Pop Punk Duo 18th and Addison Bring the Genre Home on New Single “Broke Down in Babylon” featuring Fred Mascherino
Recently, a relatively unknown pop punk duo called 18th and Addison caught my attention on Spotify. The song was called “Leeches” and the melody was catchy like nobody’s business. The alternating girl — guy pop punk vocalist thing was super reminiscent of We are the In Crowd, but the female vocalist in 18th and Addison expressed her lyrics with a raw maturity that made Tay Jardine’s vocals sound Disneyfied in comparison. Musically the song reminded me a lot of The Wonder Years. Since I’m a fan of both of those bands (and pop punk in general) I decided to listen to more of 18th and Addison’s songs.
The more I listened to them, the more I felt ready to get up, get out my bright colored sunglasses and equally bright matching skinnies and mosh again at some small side stage at the 2011 Warped Tour. Their music was fun, but it had sense of maturity to it. “I really enjoy writing catchy vocal melodies and figuring out harmonies. It’s one of my favorite parts of the songwriting process,” Kait Kunzman (one half of 18th and Addison) told me in my recent interview. And you can see how the duo do enjoy having fun with their songwriting. From the in your face lyrics to the catchy hooks to the punk infused tempos of the songs, you can’t ignore this duo’s talent and respect for the pop punk genre. They know their stuff. And it shouldn’t be a surprise. After all, 18th Addison is a product of the local (New Jersey) scene circa the late 2000s when brightly colored sunglasses (and pants) and fun, honest, good old fashioned, catchy pop punk were all the rage. Remember those days? I know I do.
18th and Addison is composed of “Vegas transplants from New Jersey” husband and wife Tom and Kait Kunzman who came together in 2010. “We started dating after a few years of knowing each other from around the local music scenes in New Jersey. Both of us wanted to break out of that,” Tom Kunzman (the other half of 18th and Addison) shared with me in a recent interview. “We had a massive amount of respect for each other’s accomplishments and talent overall. Same influences and everything,” Tom said. “After writing music and collaborating, we didn’t want to deal with a revolving door of band members and thought the two of us could do it better alone. Nobody understands our goals and visions better for these songs better than we do.”
Since coming together a duo nearly a decade ago, 18th and Addison have perfected the late 2000s/ 2010s era pop punk sound through one album (Makeshift Monster), three Eps (Little Parasites, Vultures and Old Blues/Modern Love) and a few singles including a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “ Dreams” and the holiday classic “You’re a Mean One Mr. Grinch” — their covers are amazing, by the way. They’ve also worked with some pretty impressive names in the music industry like Ace Frehley of Kiss. “We were contacted about writing music for him shortly after we released our Vultures EP and the single from that, “Time Bomb”. They wanted something sort of 70’s garage rock/punk influenced. Similar to his debut solo record back when he was with KISS still,” Tom explained of Frehley’s song, “Mission to Mars,” which 18th and Addison co wrote. “Turns out he loved one of the songs we wrote and put it on the Spaceman album. It was a great success for us and pleased both fans and the critics which is still pretty mind blowing to us,” Tom notes.
Most recently the duo has teamed up with the legendary Fred Mascherino (yes that Fred) for a brand new single entitled “Broke Down in Babylon.” The single is set to drop February 26th and Fred is both featured on the track and the track’s producer.
“We had the opportunity to co-write “Broke Down in Babylon” with Fred and he offered to produce it with us at his home studio after the session,” Tom said. “All of the pre-production was done by us at home which saved us all a ton of time in the studio. We even kept the programmed drums from the demo that Kait created. He really helped us hone in on tones, specifying the strongest parts on each instrument and vocal take. Really allowed us to push ourselves in a positive way as tough as that can be to deal with after a long day of non-stop tracking. His home studio is beautiful as well, so it was a blast to record in. All of us just really wanted it to be great and we achieved that.”
Kait described working with Fred as “amazing” noting it was such “a fun, easy going environment that ultimately makes the process of recording super smooth and so much more enjoyable. Fred is a super positive guy so that also helps.”
After working with Fred on the new single, Kait has pointed out that Fred “has quickly become more of a mentor to us as well as a friend on top of being an amazing collaborator and producer,” explaining that the duo are “very lucky to have him in our corner.” And they are.
The duo also admits they “ learned a lot in our short period of time knowing each other, so that’s been great,” Tom noted, which could mean more tighter radio ready tunes from 18th and Addison in the future. I’m rooting for that.
Although “Broke Down in Babylon” has Fred’s fingerprints all over it, it will likely be in tune with 18th and Addison’s other hits. “It’s really hard to put your finger on it stylistically,” Kait said of the new single. “It’s got a lot of rock and roll elements, and it’s got its moments that are more pop influenced. We were finally able to capture a sound we’ve been trying to do for a while which was nice.”
As to why the song is titled “Broke Down in Babylon” Tom explained that “Kait sang me the first hook line and I felt like a counter melody and lyric would help and that’s what came out. The title pretty much just encompasses the feeling of the entire song.”
As far as whether or not there will be a music video for “Broke Down in Babylon” Tom states, “there will be a music video for sure and we’re very proud of it considering the circumstances we’re in today. We made this one entirely ourselves in the garage. Extremely DIY, very fun and creative. It’s colorful and a little dark at the same time which perfectly depicts how we felt at the time of writing the song.”
With Mascherino behind this duo who knows what other amazing pop punk collaborations could come next. Kait would “love to work with in some facet with Benji and Joel Madden from Good Charlotte/MDDN — not only has their band influenced me my entire life but they’re also extremely smart businessmen, managers, producers, etc and I feel like seeing how they carry themselves and the work ethic they have, we’d get along great with them and work well together.” Kait would also be totally down with a collaboration from The Killers. Although Tom would prefer to work with Flood or Mike Campbell. Hopefully those collaborations will happen one day soon.
2021 is getting off to a great start for the duo. And with the upcoming release of “Broke Down in Babylon” who knows what else is possible for the two. As for now, Kait told me they’re “writing and recording as much music as possible and releasing whatever feels right in the moment. We’ve always had a plan for what we’ve done and this time around it’s nice not putting a timeline on anything. Just creating for tons of refreshing new music, experimenting and collaborating with other artists.”
In the meantime, if you want some poppy pop punk with a level of maturity that outruns We Are The In Crowd, check out 18th and Addison on Spotify or Apple Music. If you like what you hear (as I did) give them a follow on all social media platforms and reach out to the duo. They’re super accessible. “We like to hear from fans and share new music directly with you guys. Stream and share the songs during these strange times we’re in. It means so much to us,” Tom told me. And keep your eyes peeled for that new single “Broke Down in Babylon” set to drop February 26th. I know I’m super stoked to see how the track turned out and to hear Fred back on a new track.
