Narrative: Backyard wrestler The Lone Wolf must defeat the The Evil Kraag to get his title and his girl back.
Performance: The band plays in the ring. Singer Dan ‘Soupy’ Campbell performs from the audience and in closeup.
Song: Top shelf pop-punk from one of the best bands in the scene. If you haven’t heard The Upsides, buy it here immediately. No one’s more relatable, honest or hardworking and the songs are instant classics.
Why You Should Watch It: The band is amazing and the effort is noteworthy – it’s a great example of applying a record’s themes (never giving up, victory through persistence) to a video concept and having some fun with it. The video’s just a little too scattered to be a classic.
“Melrose Diner” seems to want to make up for its lack of flash by overloading it with content. The video starts as a wrestling promo, then briefly takes on the feel of a movie trailer before going into the song and Lone Wolf’s battles. The action is frantic, but moves so fast it’s hard to follow until the final fight. The video’s flat, unlit look is spiced up with filters throughout, and it works with the back to basics energy of the song but isn’t a highlight. So why the recommendation? It’s a perfect example of what friends can do with some perseverance and camaraderie – just like the album itself. Everyone involved is clearly having the time of their lives, and that goes a long way.
Also, you’ll want to know these guys before they blow up. They’re readying a new release, “Suburbia, I’ve Given You All And Now I’m Nothing,” that’s shaping to be as much or more of a touchstone than “The Upsides.” Check out one of the new tracks below:
“Local Man Ruins Everything”
Honest, hooky punk, an album named after a Ginsburg poem, and a Simpson’s reference as a track name? Sold.
The Beat-Play Experiment 