Photo: Alice Baxley

Reader, I won’t lie to you. I had a pretty substantial emo phase during my adolescence. Though the days of me wearing guyliner and refusing to smile in family photos are long gone, my love for pop-punk music endured long after the last time I told my mother she “didn’t understand my journey.” With the release of their album Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes., HUNNY has given the world eight more songs that you can blast to drown out the fact that Warped Tour has made its last run.

Every track on HUNNY’s latest is dangerously screamable. Whether you choose to go with the earnest album opener “Lula, I’m Not Mad” or the drum-driven lament “A Slow Death In Pacific Standard Time,” each track channels a mood that frontman Jason Yarger calls, “I love you and I want to die.” Of course, you can’t scream along with the lyrics without dancing. Luckily for the band’s listeners, HUNNY has gone on record as a band that values the emotional connection of a live show, so the chance to storm the pit when the infectious bassline on “Ritalin” hits your ears is undoubtedly in the cards.

Interestingly, the band faced a unique series of challenges while writing and recording Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. that weren’t related to typical issues of creative differences or financial peril. Most of the album’s writing and production, which was produced by GRAMMY-winner Carlos de la Garza (Paramore, Cherry Glazerr, Culture Abuse), took place during the Woolsey Fires that desecrated nearly 100,000 acres of land just north of Los Angeles. In fact, firefighters were forced to evacuate the band from bassist Kevin Grimmett’s house as a precautionary measure while they attempted to prevent the fire from spreading to the property. 

But it wouldn’t be punk rock if they listened to orders; “They blocked off all the streets and we had to sneak into my place through this apartment structure,” Grimmet recalls. “Thankfully my house is still standing and the hills are a bright green.” The end result is a fervid declaration of emotion backed by powerful instrumentals and titanic hooks. 

Listen to Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. below: