The ‘Emo Revival’ was a special time period that encompassed the releases of so many incredible bands of the mid 2000s to the mid 2010s in what felt like one giant community. Bands performed in basements, houses, tiny community centers- really, anywhere they could play- to rooms full of sweaty kids all across the country, playing music with their hearts on their sleeves with little aspiration but love of their craft.
Pennsylvania was arguably the epicenter of it all. The state was not limited to one specific genre though, with many bands blending sounds and taking cues from a variety of different scenes. But history has a funny way of remembering things- for every Algernon Cadwallader or Snowing, there were 30 bands that were just as good that went unheard. You couldn’t throw a rock without hitting a great DIY PA band during those days.
Enter Boyfriends, an amazing band from Lancaster, PA. Boyfriends played a brand of melodic punk rock with gruff vocals and distorted guitars. Actually, members of Boyfriends shared members with two of the most heralded acts of the entire genre, Snowing and 1994!. But Boyfriends never received their fair due. Possibly because all of their material was issued only on EPs, comp and splits or possibly because the only release that found its way to universal streaming services was the S/T 7″ that we co-released back in 2011. Whatever the reason, they were overlooked and underappreciated.
With that in mind, Count Your Lucky Stars proudly presents “A Discography of Mediocre Punk Rock (2009-2012)”- a complete collection of their discography. Whether it’s revisiting songs you once loved or hearing it for the first time, these songs are special and deserve to sit alongside their more celebrated peers. Boyfriends is a band that we won’t let history forget.
RIYL: Hot Water Music, Small Brown Bike, Planes Mistaken for Stars
A Discography of Mediocre Punk Rock (2009-2012) by Boyfriends is out now via Count Your Lucky Stars Records. ORDER HERE. Available on cassette and digital everywhere 5/7.
