"The Prozacs ARE the Flagship band of American Pop Punk."
So says Ralph J Rivera and I'm not going to argue with him.
He also says "They've been doing it since 2003 and I can guarantee you Jay Gauvin will have some variation of his band going until his fingers fall off! There's many under-rated songwriters in the Pop Punk "bubble" but it's time to acknowledge Mr. Jay Gauvin as the undisputed "Head Of The Table"!"
The Westfield, Massachusetts, band actually started coming together in September 2001 after Jay had decided he wasn't having fun playing with his previous band The GrandPrixx. Their first 3 shows were in October/November of 2001 with the original line up....then 4th in early 2002 with line up #2...then Nov 2002 was the first with the first album line up; a fabulous collection of pop punk anthems was to follow. It's been a long, and at times difficult road for Jay keeping things going with many line up changes and the challenges of family life and a full time job ("Yeah it sucks! I have no clue how I'm still doing it to be honest. If I could only get rid of the job....") but 20 years later he's still at it and still getting a buzz from it ("as much as I love getting on stage...it's writing, recording and releasing music that is the big "high" for me").
If you want more of Jay's thoughts you can check out the interview I did with him a few years ago : https://justsomepunksongs.blogspot.com/2016/02/an-interview-with-j-prozac.html
To celebrate the band's 20th anniversary they've released a retrospective album titled Fan Favs And Wannabe Hits! It's a lengthy 33 track compilation bursting at the seams with many of their most popular songs. It's a great jumping in point for anyone unfamiliar with the band and a source of nostalgic joy for the rest of us. It's an impossible task to include everyone's favourite. Where's Let's Sniff Glue? (and an even more outrageous omission must be the Just Some Punk Songs theme song!), but overall Jay's put together a killer pop punk album that won't disappoint anyone.
It's available on cd and digital download from Outloud! Records https://outloudrecords.bandcamp.com/album/fan-favs-and-wannabe-hits
The next 20 years starts here! This is the opening track on the comp and it's a new one. It's called Blah, Blah, Blah...
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