The Problem With Kids Today

·53 min·5 clips

The punk band The Problem with Kids Today reveals their unusual name origin and how COVID helped them gel.

Mark welcomes Tate, Silas, and Rena before the band goes onstage. He sets up the conversation around the music that inspired them, early band experiences, and the story of how The Problem with Kids Today came together. The band's name gets its own playful detour. Tate explains the unusual name, along with the earlier band name that was less unusual. Rena joined with songwriting in mind. The first practice included some jamming, but the trio mostly showed each other songs and learned them together. COVID changed the timetable. With no live shows at first, the band had time to write and record, and they were starting to get into the studio after roughly six or seven months. That pause helped them become a band. They used it to hone their sound and were ready to play a lot when music returned in 2021. The members call themselves goofballs. Their pleasure in making music comes through as they talk about having fun with the songs and keep the origin story loose. Take It enters the conversation. The new album is described as an energetic blast of crazy, fun punk rock with a few left turns mixed in. The talk then wanders into record collecting. Mark remembers Princeton Record Exchange, where promo albums from Princeton's college radio station could sell for about a dollar after arriving through trades. He estimates that around 80 percent of his collection came from purchases of five dollars or less. The band is under 30 minutes from the stage when the conversation wraps. That deadline gives the closing thanks a friendly, in-the-room feel as the members make time to talk before their show. The episode leaves a snapshot of a punk trio that found its footing during an unusual pause.

As heard by us

A loose, personable punk-band conversation about shaping a sound during COVID and preparing to play live.

Performance Anxiety centers on a punk band that came together during COVID, when live shows were off the table and practice could become writing and recording time.

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Why you'd press play

Want a punk origin story where COVID accidentally becomes the rehearsal room?

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