To many Indonesian kids who dig into the melodic punk local scene, Pee Wee Gaskins is one name that has gained national popularity through the years. My first introduction to the band was on a social media platform called Myspace. Yes, Myspace had been the band's wheel of fortune for its career phase. Initiated as a solo project by its main songwriter, Dochi Sadega, and then later on he recruited some of the pals he met at the local scene, i.e. Sansan and Omo. Later on, the music project has become a more serious part of their lives.
Besides its success and popularity, the band is also known for its hater's existence, Anti Pee Wee Gaskins. Well believe me or not that somehow these haters indirectly supported the band's popularity at that time though I would assume this kind of thing would not comfort the band as well. But that's so-called life. It's bitter and sweet, isn't it?
My first buy for this band is an EP called Stories From Our Highschool Years back in 2008. The music is filled up by heavily dominated by synthesizer sound. They were more like Fall Out Boy with a Motion City Soundtrack new wave sound. The EP instantly made the band rise from a small gig band into a festival-featured band. Among many releases, I would say that Get Well Soon is their best work so far. I would be honest that their last LP Mixed Feelings were not this good. On this EP, the band has taken their musical spectrum into a more broaden range. As I could hear that the band incorporates musical exploration arrays from city pop compositions into 80's romantic new wave vibe. Dochi, the frontman, states that The Get Up Kids become their early influence but as the days have gone by the band has departed from their emotive-based sound into a more compact pop-oriented sound which brought into Get Well Soon.
Through an IG post, Dochi, the frontman of this band, says that the EP is written during the pandemic age, 2019-2021, so I would assume
that many of the stories written in the lyrics are life during the time of it. I don't have an exact measurement about songwriting but usually, some sadness or bad things happening in life would shape a mood for good songwriting. I know it might sound like crap but at least that's what happens to Pee Wee Gaskins when they wrote the songs for this EP in my opinion.
Okay, it's time to dig out some materials for this EP we can start with the first track entitled "Vaya Con Dios". This first track surprised me for the first time as the city pop vibe synthesizer sound rang in my ear. I feel like this band seems about to move out far from the typical melodic hardcore sound they presented on Mixed Feelings. The verse vocal melody also seems a thing that is being good in this song. And what makes the chorus sounds lovely is that they put out a really good vocal harmony on this part and they put it out sweetly. The song ends with a sing-along part which portrays the most emotive part of all. It's a lovely opening track period!
The next track is a Bahasa song entitled "Burai". The female voice is filled up by a local soloist female name Sara Fajira. This song has stated a bold progression about Pee Wee Gaskins' music. The song begins with some chill beat vibe followed by Sansan's perfect fill on the male voice and I hear a perfect balance between the male and female voice. So many sound ornaments on this song and to me it's something nice the band tries to put out to its audience. The track called "Burai" is a nice chill song to check out and I would say this is the first slow-tempo song from Pee Wee Gaskins that I got to fall into.
And then the last highlighted song entitled "One In A Million". It's a mid-tempo song that sounds simply good and I can hear it right when the song starts to ring out in my heart. I love the rhythm guitar filling up on this song. This guitar riff adds a great vibe to the song. This band surprised me with its bridge part where I could describe it like an emo kid who try to write a Spandau Ballet-influenced song and they did it correctly!
Overall this record is one of the lovely things that was put out from the local melodic hardcore/pop punk scene in 2022. For certain, I would expect more good work in the future from the band. The year 2022 is really good after all!
