Escape From The Zoo are sharing their new video, “Wasted Years,” off their debut album on Fat Wreck Chords, Countin’ Cards, and you can check it out right here at New Noise.
The band are that new loud, fast, punk project from Days N’ Daze’s Jesse Sendejas, cofounded with his wife Veronica. They cite the COVID-19 pandemic as a crucial element allowing for the self-reflection that helped to inform the tracks on the album, along with the fact that Jesse got sober right before the pandemic hit.
The tracks offer up deep and poignant existential questions about life and the social and political constructs that surround and consume it, though they also follow Jesse’s newfound clarity and the new path in life he’s forging.
“I’ve definitely not been without my slipups,” he admits. “A lot of the album is about trying to be a better friend and bandmate and person overall, and struggling with wanting to do that really, really badly – but also knowing that instant escape and gratification and comfort is a drink or a pill away. And I’m just trying to reason that in my mind, and find a path that seems doable and one that I can actually stay on for once.”
The record isn’t necessarily “hopeful,” though it does offer a realistic optimism, both on a personal level from the bandmates and on a greater, universal level many listeners will resonate with.
The track “Wasted Years” doesn’t wander far from the title’s suggestion, as a melancholy reflection of days gone by, though that’s not to say it resorts to hopelessness or self-indulgence.
Watch the video for “Wasted Years” here:
For more from Escape From The Zoo, find them on Facebook and Bandcamp.
Photo courtesy of Escape From The Zoo
