‘Everything I Ever Saw’ at The Menzingers’ Asbury Park Record Release Show & Party
- Andre Paras
- Jul 22
- 5 min read
“I drove you home while you slept in the front seat, after a show at The Stone Pony,” says The Menzingers’ lead singer/guitarist Greg Barnett on their 2017 track ‘Your Wild Years.’
“Sha-la-la-la, Jersey girls are always total heartbreakers,” the band sings on their hit single anthem ‘Lookers.’ “Julie from the Wonder Bar, I still wonder where you are.”
These lyrics go to show that New Jersey, and specifically Asbury Park has become a second home for these Pennsylvanian pop-punkers. And if you’ve ever been to this side of the Jersey Shore and this alt-flavored beach town, you’d understand why these guys fit right in.
“Everything I Ever Saw” marks the eighth studio release from a band that’s been active for two whole decades now.
If you’ve never listened, there’s much to admire about their crossover heartland pop-punk sound, drawing on songwriting influences like Bruce Springsteen and Americana music, and combining this with the sound and spunk of the great Bouncing Souls records. A good modern comparison would definitely be The Gaslight Anthem, who The Menzingers have played with a number of times.
The new album happens to be produced by one of the best people working in modern punk/rock, and long-time friend of the band, Will Yip (Turnstile, Title Fight, The Starting Line, Tigers Jaw). There’s so much calculation into this sound, and the band sounds as comfortable as ever, delivering confidently on a similar formula that’s gotten them by with new anthems over the last 10 years. Songs are crunchy, catchy, and cathartic as all heck.
It’s the perfect combination of confessional, reflective, and nostalgic. And especially when you live in an area so tapped into what they’re influenced by – the northeast tri-state area that is – so much of it feels so familiar and always hits so close to home.
As you realize these guys have experienced the same pains and heartbreak that comes with growing older, and did it all in the same states, and down to even the same spots across New Jersey and Philadelphia.
I know that with time, lyrics like “Where are we gonna go now that our twenties are over? Everyone’s asking me over and over…” on ‘Tellin Lies’ will only continue to hit more over the years.
Now nearing their forties all around, there’s much more of a mature touch to their songwriting and sound. Definitely more reflective and mellow than the early years. This new album specifically, hinted at with the album title, aims to reflect on the past, present, and future. Trying to make sense of it all amidst crazy times that really just feel unreal on paper. And I’m happy to report they do it so well here. Certainly their best studio-LP attempt since ‘After the Party.’
The party began at 2 p.m. at the world-famous Wonder Bar just down the street from the concert venue for the night, The Stone Pony. There, there was a free merch pop-up event where fans could hit the bar, listen to the new album on repeat all day, take pictures at the photobooth, and even catch members of the band walking around doing the same if you were lucky (like I was!)
“After the party” wrapped at 6 p.m.; it was time to “march up to [the] gates” of The Stone Pony and “throw [our] lonely soul[s] away” to two back-to-back acts of hearty punk rock.
The Holy Mess kicked off the show, with an angsty, youthful energy coming off of a tour supporting Teenage Bottlerocket.
Tattoo-sleeved frontman Steve "Steve-O" Niemoczynski emphasized during the set how great it was to be back together touring as a band post-breakup, and opening for The Menzingers again after playing with them prior – 19 years ago now!
The band ripped through tracks like “A Song for Tim Browne to Sing,” “Asleep in a Room Full of Dog Shit,” and “Sunset on the Coastline,” which Niemoczynski said, “only felt fitting being by the shore.”
They also had some funny stories to tell about the burning hot sand on their bare feet, as the band got to hang out on the Asbury Park beach before the show.
After properly warming up the crowd for the release show they came for, it was finally that time for the Menzos (The Menzingers) themselves, taking the stage in a legendary venue, in a legendary town for the genre. There really is no better way to experience this.
It was time to raise those Asbury Park Blondes high, in a packed Pony crowd full of beer, sweat, and tears- tears of bittersweet joy that we finally all made it here together, as the guys kicked off their 21-song set of bangers with a single off the new album, “Chance Encounters.”
Another great thing about the Menzos is their alternating lead singers in Barnett and Tom May, and their respective songs have a distinct feel, sound, and personality that you can never get tired of. And not to mention they sound the same and still bring so much energy live after all these years.
Quite the balanced set for fans new and old. The new record racked up five tracks on the set, “After the Party” tied with that, and then four songs off “On the Impossible Past” to help continue to rowdy up the place.
For the OGs in the crowd, the band shared that coincidentally, they happened to perfectly line up this album release and concert on the same day they released their debut “A Lesson In The Abuse of Information Technology” back in 2007 AND had a show celebrating with The Holy Mess supporting, too- ain’t it funny how the world works sometimes.
The oldest track they played was “I Was Born”, a rippin’ single off their sophomore record “Chamberlain Waits.”
The most unique moments to this specific show included hearing the live debut of “The Fool,” the American debut of “Better Angels,” and a cover of Bouncing Souls’ “Kate Is Great” to kick off the encore.
And of course it couldn’t have felt more healing and surreal to hear both “Your Wild Years” (which is not a set staple) and “Lookers” and those local lyrics mentioned before, at the places the songs were inspired by and written for.
Throughout the set, singers Barnett and May took to the crowd and talked about how important Asbury has become for the whole band over the years, from small holiday shows at neighboring venue Asbury Lanes, shows at the outside Stone Pony Summer Stage and interior Stone Pony, and all the friends met along the way ‘til now.
Looking forward to the rest of the year, The Menzingers kick off their actual tour for this album later in the fall, and the tri-state will have plenty of chances to catch them with two dates each for NY and PA, respectively.
“I don’t want to relive, I just want to remember everything I ever saw,” says the band’s latest title track. And from the band to the audience, an inspiring, simple, yet timeless message to live by.
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