Hopeless Records is in the midst of rolling out a special new edition of its long-running compilation Hopelessly Devoted To You that features Hopeless bands covering other Hopeless bands to celebrate the label’s anniversary. The Wonder Years kicked off the series by covering one of the most classic Hopeless songs of all time, Thrice’s “Deadbolt,” and one of the newer bands on the label, Sweet Pill, have covered a Wonder Years song. They took on “There, There,” the opening track of The Wonder Years’ beloved The Greatest Generation, which TWY played in full last year for its 10th anniversary with Sweet Pill opening. At this point, “There, There” is basically as classic as “Deadbolt” was when The Greatest Generation came out, and Sweet Pill do a lot of justice to the song, delivering a faithful rendition while still finding ways to make it their own… including adding a new original ending.
“For us, it was a no-brainer to choose to cover The Wonder Years as part of the Hopeless 30th anniversary cover compilation,” Sweet Pill’s vocalist Zayna Youssef says. “The guys in The Wonder Years took us out on tour and introduced us to their incredible fan base last fall. We share so much in common, being from Philly, being DIY kings, and being label mates. The guys are nothing but kind and believe in us so fiercely. For that, we are so grateful.”
“‘There, There’ seemed in our wheelhouse and a good opportunity to still have our Sweet Pill sound without sacrificing the integrity of the song (even though we did get a little cheeky at the end adding a whole new bit),” Zayna continues. “Seeing ‘There, There’ live every night and feeling the energy of when the first chorus dropped was unmatched. Those simple yet effective lyrics, ‘I’m awkward and nervous’ resonated with me. It spoke to me enough to want to sing it in my own way. We hope their fans and ours enjoy our little spin on a classic emo song.”
The Wonder Years’ Dan Campbell also commented: “If my math is right, The Wonder Years have written 108 songs in our time as a band, and ‘There, There’ is probably the only one in the top 3 list for every single member. It’s a special song for us, and we’re so glad that it was covered by a band we love and are rooting so hard for. Sweet Pill are everything that’s right with music—innovative, DIY as fuck, passionate, and totally unafraid (I mean, to choose to write a new verse for a cover song takes guts). They took a song that’s very dear to us and made it sound amazing all over again in a new way.”
Check it out:
And in case you missed it, the second most recent track released from the series was Chicago’s Sincere Engineer covering hometown heroes 88 Fingers Louie: