Operation Ivy - Energy
I feel like I've listened to this record more now than I did in high school or junior high when I first heard it. I was in a ska band in high school, but I hated distortion. I didn't like distorted guitar. I loved Nirvana and grunge music that was all happening at the time. It wasn't until recently that I went back and listened to this record and I got so psyched on how the songs are just so bare bones and they're awesome pop songs, really fun to move around and dance to. What I like most about it and find really inspiring is that you can thrash around and it's almost euphoric. It's really happy music, but the lyrics are so dark and they're all about being down and out and things sucking and having nowhere else to go. I feel like there's a duality in my music where the lyrics are very anxious or critical of myself, but the music is very euphoric and I think that serves a purpose. I write music to get out of my head and go into another place. But with lyrics it's the exact opposite, I feel like I'm engulfed in my mind - I think that's why that anxiety and those tensions come out, and you hear that in Operation Ivy. I find it very inspirational.