Inspiration Through Music: The Front Bottoms

I first started listening to The Front Bottoms (yeah, I know what that’s slang for, take a moment and then move on) during the winter of 2013—wait, no, I take that back—the summer of 2013, in which I stumbled upon one of their songs. It popped up as a suggested video on YouTube. I pressed play and instantly thought to myself…dear God, this guy can’t sing at all. Who in their right mind would enjoy listening to this? 

(source)

Fast forward to the winter of 2013. I’m lonely, confused, and if I’m being honest, pretty sad most days. So, I’m pretty much the typical college freshman, albeit probably one a little less apt at hiding their emotions from the outside world. Enter folk-punk. 

(source)

I’m sure all of you that listened to pop punk in junior high and high school can relate to this slightly upgraded, slightly less embarrassing revival The Front Bottoms gave me—they just got me. Yeah, yeah, I know. My parents just don’t understand, I got out of my hometown, I want to eat pizza with my friends—all of that. It’s cliché, but what can I say? I fit the emotional poet stereotype. I’m okay with it. I actually really like that about myself, now that I’m older and can appreciate it for what it is while keeping it in check.  

The Front Bottoms often say what maybe shouldn’t be said out loud—all of the impolite, the self-doubt, the fear of living. And sometimes they tell the truth seriously in their lyrics, but often in humor. See? I’m not stuck in junior high. I’m laughing at myself. No longer curled up in a ball listening to Mayday Parade’s “Miserable at Best” (okay, well, not usually).

(source)

Once I got over lead singer Brian Sella’s unconventional singing voice and the occasional an-elephant-ate-some-bad-takeout explosion of trumpet failure in the background of some songs, I realized this band’s lyrics were genius. Frank O’Hara, write-what-you-see-and-think-in-obscure detail and don’t give a shit type of genius. While I realize not everyone would ascribe the word “genius” to lyrics like “This is for the lake that me and my friends swim in, naked and dumb on a drunken night/And it should've felt good but I can hear the Jaws theme song on repeat in the back of my mind/Make sure you kiss your knuckles before you punch me in the face/There are lessons to be learned, consequences for all the stupid things I say,” these lyrics spoke to the anxiety I felt, and still feel about my future, but with a conversational rhythm, and in self-deprecating, shouting-out-insecurities type of way. Somehow, this makes the future seem a little easier to face. Listening to it may help you get a little better idea of what I mean:

Pretty soon, I was listening to “Talon of the Hawk” and their self-titled album so religiously I found myself thinking my own swarming, ruminative thoughts to the awkward, rushed rhythm of Brian’s voice. Believe it or not, thinking this way helped me not only to get through my thoughts, but also to see them differently. If the lines, “You got a rash on your neck just below the line/where at your shirt stops covering and leaves your skin bare./It’s such an unimportant detail,/that has nothing to do with anything,/but it's the only thing I remember from when I cut your hair,” could be a verse in a song that I enjoyed, why couldn’t anything I notice have a place in a poem? 

Previously, I had all these ideas about what poetry should be, and an overarching fear that my day-to-day thoughts, whatever they be, hilarious, self-pitying, colorful, creepy—weren’t good enough for writing that was supposed to, well, express my thoughts. Something obvious clicked for me as an artist when I was listening to The Front Bottoms. Poetry that emulates your natural speech or thought patterns isn’t unimportant or lesser. And while every single poem written in conversational or stream-of-consciousness may not be the best poem ever, it certainly accomplishes one of the most important tasks poetry does—clears your head and gives external significance to the details that previously existed only internally. And while poetry can give an individual purpose, it gets even better. Those thoughts or images you deemed too vulnerable or too specific to hold any significance or bearing to someone else? They just might. The Front Bottoms are proof of this. They helped me out a lot as a person and as an artist, and still do. And as a writer, you hold the power to do this for someone else too. If you’re “uncomfortable” in your current situation, you should “probably” write it out…

P

I
 mean, you could probably vary your diction a bit more if you want. But it’s ultimately up to you. 

(source)

Find out more about The Front Bottoms here (they have a new album out called Back on Top and it’s bomb): www.thefrontbottoms.com.

If you were creatively motivated by any of the music in this post, I’d strongly recommend checking out Frank O’Hara and Kate Monica as well for further poetry inspiration.