I wholeheartedly believe that FIDLAR have filled the void that Blink-182 left in the heart of every angst-ridden adolescent.
Allow me to explain.
Blink-182 originally ascended to stardom because they write incredible shout alongs about being young and fucking up.
Besides death and heartbreak, few things are as universal as being young and fucking up.
You’d be hard pressed not to find someone between the ages of 13 and 21 who grew up in the 90s who hasn’t screamed “we started making out/ and she took off my pants/ but then I turned on the TV/ and that’s about the time she walked away from me,” at the top of their lungs and sincerely felt it.
When FIDLAR (short for “Fuck it Dog, Life’s a Risk”) took to the stage, frontman Zac Carper came out looking like the living incarnation of the concept of “teenage wasteland.” His glorious guitar had the word “BURRITO” and “SHRED 666” scrawled on it. On his amp was written a random phone number, likely either his, or the number of an overeager fan he turned into a cheeky stage prop. His homemade shirt had “STRAIGHT EDGE” with a giant x through it written in sharpie.
“This song’s about rehab and how much it sucks,” Carper said to the ecstatic crowd. “It gets better the more you drink.”
FIDLAR made all the kids thrash and scream harder than anyone thus far at Bumbershoot. Throwing up the horns and grinning their asses off, the crowd heroically chanted along to songs about being proud of drinking cheap beer, and they did so with more sincerity than most acoustic guitar strumming singer/songwriter acts at the festival. The crowd knew every word to every song. As the band played songs like “Cocaine,” and “No Waves,” in that moment, they were the most important thing in the world to all those kids.
And that’s why FIDLAR have filled the Blink-182 void. The only difference is, while Blink often stewed in feelings of regret, FIDLAR revel in their self-inflicted chaos, and as far as I’m concerned, they should keep the trash fire burning as long as they can. You gotta keep warm somehow.
