Today Junior
Step inside Today Junior’s cozy and isolated practice space along the blurry Boston neighborhood line of Allston and Brighton, and a sanctuary from the outside world quickly emerges. A colorful array of Christmas lights and other illumination offers a welcoming glow, flyers from past gigs – and good times had – line the walls alongside endless pastings of posters from Nirvana to Hendrix to Thelonious Monk, and stacks of old VHS tapes and DVDs, featuring classic movies, TV shows, and ’90s-era pro wrestling, provide entertainment when the indie fuzz-punk trio isn’t busy rocking out.
When either playing live on stage or huddled together in the practice space, Today Junior experience feeling safe and secure. It’s everywhere else in the increasingly hostile outside world – from the rising cost of living to government oppression to what the band dubs “anarchy in the U.S.A.” – that’s giving the dudes a heavy cause for concern.
But not content to just sit back and let society fall into a mass decay as the powers that be take more and more, the band strikes back against our constant struggle with scathing new single “Keep On Pushing Me,” a blistering rallying cry of fortitude and perseverance, being exclusively premiered today by The Big Takeover ahead of its release this Friday.
“To us, it’s about not giving up when it feels like you are being pushed off the path you’re trying to achieve,” Today Junior declare. “It’s about being resilient and having determination while following your passion, or simply just living your life. Sometimes, it feels there’s something getting in the way, especially in the world and country we’re living in today.”
The new single follows a pair of lively releases last summer in “Coastlines” and “If You Want To,” and all three songs will be featured on the band’s forthcoming new album, Stranger Days, due out later this year. It’ll be their first long-player since a 2023 self-titled record.
“Keep On Pushing Me” showcases Today Junior’s euphonic, high-energy, and wavy indie rock, which stirs up elements of psych, surf, and punk under a propulsive whirlwind of sound and melody. And it should sound huge when the band plays with Weird Nightmare, the new Sub Pop Records project from METZ’s Alex Edkins, at Deep Cuts in Medford on Sunday, June 28.
Coincidentally, the Deep Cuts show comes a little more than three years after the band – Harry O’Toole on guitar and lead vocals; Mike O’Toole on drums, percussion, and backing vocals; and new recruit Jonathan Hislop on bass and backing vocals – christened the venue on opening night with fellow noise-slingers Black Beach and Zip-Tie Handcuffs back in April 2023.
With music and lyrics written by the Brothers O’Toole, “Keep On Pushing Me” was recorded at Ghost Hit Recording in West Springfield, Massachusetts, and engineered by Andrew Oedel. It was produced by Oedel and the band, with mastering by Mike Tucci.
Fresh off appearances at Somerville Porchfest and The Boston Concert Network’s Saturday Night Special live stream from the David Bieber Archives, “Keep On Pushing Me” has been a staple of the band’s recent live sets, and with all the bullshit going on in the world right now, made sense as the next Today Junior single offered up from the band’s prolific catalog.
“We feel like it was relevant to the times we were living in day to day,” they add. “‘Keep On Pushing Me,’ along with other songs on the new album, are a little more edgy and punk. When we’ve been writing music for Today Junior, we never try to keep ourselves in a box genre-wise. We always try to write music that is reflective of what we’re feeling, what we want to listen to, and try not to confine ourselves to rules.”
New music on the way? Pitch Big Takeover Exclusives.
