There’s become this fascination for a while now of everyone wanting to become an outcast and be the stylised icon they’ve seen in the latest breakaway hit teen show or movie and that hasn’t gone unnoticed by the LA based producer, songwriter and performer Ricky Himself. After seeing the masses had invaded the movement and become the very thing pop punk musicians used to laugh about back in the day he decided to take satirical look at it all with the tongue in cheek number I Know You Like Black Flag that is best described as Blink 182 meets Jimmy Eat The World.

“In this current climate of pop-punk rejuvenation, the song is a satire on the “outcast” image,” Ricky Himself begins to explain. “Artists have all defaulted to loud fashion statements and dying their hair an interesting colour and the “punks” are Instagram models now, Unknowingly becoming the thing that the pop-punk bands we grew up on made fun of in their heyday.”

This takes everything I loved about the early 2000’s pop punk movements and brings it forward into the modern era with him continuing to reference his own pain as well as modern pop culture, a staple of his sound. The thunderous guitars ruthlessly propel the piece forward whilst still allowing us to hold onto the nostalgia this sound brings as his vocals remorsefully sings the melancholy lyrics on what this old movement used to mean to him. Another home run from this artist who’s looking to make 2020 his year.