Music: Somewhere down in suburbia: from picket fences to punk

With its pre-planned developments and homogenous connotations, suburbia has never been particularly amenable to punk rock. While it may be a fine place to raise a family, it's never exactly been an ideal source of musical inspiration. In fact, artists as diverse as Kim Wilde and the politically charged punk band Desaparecidos have derided the suburbs for their sprawling, monotonous nature. Yet lately, thanks to the popularity of melodic punk rock bands from such residential environments, suburbia has found a new, distinct voice. Using their secluded location to focus on interpersonal relationships as opposed to war and political turmoil, bands like Jimmy Eat World, Taking Back Sunday and the Starting Line are bringing the immediacy and emotional intensity of punk rock to thoughtful examinations of the human character. Two such bands, Thursday and Saves the Day, hail from suburban New Jersey, and while urban hipsters from the city are playing stripped-down, disaffected rock like their peers, Thursday and Saves the Day offer up earnest, emotional music focused on interpersonal connections.

Formed in New Brunswick, New Jersey in 1998, Thursday's suburban origins played a central role in the development of the band's music. The group started out playing in garages and basements, such as that of lead singer Geoff Rickly's parents, in which the band practiced until 2002. Rickly's parents also influenced his musical direction, introducing him to bands that shaped Thursday's sound. The same sorts of interpersonal connections, which are often at the center of suburban life, serve as the subject of Thursday's detailed ruminations on love and loss. Indeed, focusing on the exchange of words, blood and glances, Rickly creates detailed pictures of destruction and despair. These specific lyrics are complimented by visceral, often screaming vocals and urgent, oscillating music driven by searing guitar licks. On their latest album, War all the Time, the band uses the metaphor of violent conflict to address romantic relationships and the psychological struggles of daily life. Indeed, the album's title reflects Thursday's somewhat subversive ethic of making the personal political, a motif particularly prominent in an environment where individual conflicts are at the heart of daily life.

If the ethos of interpersonal relationships manifests itself in Thursday's detailed, specific lyrics, fellow Jersey band, Saves the Day displays its suburban origins in the domestic imagery that fills songs like "At Your Funeral," in which lead singer Chris Conley declares "They'll lay me on the dinner table / And I will be the pig with the apple in my mouth." Saves the Day also focus on personal relationships, yet their contemplative, narrative songs reflect an introspective approach to themselves and their experiences that may have been born out of suburban seclusion. While Thursday's innovative approach is manifested in the urgency of their music and lyrics, Saves the Day rely on their diverse, poppier influences to increase the euphonic nature of their version of punk rock.

Both Thursday and Saves the Day are expanding the boundaries of punk rock, with their focus on emotional issues and their sophisticated sounds. Nonetheless, their specific focus on personal conflicts still gives voice to the suffering of the masses.

There goes the neighborhood.