By Nabi Dressler
News Editor
Up-and-coming Chicago band I Fight Dragons isn’t composed of five typical, nonchalant rock stars who were the “popular kids” in high school. Instead, this chiptune, pop-punk five-piece’s members may be some of the biggest geeks in the music industry, incorporating Nintendo game console sounds into their music with underdog-themed song lyrics.
I Fight Dragons’ latest album, Kaboom!, pays homage to all the “nerds” getting pushed around in high school hallways and to the kids who can’t find prom dates. However, their first full-length album is one of revenge; with track titles like “The Geeks will Inherit the Earth”, it’s quite self-explanatory that, a decade after high school, these video game-obsessed band members are having the last laugh.
“I remember trying to talk to you in high school/Couldn’t even get a look cause you were too cool,” I Fight Dragons front-man and Glenview native Brian Mazzaferri bitterly reminisces. “We were the ones you used to make fun of/We stayed at home alone instead of falling in love/We never got the chance to be prom king/We didn’t even dance but here’s the thing/We got the cars/We got the money.”Kaboom!’s lyrics have a motivational, centralized theme that is quite stereotypical yet inspirational; let the bullies do as they please in high school, because the outcasted, hard-working kids will change the world. It’s the kind of music to listen to when studying for an AP test while the teenagers down the street binge-drink at a party.
Just like I Fight Dragons’ first two EPs, Kaboom! has harmonious vocals, upbeat guitar riffs, and puts a positive twist on the low points of a young adult’s life. The songs are easy to relate to, no matter where one may fall in the high school hierarchy.
The melodies are similar to those heard on I Fight Dragons’ other works since their formation in 2008, and, in this case, staying the same is a good thing. Kaboom! is nostalgic. It does not take huge risks, but it’s nearly the same music I fell in love with when the band was just beginning.
Kaboom! is an album uniting people of all walks of life who feel slightly different, or have felt that way at some point in their lives. The album can be summed up in one adage; living well is the best revenge.
