The Toxhards - Doombop!
“Doombop!” is a brilliant, genre bending indie punk song with 60’s pop elements, in a uniquely satisfying new track by the band The Toxhards. Scratching an itch you didn’t know you have “Doombop!” digs itself deep into your headphones for repeat listening experiences.
The eye catching start of the song tells a morbid, visceral story delivered beautifully. Lyrically describing a detrimental wreckage that was heavily ignored by the driver afterwords. Continuing onward as normal, despite being injured, only for the driver’s boss to reprimand them for their bloody shirt. Although light and playful at time sonically; the song is lyrically heavy. Part of the song verses mirroring the constant trauma day to day people repress.
During the chorus The Toxhards get told to stop singing sad music aka their “Doombop!” and to sing a happy song instead. The hook’s lyrics refer to other people dismissing the band’s choice of melancholy song style. This could be a veiled metaphor for society telling people to ignore pain and let work consume their identity. The song title invents a new label for music: doombop aka a sub genre of music that feels like post apocalyptic pop-rock. A fusion genre with indie rock and dark pop elements, creating a song for the modern day survivors in a world on fire.
The Toxhards use background vocals, in the hook adlibs, stylistically similar to 60’s pop. This is both to satire people who want just happy songs and to dress up their melancholy lyrics in an additional effort to mock dismissive critics. The four membered band’s efforts are criminally effective in all their parts, working cohesively with one vision and successful delivering a catchy hit with “Doombop!”.
In the music video scenes cut more and more intense with the four band members attacking each other. As the hook plays for the first time a brief moment of calm collaboration is had by the band under a sign saying office. As the song continues to transition between the hooks and verses, the video cuts more and more intense. Eventually three of the band members kidnap one, leaving him tied up at an abandoned house. At first apathetic, he eventually tries to escape before being killed. Similarly to the symbolism in the song lyrics, the video represents the numb fueled bliss that can off hinder one’s progress forward.
Whether due to the economy, sour relationships, grief or a physical ailment; we all carry baggage. However life waits for no one, leading many to feel some level of numbness. An emptiness and longing for more while stuck like a cog in the cycle of capitalism. The energy needed for the day to day tasks can sometimes lead to low self care maintenance. Following this up with instant gratification from social media and of course everyone would dream of fame and lottery winning luck. The Toxhards take their everyday struggles and reinvent them into the incredible, “Doombop!”.
Rather than build a utopia, many people feel the world is already ending and would rather sing along next to the flames as the world burns. “Doombop!” is the perfect addition for those soundtracks. As the latest release by up and coming band The Toxhards. “Doombop!” follows the band’s viral 2022 hit “Ængus, The Prize Winning Hog” which currently sits at over 300,000 streams on Spotify alone. The Toxhards currently have just under 70,000 monthly on Spotify and a little over 3000 YouTube subscribers, but the four member band shows no sign of slowing down yet.
With Casey Donovan on drums / vocals, Matt Garcia on lead guitar, Emerson Harris on rhythm guitar / vocals and Alan Macchiarolo on bass guitar/ vocals, each individual in the band brings an important component for the art we consume from the band The Toxhards.
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