Bodyjar: association within a scene

as previously mentioned, Bodyjar can be described as a punk rock band with elements of pop punk, leading to a generally well rounded ‘melodic’ sound.  their association with an overall “scene” is probably best aligned toward the skate punk scene, however this is more to do with cultural identity and not necessarily the music.

i’ll state the obvious here and mention the inclusion of Not The Same in the game Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 is to do with a variety of the below factors.

Bodyjar have played on the Warped Tour many times during their major label years.  the tour has an obvious affiliation with the company Vans, a self described “skateboard/snowboard/BMX” shoe company.  a quote from their official press release calling their decision to retire called them “skate punkers” Bodyjar was in fact named after the skateboarding move, the “Body Jar” (as demonstrated by Steve Caballero):

a video from either the 2001 or 2002 Warped Tour (judging by Cam and Tom’s guitars, my guess is 2002, but unfortunately the source didn’t specify a year and going by the look of the guitars isn’t exactly proven scientific method) of the band covering “Coolidge” by Descendents (one of the worlds more influential punk rock bands) with the Descendents drummer Bill Stevenson playing.

The Descendents are more musically closer to the traditional ‘skate punk’ genres description, and with the band being from Hermosa Beach, California, their proximity in time and distance to the skate punk scene in SoCal is undeniable.  stylistically, the live performance is not all that different from the cover, and the other live/recorded performances of the song Bodyjar have done are all comparable.  regardless, playing with  SoCal bands such Pennywise, Blink 182 and Descendents have given Bodyjar a place among their community and scene.

this isn’t to discredit Bodyjar’s place within the Melbourne and Australian scene (which i described in this post) – their video for You’ve Taken Everything from No Touch Red has some dude skating around in a Descendents t-shirt. Cam manages a skate shop, and wrote and performed many songs for the 2005 Australian skater film Deck Dogz. so while Bodyjar’s music never screamed skate punk (pun extremely intended), their cultural associations within the scene are undeniable.