As we recently mentioned, Hopeless Records turns 30 this year, and they’re celebrating by reviving their classic compilation series Hopelessly Devoted To You. Only this time, there’s a twist: It’ll be entirely made up of Hopeless bands covering songs by other Hopeless bands. The series began with the Wonder Years covering Thrice, and today brings a cover of a Wonder Years song, The Greatest Generation opener “There, There,” by rising emo band Sweet Pill.
Sweet Pill opened the tour when the Wonder Years played The Greatest Generation in full for its 10th anniversary last year, and singer Zayna Youssef spoke about how that very tour inspired this cover choice:
Read more: 20 greatest Hopeless Records bands
For us, it was a no-brainer to choose to cover the Wonder Years as part of the Hopeless 30th anniversary cover compilation. The guys in the Wonder Years took us out on tour and introduced us to their incredible fanbase last fall. We share so much in common, being from Philly, being DIY kings, and being labelmates. 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). 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 provides comment as well:
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 three 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.
Listen to Sweet Pill’s “There, There” cover below. Other recently released covers in the series include Bayside covering the Weakerthans, NOAHFINNCE covering Waterparks, Point North covering Avenged Sevenfold, and Sincere Engineer covering 88 Fingers Louie.
