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We're Not Listening

Smile for the Camera - Hooligans!, pt. 4

Bitterness can wreck a man. Sarcasm can hurt. And being a straight-up dick is never good for friendships.

That’s why Hooligans! never treated anybody like shit when they hung out with other bands or met up with fans. They were all fairly nice dudes who liked to smile for pictures rather than flip off the cameras, and that’s probably why they got along with each other so well. Six years into their being a band, though, six years of writing about serious subjects…it was time to mix things up a little bit.

Nobody in the trio was a really sarcastic soul. Everybody preferred to say what they meant without mincing words, despite Rai generally using that trait to give excessive compliments. That’s why it was such a change-up for them to come out with this record they called “We’re in Your Way.”

On the surface, it sounded like straight-up pop-punk, and it got them kicked out of more bars than they bargained for. There was a method to the madness, though. Every single song on that record was produced in irony for the sole purpose of letting the light shine on society once and for all. (And, well, Hooligans! didn’t want to toot their own horn, but they got the reaction they wanted.)

It was a metaphor in itself for the way people become outcasts. Hooligans! had crafted a record full of peppy songs that seemed to shy away from pessimism, shedding the questioning attitude they became so good at, and the people who had once came to every show had dubbed them sellouts. I mean, what’s punk about wanting to fit in? At the same time, though, what’s pop about writing songs with double meanings?

They had taken a risk and they’d paid the consequences. Even though they weren’t on a record label that could give them the boot, and even though they lost a shit ton of money from their tanking sales, they didn’t really mind. The scene had proven their point.

It wasn’t until people got the picture that things had turned around for Hooligans! once again. They figured it out – it was a ploy. The music was faked on this album in order to uncover the true intentions of human nature – to shun anything that was too drastically different from the norm, to cling to assumptions and cry “traitor!” when a world is shaken.

When people wised up, things got back to normal, or even better. Hooligans! were already in the works of a new album anyways, ready to get back on the scene again, and by the time “I Can’t Hear You!” was released in 1998, the fans were ready for more of their favorite miniature philosophers.

Again, it was a departure from what they were known for, but to a less radical extent. In making pop songs, Rai, Kenny, and Damon had learned more about the instruments they played, and they used that to their advantage to craft musical masterpieces that were catchy and still packed lyrical punches. It was back to basics with ever-evolving questions about the youth of the day and why they acted the way they did.

And there was a distinct happiness in the way they played their music live from then on. Maybe it was the knowledge that they had successfully pranked everybody in the Florida punk scene and made a hell of a comeback. Maybe it was the fact that Damon was eight years sober. Maybe it was because Kenny was becoming known as a pioneer for equality in a hostile environment.

Really, if you ask Rai, it was because Rai met a girl who planted a smile on his face even when he was screaming songs about violence.

Her name was Annette and she wrote articles for ‘zines, and from the moment she cornered Hooligans! for a quick interview, Rai was hooked on her baby blue eyes. She was a no-nonsense punk rock chick who knew he was flirting with her right away – then again, Kenny and Damon could see that too – and eventually they fell under the label of boyfriend and girlfriend while Rai’s bandmates were perfectly happy being single.

They didn’t get married until 2001, and they didn’t have any children until they adopted a boy named Aaron in 2002, but that didn’t make it any less wonderful in the eyes of everybody who had watched it happen.

These guys were getting old, though. They lived their lives in tour vans, sleeping next to their guitars and drums, and though they made enough money to be able to live more than comfortably, something had to give eventually. You can’t keep a star burning forever. Letting it collapse in on itself wasn’t a good idea, either.
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Forgot to update last night. ._. Yesterday was a busy day, sorry 'bout that!