In 2003, the city of Ocala, Florida gave birth to A Day to Remember and that band helped with the creation of a new sound. A sound that combined hardcore and pop punk.
Frontman Jeremy McKinnon explains it:
It’s weird. See, it’s funny because we have been doing this for so long. When we started, this shit was not cool. Everyone told us mixing the two genres wouldn’t work. Hell, a lot of people still feel that way. We’ve just always played what we wanted to hear, and to be honest people weren’t doing it back then. We loved pop punk, we loved hardcore bands, and we couldn’t decide what to be. So we said fuck it. Let’s do them both.
A Day to Remember just released their seventh studio album, “You’re Welcome” which is their first under a new record label, Fueled by Ramen. The band sued and ended a long term relationship with Victory Records to start anew. The band won that lawsuit, ending not only their contractual obligation, but getting Victory to repay $4 million in royalties and legal fees.
The new start also seems to have altered their sound a bit, leaning a little less hardcore, a little less punk and a little more pop. Their previous single, “Everything We Need” was a prime example.
In the new single, “Re-Entry”, ADTR employs the help of another pop punk veteran, Mark Hoppus of Blink 182.
This one has a slight edge to it, but still leans a bit more on the pop end. The saving grace to it, is how damn catchy it is.
