We Don’t Have Each Other
Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties (Hopeless Records)
From: We Don’t Have Each Other stars the militantly Pennsylvanian Dan Campbell, who sometimes goes by Soupy, in the role of Aaron West, an East Coast sad sack. West is a Brooklyn transplant from Upstate New York (we know this because his dad is a Bills fan), and an important flashback in his story happens somewhere in New Jersey. Campbell’s reflections on the Garden State haven’t always been too friendly: in “This Party Sucks,” a memorable early song he wrote for his main band The Wonder Years, he rhymed “North Jersey club scene” with “Girls Gone Wild B-team,” and I think we’re all painfully aware of what he’s getting at there. Regardless of any misgivings, The Wonder Years has become a consistent draw in Asbury Park, and his tales of broke urban living have won him a nice-sized audience and many nods of recognition on the lee side of the Delaware. But it’s Campbell’s (mainly) silent partner on We Don’t Have Each Other who connects the album most firmly to New Jersey: producer Ace Enders, frontman of Hammonton rock band the Early November. Continue Reading →
