Kids On Fire – The Best Of The Worst Of Times

Seattle, WA’s Kids On Fire are set to release their new album, The Best Of The Worst Of Times, on October 19th, the quartet’s latest collection features superb cover artwork from Ryan Henry Ward and follows on from their 2019 full length, Songs In The Key Of Bummer. It must be said that Kids On Fire do not fit into any handy label, elements of pop punk, skate punk, punk rock and even few emo elements collide on their sophomore full length which is being released just ahead of an extensive West Coast tour in support of the album.

The Best Of The Worst Of Times opens with the lead single Alive (One More Night) that was originally released almost three years ago, this is a more refined, although not too refined, version of the catchy hit of punk pop, you can make your own comparisons as the original version is available as a name your price download via Bandcamp. This is followed by Give Us This Day Our Daily Dread, a succinct and achievable prayer for the modern age that’s tinged with a few, just a few, emo elements.

From here the album spreads it wings, This Is Family is pure punk pop with all the anthemic elements and obligatory woahs you could wish for, for me this is what Kids On Fire do best, with later tracks such as Loss, We Are The Lion and …Bye Felicia, that latter of which features guest vocals from Lizzie Franks (The Disorderlies), baring this out. In the same vein there is The Mirror and Doom Scrolling that reflects an influence from the Fat Wreck Chords cannon and the likes of The Bouncing Souls, which is no bad thing in my book.

But that is not the end of the story, Dude Where’s My Serotonin is more considered, and heavier, a track that comes crashing through your speakers in relentless waves, and then there’s Is it Will’s Birthday? …Cuz That’s The Impression That I Get that starts out slow and then let’s rip. There is also there dorky side as they reveal their inner geek on the album’s finalè, Kylo Ren, not the first punk band to be open about their love of geek culture, and they certainly won’t be the last, and I stand with them on this point.

Kids On Fire have released an album that initially might seem familiar, but on further listens their obvious influences are tempered with elements you might not expect. Kids On Fire are not reinventing punk in anyway, but they are celebrating the music they love and delivering it on their own terms. Seattle might have once been ground zero for grunge, but it seems that with Kids On Fire latest release, and from the various guest appearances from friends on the scene, that maybe punk is finally reclaiming the coffee capital.