourteen powerful pop-punk compositions that will satisfy even the pickiest admirers of the genre. However, Victory Kid is more than an ordinary pop-punk group. Besides sheer dominance of pop-punk sound, the band introduces some other ingredients such as ska, reggae, and skate punk. For those experienced pop-punk fans who’re knee-deep into the latest trends on the scene, this may seem like nothing new, but Victory Kid is exploring these elements in an entirely unique way. There’s something in their style that keeps this material fresh and unique from scratch to finish. The group thoroughly explores all the fundamentals of these genres and applies them to thoughtfully assembled pop-punk tunes. Nevertheless, Victory Kid doesn’t sound like another overproduced pop-punk group that you stumbled upon countless times before. Their music contains a particular dosage of aggression, dynamics, and power that is entirely uncommon for this scene.” – Thoughts Words Action
Track by track rundown by HN = Harrison Nida, CR = Carlo Ribaux, AR = Andrew Remley, and C = Cuni.
Clownin
HN: I wrote this song and Tuck Frump after we had already recorded the rest of the album. I felt really strongly about them, so we went back into the studio to add them to the record. Carlo had been in India for a gig and came straight from the airport to our practice space to learn the songs and write drum parts for them. The recording session was scheduled the very next day. It was badass how he pulled it off!
CR: Since we didn’t have too much time to prepare, we ended up writing the bridge of this song on the spot in the studio.
C: You can hear my Balkan background in the guitar lines throughout the record, but especially in this song!
Guano
HN: We spent a lot of time tone-hunting for this song. The guitar in the intro is the first guitar I’ve ever owned – it’s so distorted because it’s so old and beat up. Cuni used an e-bow to get that Nintendo-esque sound in the choruses.
My World
CR: This is the first song we ever worked on together.
HN: Making the video for this song was a true community effort. Carlo’s former roommate Yves directed it, his neighbors Matt and Beth supplied us with all kinds of equipment and all our friends showed up for the party scenes.
Morning Wood
HN: I’ve been wanting to record this since I wrote it when I was fifteen. My mom did the voice of the mother, but our engineer/producer Allan really stole the show as the alarm clock.
Cuni: Matt Appleton (from Reel Big Fish) has done an outstanding job adding horns on this record. We left him complete creative control and he ran with it!
Plunge in the Dark
HN: I wrote this song on the train home after saying goodbye to my only family on the east coast before moving to California.
CR: This song gives off such a strong vibe.. I love it!
Leaving New York
CR: The counter-melody that Harrison wrote for the chorus makes the song super epic.
HN: It was Allan’s idea to add something there. I was pretty skeptical, but once I came up with the part I fell in love with it. Exactly like he said I would.
Stepping Out
CR: I used a 12” and a 16” toms for the whole record except for the drum solo here, for which I used a 10” and a 14” tom from the same drum set. We were going for a timbales-like sound.
HN: We didn’t even know that the song needed a trombone solo, but Matt destroyed the solo in the breakdown, and it was exactly what the song needed.
AR: Doing the music video for this was so fun! Lobsters rule!
Adrenaline
C: I named the guitar lick in the chorus for this ‘the event’.
AR: Whenever I have to fill in for Cuni playing guitar I get so nervous playing it!
Tuck Frump
C: Harrison wrote this song right after #45 got elected.
HN: It was such an impressionable time. I wanted to capture the way I experienced it.
CR: We were shooting a whole epic scene on top of a missile silo off of Mullholland for the music video. But somebody called us in because of our #resist banners and some park rangers stopped the shoot and fined us.
Coming Together
HN: I co-wrote this song with Ethan Mentzer from Click 5 right after moving to LA. He came up with that cool opening riff and I brought in the heavier parts.
Doobs
CR: Our friend Joe Kellman aka Harvey Seasalt rapped on this song. He is an amazing freestyler and he didn’t disappoint!
HN: He absolutely killed it!
