ANOTHER POWER POP BAND? OH GREAT.
Yes, another power-pop band. Except SOFTJAW are actually good, so we suppose we’ll have to put up with them.
Straight out of Long Beach, California, SOFTJAW play the sort of rock ’n’ roll that used to be considered normal before everyone decided music needed a press release explaining it. Guitars. Hooks. Harmonies. Drums. Songs about girls, boys, love, heartbreak and making bad decisions. Imagine that.
There’s a bit of BIG STAR in there, some THE NERVES, a good dose of UNI BOYS, traces of CHEAP TRICK and THE EXPLODING HEARTS, and probably a few hundred records we’re forgetting because I’m getting old and Mindy doesnt help me with these press texts anymore. But don’t start sharpening your “retro” complaints just yet. SOFTJAW aren’t some bunch of dudes dressing up in vintage clothes and pretending it’s 1978 because they discovered a copy of Nuggets. These guys actually write songs. And then they turn up the guitars and play them like they mean it.
Dustin Lovelis and Tanner Duffy first got together over a shared love of Big Star and started cranking out songs. A couple of digital singles appeared in 2024, followed by a self-titled EP and a full-length physical release through us (of course) and Dandy Boy Records in 2026.
Then they did the sensible thing: they left town and played some shows.
The USA. Spain. Probably too many hours in a van. Probably not enough money. Probably exactly how it should be. But the 250 copy pressing of the first album sold out just as they ended their short european / or better spanish / excursion.
Now comes LOVE CAN’T KILL YOU, SOFTJAW’s second LP, featuring 12 songs about love, loss, heartbreak and all the other stupid things people do to each other.
Recorded entirely by the band at Dream Machine Studios in Long Beach, the record sounds like a band that has figured out that you don’t need 400 guitar pedals, a conceptual storyline or a fucking tambourine solo to write a great song.
Just guitars, melodies, harmonies and attitude. The hooks are there. The guitars are there. The punk is there. And, thankfully, the songs don’t sound like they were written by a committee.
If you like THE NERVES, UNI BOYS, THE EXPLODING HEARTS, BIG STAR or any of those mysterious 7″s you bought because the cover looked good and then spent twenty years trying to find out who the hell the band was — you should probably pay attention.
SOFTJAW aren’t saving rock ’n’ roll. Rock ’n’ roll doesn’t need saving.
It just needs bands like this to keep making records.
And preferably playing them loud.
SOFTJAW will be celebrating the new LP in the traditional manner:
LOUD MUSIC. CHEAP DRINKS. BAD DECISIONS. You know the drill. This friday at QUE SERA in Long Beach.
GO SEE THEM BEFORE THEY BECOME “IMPORTANT.”
This record is a co-release with Dandy Boy Records. The band has some copies for sale at the release show, the label also got a speedy delivery, but the mail part of their pressing is still in transit – and should be there soon. If you are from Europe, its of course better to order from BACHELOR RECORDS here:
shop.bachelorrecords.com shop.bachelorrecords.com shop.bachelorrecords.com
Tracklist:
Side A
You may be right
You won’t see me cry
Poor disguise
I know you do
Love can’t kill you
Halfwit
Side B
Go mad
That’s alright with me
Pandemonium
My broken heart
Million different people
Flying high
CATALOG NUMBER: BR-171
LIMITED TO 500 copies on black vinyl – 250 for Europe / 250 for USA.
