Photo by Ishan Ghoshal

Star 99 have the makings to be the next Joyce Manor, constant adulting headaches and all. There’s nothing too overly done up about their sound in its humble spark of chunky punk-pop with a homespun feel in its production, and one that’s already served them well with crossing over scenes within DIY indie rock, emo, and hardcore spaces, just as the aforementioned Torrance greats did in their early years. Further up the coast in San Jose, the friendship five-piece of co-vocalists and guitarists Saoirse Alesandro and Thomas Calvo, guitarist and keyboardist Aidan Delaney, bassist Chris Gough, and drummer Jeremy Romero are moving in for a proper breakout “Kill” with the lead single off their sophomore effort, gaman. Alesandro’s vocals pack a saturation of sighing saccharine into punchy melodramatic bittersweets in her observations on times racing by as friendships fleet. One second they’re 13, the next, she’s turning 19. Life comes at you fast as they say, and Star 99 are doing their most to not let it end them before they come of age.

Star 99’s gaman will be released March 7th on Lauren Records.