Mean Jeans
photo by Jose Corona Jr

Mean Jeans releasing 'Gigantic Sike' (stream "Party Line")

Portland punks Mean Jeans will release their new album Gigantic Sike on August 30 via Fat Wreck Chords (pre-order). It’s the followup to their 2018 album Jingles Collection for which they wrote unsolicited commercial jingles for Mountain Dew, Coors Light, Dunkaroos, Pop Rocks, and more. For this new one, Billy Jeans explains:

Selling out to Mountain Dew wasn’t all it’s cracked up to be, so Mean Jeans are back with a straight-up stripped-down party punk record. It’s called Gigantic Sike. It was gonna be called something more reasonable and the songs were gonna be more marketable and I was gonna get a real job, but we put a big ‘ol sike on it instead. ‘Party Line’ is basically a jingle for the party hotline that nobody seems to be calling anymore. (My cell phone). Give it a try, I’m standing by.

“Party Line” is the first single, and it’s exactly the kind of Ramones-style ripper that Mean Jeans have always done so well. As Billy explains, though, there’s a sadness lying beneath the dumb fun. “These songs are fun and fast, but at their core, they’re about the bleak existence of a party boy. All of my favorite Mean Jeans songs have an element of sadness, cynicism, or darkness to them. They’re dumb, but there’s honesty in the lyrics.” About “Party Line,” he adds, “On the surface, it’s about a hotline you call when you’re ready to party, but the party line is just my cellphone, and the song is about how no one’s blowing up the party line anymore and everyone’s moving on with their lives. Plus I get blown up with robocalls every day, so who cares who has my number?” Listen below.

Mean Jeans have one upcoming date at the moment: the Portland edition of Punk In Drublic.

Mean Jeans Gigantic Sike

Tracklist
1. Party Line
2. Basement Animal
3. Just a Trim (Don’t Buzz Me Alright)
4. One More Before We Go
5. Stuck in a Head
6. Buddy’s Leaving
7. I Fell Into a Bog
8. What the Fuck Is up Tonight?
9. Turning Green
10. Blackout Magazine
11. Time Warp

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