Perfect Saturday

What’s your Perfect Saturday? If it involves smirking nods to Wayne’s World, invoking Mr. Brightside in times of advanced darkness, and lording over fantasy football, you’re in luck. When crafting And Always Be Happy, the Boston three-piece—vocalist/guitarist Chance Wells (he/him), bassist/vocalist Dylan Zobel (he/him), and drummer Mario Taddeo Jr. (he/him)—kept their loose mission statement in mind: appeal to always get better, enjoy the ride despite the pitfalls, turn it up to 11.

As the third EP in the Perfect Saturday datebook, And Always Be Happy illuminates the project’s balancing act between knee-slapping relatability and fighting without punchlines. Genre fusion is alive in full force here, from the nu-metal snarling of “Fourteen Years” dropping in a booster pack of an indie-punk chorus to the easycore trappings of “ACL” splitting apart to let the band whistle your worries away. When they’re not blending together every angle of rock guitar, Perfect Saturday can be found with pop-punk moments that chase the relief of the weekend with the resolve to make the following week even better. Are you worthy?
-James Cassar