The Fake Boys and Frogball's split 7" together is the best thing Drive-Thru forgot to put out a decade ago.

On the A-Side, the Fake Boys remind me of a brief era when pop-punk was exploding but an album like Dead Ends and Girlfriends proved Descendents and Screeching Weasel could still have a place in influencing it and it could still be aggressive and fast-paced. The band are uptempo and brash, but never quite as corrosive as either of those latter bands -- hence such a skewed comparison. But their energy and melody make up for it.

Their splitmates, Frogball, are sorta similar, but not really. Their vocalist is way more raspy and out of tune, but in a good way. Actually, after noticing they were from Bellingham [after posting I was alerted that they're from the Mass. Bellingham, not Washington...oh well], it makes me think -- you could totally compare their vocalist to Shook Ones' Scott Freeman (and now that I'm looking at their MySpace player, they even have a cover of one of the best Kid Dynamite songs ever. Well, well.). Also, their lyrics are hilariously bad, but in a good way. "Fuck" sorta reminds me of a second-rate version of None More Black's "Oh, There's Legwork," except the singer is railing about how, "It's 3AM and I want some nachos / had some 'bout an hour ago / I'm flat broke and I need some more / I can't afford to go to the store / fuck." I give them a pass, though, because it has me at least mildly cracking up every time I hear it.

This is a goofy-ass split, but I haven't really gotten too into many pop-punk bands the past few years outside of the Humanoids and the Ergs!, so for the Fake Boys and Frogball to even make a dent is impressive enough for me.

STREAM
The Fake Boys - Oceans
Frogball - Quit Everything