Remember the emo phase you had in 7th grade? Well it’s back, and it goes by the name of Sunnycide.
Don’t be alarmed; You’re not going to wake up with black eyeliner smudged around your eyes and a “Keep Out” sign on your bedroom door – though you might want to after listening to this band’s tunes. Listening to Sunnycide will awaken something inside you that you thought had died around the same time that Pete Wentz stopped straightening his hair.
Sunnycide has only been around since 2013, and the oldest member of the band, Maddie Caffrey, is just 20 years old. While you can hear their youth in their music, it’s main quality is an impressive sense of musicality. The fact that Victoria Holleman, Claire Darling, Carson Pace, Maddie Caffrey, Julian Carrassco, and Lorenzo Arritola know what they’re doing is undeniable.
In every song, Holleman’s voice rings clear over a mash of instrumental anarchy. I won’t lie; the best descriptor for their songs is “pandemonium.” It’s clear that they put everything they’ve got into every song they play, and while this could easily result in disaster, with Sunnycide it somehow sounds amazing. Any band with six members runs the risk of overloading the music with competing melodies, but the members of Sunnycide musically complement each other, everyone managing to share the spotlight without stepping on any toes.
When it comes to their live show, Sunnycide is nothing short of captivating. Guitarist and occasional vocalist Pace is a performer in every sense of the word. He hams it up on stage during and between songs in order to win laughs from the crowd – and it works. His charisma is indisputable and only adds to the overall experience.
Along with playing guitar and singing, Pace writes and produces the majority of Sunnycide’s songs, and his musical ability is unmistakable. This, combined with the talent of all of the other members results in remarkable music. Every one of their songs contains an underlying quality that ties them together, but they all sound distinctly different. The musical style of each song varies, and even individual songs contain multiple movements that contrast, yet complement each other.
Somewhat unsurprisingly, the band cites groups like Fall Out Boy, Panic! at the Disco, and Brand New as some of their major influences. They definitely present an interesting blend of these groups’ styles, but Sunnycide is not just another group of pop punk wannabes. As a whole, the band creates music that is genuinely fun to listen to. Their songs are liable to induce swaying, bopping, moshing, and every other dance move imaginable, and I promise you won’t regret the head banging-induced headache that you’ll incur from listening to them.
