The Premiere Album From Go Ahead Punk

Way back, at the end of 2013, I decided I wanted to write in the Modern Punk rock genre. The genre always spoke to me and seemed to have the least boundaries, open for unbridled shenanigans, unlimited fun and boundless expression. And it started with the concept of “Nah Nah Nah’s” and the fact that I had always wanted to write a song with them in it, with maybe some Sha-La-La’s too in the process! These were on my list of rock and roll signature components.

It was a time when I was also observing and studying “counterpoint” (“the relationship between two or more musical lines (or voices) which are harmonically interdependent yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour”) and had the desire to incorporate that technique a great deal more into all of my works.

Having been songwriting for over 20 years at the time, I hammered out the first “Nah-Nah-Nah’s” in “Figure-Figure, Figuring” and followed up with “Hurt Is Done” with its “Sha-la-lah” counterpoint in the choruses. Those songs would lie dormant for the next 8 years before working their way into the current project rotation, starting in late 2021 after the passing of my mother, a turning point in my life’s vector.

Whining and Pining is a collection of songs that were both my first-written punk songs and songs I wrote in other styles and tempos that I converted and arranged in the modern punk genre. Starting with the first song I ever wrote t(hat I considered “hit-worthy”) in “The Rain” (1992) and progressing with “I Do” (2002), “Pagan Love Song” (2022) and “I Hate That I Fucking Love You” (2022), all of which were originally written as ballads, I took to converting them to the up-tempo style, breathing life into and making them fun!

Originally entitled “Oohs, Ahhs and Nah-Nah-Nah’s” (now the title of my fifth album), this album was the product of “overspill”, exceeding its original planned length of 12 songs, totaling, at completion, well over 25, making it a classic “double album set” compilation, something which I intended to release, part 1 with songs that were “whining” and part 2 with songs that were about “pining”. An ironic play on phrases and words in its namesake (play on “whining and dining”) while illustrating said irony in pictures with a guy assuming the one-knee proposal position while exclaiming assorted expletives.

As songs spilled over onto a second (and even a third) record compilation, while more songs were being written on near-daily frequency, more rhyme and reason was given to the compilations as to content and theme, and the double-album set idea was scrapped in favor of a shorter format and singular theme, as was the original album title.

Now conforming to the 12-song plan, “Whining and Pining” features a collection of angsty, modern punk songs, (some old, some new), the first half of which could be thematically considered “whining” and the second half “pining” with, appropriately, the song “Hurt Is Done” representing the dividing line, perfectly splitting the two concepts. at centerpoint of the album. All of which culminates in a bold statement of what I (as represented by the Punkly caricature) had to say as an opening outpour of emotion in the modern, pop-punk spirit, in a carefully chosen order, to tell the story leading from whining to pining.

And by the time all was said and done, even my first song ever written, “The Rain” (former piano ballad) and first song written after teaching myself to play guitar, “With You” (also written as a ballad), I ended up with what satisfied me to be the perect opening statement to what would become a 6-album (and growing) series of my creations. And it is with great pride that I reveal the demo of “Whining and Pining” as my first chapter…

Tracks

01 From Tornadoes to Hurricanes
02 The Rain
03 Taking Down Christmas (Not A Christmas Song!)
04 I Hate That I Fucking Love You
05 Think It Through
06 Figure-Figure Figuring
07 Hurt Is Done
08 Pagan Love Song
09 I Do
10 Before California
11 With You
12 Driven Unsung Champion

Demo Available to VIP Members Only