Video premiere: Semi-Famous – “Weasels in a Box” – New Noise Magazine

From the mind of Screeching Weasel founding member and former guitarist John Jughead, his fictional band Semi-Famous comes to life. Semi-Famous was originally the band from Jughead’s semi-autobiographical 2001 novel. Weasel in a box that danced on the line between fiction and reality as it told the story of a band that is eerily similar to the real-life story of Screeching Weasel. Now, over two decades later, the book is finally being released in paperback and audiobook, while Jughead is releasing an album called Destroy ourselves from the formerly fictional band. Some pop-punk heavyweights like Ryan Rockwell (mixtapes), singer/guitarist Billy Brown (Crash and Burn, Ashers, Unseen), drummer Tyson Cornell (Scooby not), And Singer/Guitarist Poli van Dam (Bombpops, the Poli van Dam Band).

“From the beginning, the intention was to take the fictional band Semi-Famous from my book Weasels In A Box and record some songs under that name for the audiobook release,” Jughead explains of the project. “We had so much fun writing in a form that most of us hadn’t explored in years, so we decided to write more. But what happened was that the songs, while still influenced by Screeching Weasel, took on a life of their own. I really appreciate the songs of Ben Weasel and Dan Vapid and have always been wary of sounding like them. I don’t have the vocal talent of Vapid or the humorous darkness of Ben, so it made sense that Ryan and my imitation of that time period would sound different than the originals. The music of Semi-Famous will continue to be inspired by that music and the different time periods of music, but especially with the lyrics of Poli van Dam and the inspiration of Billy Brown, our sound will continue to evolve in exciting new directions.”

The first video from the new album is for the short teaser single “Weasels in a Box”. A short burst of powerful pop-punk energy with a powerful melody and beautiful vocal harmonies, it promises to be an exciting album. Check out the video below.

Destroy ourselves will be released on July 26th and can be pre-ordered at Rare bird.

Photo courtesy of Semi-Famous