Piebald have arguably one of the most underrated album catalogs to come out of the late ‘90s / early Aughts indie landscape, but it’s hard to peg where they had the greatest impact seeing that the group went through several sonic transformations throughout that time. The quartet’s earliest demos and EPs placed the band squarely within the realm of screamo and hardcore that put them on bills with fellow Bostonians Converge, Cave In, and the Hope Conspiracy, where as their creative peaks and breakthroughs in 1999’s If It Weren’t for Venetian Blinds, It’d Be Curtains for Us All and 2001’s We Are the Only Friends That We Have rode the wave of mainstreaming emo by touring alongside Jimmy Eat World, Thursday and Dashboard Confessional, and even earned lead singer Travis Shettle a spot as a playable character in Emogame 2.

There was a moment when it actually felt like Piebald’s rising stock could have turned them into the next Weezer had they been signed by a major label, but instead they signed with indie punk label SideOneDummy where they metamorphesized into a quirky, Beatles-influenced rock troupe traveling inside of a van fueled by vegetable oil. In 2008, they broke up in celebratory fashion with two sold-out shows at the Middle East in Cambridge, MA, and got back together for a reunion cash-grab at 2010’s east and west coast versions of the Bamboozle Fest. Yet, even with the #emorevival of years ago, Piebald was a name barely mentioned in the influence conversation alongside American Football, the Get Up Kids, Saves the Day, and even younger later-comers like My Chemical Romance. If I had to guess why, it’s probably because Piebald were one of few bands from that scene who took on serious matters with an unserious, entertaining, shit-eating grin.

But fuck popularity contests — the band is back together for good these days doing it for the love of the art and friendship, and while it took a very long road to get there, they’ll be releasing their long-awaited, 19-years-in-the-making sixth studio album, Tales for the Rages, this June on the legendary Boston-based indie, Iodine Recordings. “Still On the Touch”, its lead single, is exactly the kind of track and opener that will get you off of it. Featuring Travis Shettle’s crooked, acquired taste singing, their late era flairs of classic rock coolness, and perfect power-pop hooks, he and guitarist Aaron Stewart, bassist Andrew Bonner, and drummer Luke Garro put modern day capitalism culture in its place in just under two-minutes time. “Excess ain’t rebellion / Trying to sell us like pieces of furniture!,” Shettle proclaims. Interrupting your doom scroll and ad-fed algorithm, Piebald’s return makes the over-arching political dumpster fire of these times at least a little bit more fun than the rest of their contemporaries ever did.

Piebald’s Tales for the Rages will be released June 12th on Iodine Recordings.