Dan Campbell “Soupy” lead singer of pop punk band The Wonder Years recently dropped his new solo project late May of 2014. Dan created this character named “Aaron West,” and decided to make an album that tells the story of a young late twenty-something year old man, that comes from a very Irish Catholic family.
The story continues with Aaron mourning the passing of his dad, he also talks about meeting and falling in love with his wife Diane at a very young age in college. Later on his wife divorces him, and he struggles with alcohol and drug abuse. The first single off their debut album “We Don’t Have Each Other,” is called “You Ain’t No Saint,” which talks about meeting his ex- wife for the first time. The first line in the song he starts out by describing him and his wife, “Like gasoline to matches,” his vocals in the song are very rough and raw, you can feel the passion and pain in his voice.
The second -single is a soft heart wrenching ballet “Divorce and the American South,” Aaron is stuck at a truck stop phone booth where he is leaving a very heart felt voice mail on his ex-wife’s phone. He confesses everything that he did wrong in their relationship, including his addiction to nicotine, to not being there to comfort Diane during her miscarriage. Aaron lays everything out on the line as the song progresses, he begs for Diane to pick up because he knows she is listening to his apology.
Dan made his debut as “Aaron West” during the 2014 Warped Tour, minus the group of gentleman behind him called “The Roaring Twenties.” Playing an acoustic set of songs from the album, while staying in character telling Aaron’s story. Now the band has played a number of sold out shows across the East and West coast. While this is a big difference from seeing Dan jumping and screaming in “The Wonder Years,” take a look at his alter ego that brings out the darker poetic side of him you won’t be disappointed.
– Written by Mr. Brightside