Coy Kids
Jersey City, New Jersey, United States | Established. Jan 01, 2014 | INDIE
Music
Press
When they released their album “Youthful Days” in May, Jersey City band Coy Kids called it “11 big songs in a nice package about girls, drinking and New Jersey.” And they weren’t kidding.
Since early 2012, guitarist and vocalist Shen Pan, drummer Chris Weber and bassist Johnny Chlup have been cooking up their own brand of music, which they’ve branded “tweecore.”
“We have a loud, soft indie rock dynamic, but we’re a little bit harder than traditional indie bands,” said Pan. “But we’re not as hardcore as a metal band or something more destructive.”
While Chlup brings post-hardcore rhythms, Weber brings garage-rock edge and Pan, a longtime indie devotee, writes the lyrics.
Pan croons and screams about drinking all day with friends, one-night stands and other perils of being young in Downtown Jersey City, which is as small-town as a city gets.
“Everyone has gone through times where it’s awesome one day and the next it falls apart,” he said. “Or you hang out with a guy or girl and find out they’re a racist. Stuff like that.”
Their Garden State roots are all over their new album with tracks like “Sh---- Movies in Jersey City” and “Girls from New Jersey,” one of Pan’s favorites.
Another standout track is “Day Drinking,” about, well, you guessed it. In February, about 60 of their friends helped shoot a video for it at local bar Golden Cicada.
“We had to leave all the doors open because we had to shine lights in from outside and it was freezing but everyone was super awesome about it,” said Pan.
“Everyone got really into it. People were crowdsurfing, jumping up and down the entire time.”
Coy Kids are releasing the video on Sunday at another local watering hole, LITM. The fun appropriately starts early in the day with mimosas and bloody Marys.
The video features local music scene fixtures like Anthony “Dancing Tony” Susco of Rock-it Docket and Lamp Post Bar and Grille booking manager Candice Leger. It also highlights some of what Pan loves about JC.
“I’ve been here for 13 years and I love Jersey City. It’s very eclectic, very quirky—especially when you’re single in this town,” he says with a laugh. “I made some of my best friends here and I enjoy the camaraderie that comes with being in such a small town.”
Catch the premiere of “Day Drinking” on Sunday at 1 p.m. at LITM, 140 Newark Ave., Jersey City. For more information, visit CoyKids.com. - The Star Ledger, NJ.com, The Jersey Journal
Exactly what influences the band The Coy Kids? Moments, all sorts of them. That's according to the basic information listed on their Facebook page, it's the happy, funny, sad, and awkward moments that influence their songs. Well, when listening to their new LP, "Youthful Days", there are some of those moments being put into their songs. Ok, so that's any song really, a moment where the band sings about it and using that description their songs would be influenced by moments. Along with the moments being used to influence their songs, they also make their songs into an experience to be shared with for the ones listening.
One thing this album has a lot of is fun energy. Naming it "Youthful Days" is about as close to describing what these songs are about as you can get. Their sound is young, it's full of that young energy everyone has when they are still under the age of 25 but above being 16. Everything in these songs about being a young guy just having fun in life and then singing about it. It's the youthful energy that these songs that make them good and fun to listen to. They will either connect with you because you are at that same age with all that energy and thoughts or you will be reminded what it was like to be that age with all that energy and the random thoughts that just don't have any substance. The Coy Kids are having a lot of fun with their music and it makes me want to have a lot of fun just from listening to it.
This is not a perfect album, the vocals have some rough moments, the instruments are being played with just enough experience that they don't sound bad but neither are at the professional levels. However, that's because this is the debut LP for this band and they are young but because they don't hold back on their energy in the songs that they end up being good. It's how they have their lyrics being about just stupid moments in life when you are young that make these songs so fun and full of zeal. Each song has a catchy beat to them and are easy to get hooked on from the start and once the lyrics are learned they will be sung along with. From the start I was caught up with drive these guys have put into their songs and was left with wanting to explore my days like I used to in my youth, that is until I remembered I had to be at work to pay all my grown up bills, ah such is life but at least I now have this reminder of those glory days of fun and thrills with Youthful Days.
Grade A- - shakefire.com
Coy Kids
Youthful Days
Texiera Records
The press release in regards to New Jersey indie-punk trio Coy Kids' latest album Youthful Days certainly raised some eyebrows and caused some guffaws amongst music writers. Packed with random fun facts and their burning desire to have their music called tweecore, the band got straight to the point at the end when they stated, "We’re 3 dudes who write songs about gals. We drink cheap beer. Sometimes we drink fancy beer. We’ll fight anyone who talks shit about New Jersey."
Youthful Days is a beer drenched, bong flavored album about the pains and joys of the opposite sex. Whether they're discussing random tomfoolery ("Yeah Yeah Yeah") or the art of impressing someone ("You're An Impressive Bitch"), the band captures the true essence of being young and in love in the Garden State. Think Man Overboard crossed with The Front Bottoms but a lot more pissed off and influenced by bands like Superchunk and Pavement.
Oh, and did I mention they're from New Jersey? If you haven't glanced at their social media pages, they'll certainly remind the listener of their roots with "Girls From New Jersey", a track that features a band of girls gleefully singing the lines "Seaside/ Jersey City/ Fucking tough and we're pretty" and "Shitty Movies In Jersey City", a number which finds vocalist Shen Pan crooning, "I'm sorry Jersey City sucks/ And now we're sitting in my living room with nowhere to go". Overall, Youthful Days is the kind of album that would be the perfect soundtrack for a simple walk alone (preferably in Jersey City) or a small rager with friends (again, preferably in Jersey City). (Terrance Pryor) - Fakewalls.com
Discography
Still working on that hot first release.
Photos
Bio
COY KIDS BIO
Long Version: Coy Kids consists of Johnny Chlup on bass, Chris Weber on drums (not the basketball player…Weber with one b never forgets how many timeouts he has left) and Shen Pan on vocals and guitar. Are they a power trio? How dare you! Indie rock? Meh. Emo? Nope...only one of them wears skinny jeans and only two of them own a Sunny Day Real Estate record and it’s Diary. So if you were to pick a genre (dirty word alert!) to describe their sound, what would it be? Tweecore? Perfect. What is tweecore? It’s the combination of twee and core. Duh! (Fun fact #1: Tweecore was invented in 1989 when Calvin Johnson (yes, the football player) met Henry Rollins after a Tulalah Gosh show and discussed making music together over a meal consisting of vegan head cheese and foie gras.)
Coy Kids formed in early 2012 when Shen and Chris began playing music together in order to escape the boredom and apathy resulting from normal day-to-day life in Jersey City. They met Johnny and soon learned that he shared their love of New Jersey, day drinking, and dick jokes. They began playing random basements, weddings, bar mitzvahs and bars in the Jersey City area. They plan on releasing a 7” single followed by a digital full length on the small Los Angeles based label Texiera Records with worldwide distribution provided by the Orchard in the summer of 2014. (Fun fact #2: Chris’s father was Johnny’s high school principle! They were both unaware of this fact until Chris tried to give Johnny detention one drunken evening by locking him in a 4 door Mazda sedan and a sense of familiarity ran through both their veins.)
Artists ranging from Pavement to the Reigning Sound to Quicksand influence the individual band members. But the music they create together isn’t a mere combination of the aforementioned artists. In actuality, they sound absolutely nothing like any band you can think of. Go ahead and give it a try. I promise you’ll fail. Instead Johnny’s bass lines, Chris’ drum beats and Shen’s guitar and voice combine to form a charming and catchy blend of soft/loud dynamic love songs. Some would describe them as anti-love but how’re you supposed to know what love is if you’ve never been jaded and heartbroken? (Fun Fact #3: Shen once dated the daughter of the inventor of Post It Notes!)
There’s one word that comes to mind when you listen to a Coy Kids song: empathy. That’s because they’ve: loved, lied, given, stolen, helped, hurt, fucked up, done good, wished they were older and wiser, yearned for their youth, experienced happy/sad/funny/awkward moments in random places with random people…just like you. These are their stories…these are your stories…these are everybody’s stories.
Short Version: We’re 3 dudes who write songs about gals. We drink cheap beer. Sometimes we drink fancy beer. We’ll fight anyone who talks shit about New Jersey. (Fun Fact #4: New Jersey is the best place on earth)
Fun Fact Check
#1 Absolutely Not.
#2 True!
#3 Nah. That fun fact was based on the movie Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion. The real life girl’s father owned a stationary store and wasn’t nearly as awesome as Romy or Michelle.
#4 True!
Band Members
Links
