Soldiers of Society eponymous album is Pop Punk Perfection
Abhi Bairathi knows a thing or two about how to be the best damn underground pop punk rocker dude a guy can be during quarantine. Or at least that’s what he wants you to think. The multi instrumentalist/ producer dude behind pop punk project, Soldiers of Society has had the songs off his eponymous album in his possession for years, but it wasn’t until 2020 that he decided to re-record them and release them on all streaming services. “I didn’t write any of these songs during the quarantine,” Bairathi told me in a recent interview.
Most of the songs were written in 2014 with the exception of the title track and the music for “Close Your Eyes” which were written in 2017. Bairathi cites the reason for the delay in releasing the tracks as not having “the equipment (before) to make a decent sounding record all by myself.” But Bairathi’s decision to wait was a smart one, admitting that by waiting he was able to make the songs even better. “In the process of recording, some songs did go through changes from what they were originally supposed to be and I added back vocal harmonies for the first time and I’m really glad that I did, because often they go unnoticed by the average listener, but they are what makes lead vocals truly shine.” He also “added some extra guitar parts and back vocals to enhance the overall sound of the songs.” And by doing that he turned what might have been just simplistic pop punk ballads into future smash hits.
Soldiers’ debut album is a wild ride through the trials and tribulations of what it feels like to grow up. A pop punk “throwback” highly influenced by pop punk A-listers Simple Plan, Forever Came Calling, Good Charlotte, Blink 182, Sum 41 and Green Day, Soldiers of Society debut is every pop punk lovers dream record. Filled with fun melodies, catchy choruses, in-your-face vocals, and lots of passionate angst, this album has lots of moshing potential. Soldiers’ debut album also offers a lot of variety in the songs. If you’re more of a Simple Plan, All Time Low, Yellowcard, or Blink fan, you’ll find a favorite in “Will She Like Me” — a fun song that opens with a bouncy guitar hook that sets up a giddy emotional scene that’s destined to pop like bubblegum. You’ll also dig “Choices” another song defined by its infectious hooks and driving bassline backed by the full “band.” If you’re more of a Green Day or Sum 41 fan, you might find a favorite in “This is School, “2012” ,”Don’t Grow Up” and “Close Your Eyes”— songs that both pay homage to those bands with the similarity of the musical composition (not to mention Abhi’s vocals — he’s a dead ringer for Billie Joe Armstong on both of those tracks). “Close Your Eyes”, clearly the quarantine song of the album, but interestly enough the music to the track, like all the songs on Soldiers’ debut, was composed years ago. Bairathi notes that “Close Your Eyes” was “ the hardest one to write. It was the first time I had incorporated key changes in the middle of the song and I tried to blend it so that it’s not very noticeable. That song also features my favorite guitar solo on the album and the most complex structure … as complex punk songs can get.” But despite the challenge, Bairathi proved he was up for the job.
“When You Know” could have easily been an unreleased demo off Sum 41’s Chuck. It’s that good.The infectious intro hook on “When You Know” reels you into an aggressive moshpit of feelings with Abhi as the soapbox singer driving the crowd wild.
But this album doesn’t just feature straight full band pop punk, it also features some straight up angst acoustic numbers, “Hey You” and “Good Night” — the latter of which reminded me a lot of “Front Porch Sunrise” by Forever Came Calling. All in all, the album features so many variations of pop punk, it’s sure to not bore you one bit.
Soldiers of Society is a tight pop punk album with lots of potential for greatness. And lots of Green Day inspired moments, which isn’t a stretch considering Green Day definitely served as inspiration for Abhi; “That’s the one band I grew up listening since I was 14 and playing their album “American Idiot” on repeat all day long. The guitar sound was also heavily inspired by them as I’m sure any Green Day fan would recognize. I love how creative and catchy their songs are and also the way Billie arranges his songs and doesn’t stick to the traditional verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus structure very often.” Abhi also states, “anyone who listens to this album always comments on how the songs remind them of those two bands and sometimes blink-182. These three bands actually happen to be my biggest influences while working on this album which I guess really shows.” And it does. On Soldiers’ debut, Bairathi proves he’s got the talent to be this generation’s soapbox singer and kick effing ass at it.
The more I listened to Soldiers of Society, the more I couldn’t believe that this entire album was produced by Abhi himself! Of the experience, Abhi says, “I actually enjoyed doing everything by myself. When I was playing with other people, I’d always be the one telling them what and how to play the parts of the song. I always wished I could have 3 clones and we’d make a great band haha. Doing this whole record solo was as close I could get to achieving that dream,” Abhi says. And for someone who did it all on his own, he definitely proved he’s got a talent for this. And if you thought Abhi’s only talent was producing radio ready hot pop punk tunes, you’d be wrong on that, too. He also did the album artwork entirely himself.
In case you’re wondering, there’s no cryptic message in the album artwork; it’s merely just a “a minimalistic representation of the riddle of the Sphinx: What has 4 legs in the morning, 2 in the afternoon and 3 in the evening? The answer is “Human Beings” and we are the soldiers of society.” And that’s what this album describes, life as a human, life as a soldier in society. There are good moments and bad ones. Deep Thoughts and crazy questions. Aggression, angst and calm. It’s definitely worth a listen and if you’re a huge fan of pop punk, it’s definitely something you’ll fall in love with.
And don’t worry, Abhi is writing and producing more stuff as this post is being written, “I’ve been writing songs for another full album which is an interesting mix of punk elements fused with a little progressive rock. As soon as I’m done writing the lyrics for those songs, they’ll be added into the queue of songs I wanna release with this band.”
We can’t wait, Abhi. But in the meantime we’ll jam on through the night with this one.
