Hindsight really is always 20-20, isn't it? Hop Along—a Philly quartet trading in the sort of scrappy, ferociously anthemic punk-rock that can leave an audience spellbound, in tears or without a...
Hindsight really is always 20-20, isn't it? Hop Along—a Philly quartet trading in the sort of scrappy, ferociously anthemic punk-rock that can leave an audience spellbound, in tears or without a voice (or all three at once)—are one of those bands that seem predestined to reign at the top of a city's budding music scene and countless best-of lists. The road the group took to get there though, was anything but easy or straightforward.
Before Hop Along, there was Hop Along, Queen Ansleis, the lo-fi, freak-folk solo project of frontwoman Frances Quinlan. Her urgent, expansive (and only) full-length under that name, Freshman Year, came all the way back in 2005, and—while putting her unconventional, deeply moving narratives directly in the spotlight—only hinted at the true scope of her abilities. Years would go by before Quinlan teamed up with her brother Mark and bassist Tyler Long, jettisoned the second half of her former stage name and made the transition from singer/songwriter to frontwoman of a thrillingly dynamic rock band.
Even then, the band's raggedly beautiful, combative 2012 debut, Get Disowned, flew largely under the radar, forcing the band to rely largely on word of mouth. So, the band picked up former Algernon Cadwallader guitarist Joe Reinhart as a full-time member and toured constantly. Meanwhile, the band's devoted fanbase began to—with the help of some famous admirers—rapidly expand. After signing to venerated indie label Saddle Creek, and with a groundswell of momentum behind them at last, the band finally connected all the dots with 2015's Painted Shut, a visceral, staggering rock record powered by Quinlan's captivating tales of the forgotten, the downtrodden and the powerless. Stirring, all-encompassing and incredibly catchy, it was the perfect