The Menzingers Share New Song "Bad Actors" from Hello Exile Sessions & Eagles Gameday Series Soundtrack (Epitaph Records)
By now, we all know that The Eagles (GO, BIRDS!!!) lost Super Bowl LVII last month to The Chiefs, but they tried their best and that's all that really matters. Just this past weekend, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and younger brother of Eagles center hosted SNL with musical guest Kelsea Ballerini. Today, revered Pennsylvania Punk Rock bruisers The Menzingers share an upbeat new single, "Bad Actors." Chosen by The Philadelphia Eagles as part of the official Eagles Gameday Series Soundtrack, the song was played in stadium and was, also, featured on the team's social media pages leading up to The Super Bowl, further cementing the band's hometown roots. Featuring bright guitars, melodic riffs, and uplifting lyrics, the track was written during sessions for the band's sixth studio album, Hello Exile (2019.)
Tom May explains, "it's one of the last songs we wrote for the album and finished it in the studio. It's an ode to a dear old friend that passed." Featuring the long-time line-up of founding members singers/guitarists Greg Barnett & Tom May, bassist Eric Keen, and drummer Joe Godino, The Menzingers formed as teenagers in their hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania in 2006. Barnett, May, Keen & Godino later, collectively relocated the band to Philadelphia. The band made their Epitaph debut with 2012's On The Impossible Past, which was voted Album of The Year by Absolute Punk & Punk News. Arriving in 2014, their fourth album, Rented World, was praised as "packed with clever song-writing" by The New York Times and "a colossal fist-pumper" by Stereogum.
In February 2017, The Menzingers released their fifth album, After The Party, which landed on many best-of-the-year lists from outlets like Clash & noisey with Stereogum praising its "almost unfairly well-written Punk songs." The fall of 2019 saw the release of Hello Exile, the band's "boldest and most self-assured album," according to Pop Matters, coming back with re-imagined stripped down version, From Exile, merely a year later. Somewhat bringing everything full-circle, The Menzingers released an eight-track EP entitled On The Possible Past in 2022, which has been described as acoustic demos of tracks from On The Impossible Past in honor of its tenth anniversary. Conciding with "Bad Actors," The Menzingers have announced a string of headlining East Coast shows in May with stops in Liverpool, New York, Worcester, Massachusetts, Portland, Maine, Buffalo, New York, Albany, New York, and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania from 5/5-13. Tickets for the aforementioned dates are on sale now. The Menzingers' "Bad Actors" is available today on streaming services, via Epitaph Records.