Pop punks TOO SHORT PANTS has released 2 albums and 3 EP's, along with several single's all available on all streaming platforms and services. Some newer material is in the works, with them set to record an EP sometime soon. No show plans yet but hopefully soon, with some merch being made soon and them wanting to tour sooner or later too! The band chats with us about all of this below.
1. Where did you get the idea for the band name, you planned it or came out just like that?
Honestly it was almost random. In 2019, when I was still in high school, I told one of my friends I wanted to start a pop punk band. I asked him if he had any ideas for band names and he sent me a list of about 50. There were two that stuck out to me, Too Short Pants and Scratched Disk. I decided that I liked Too Short Pants better because of the irony and the potential for show costumes. Most of our music that's been released on streaming has "Skratched Disk Records" in the label line, so I still ended up using both names.
2. Why did you want to play this genre?
Well like I said before it started out as a pop punk project, inspired by bands like Blink-182 and Green Day; It didn't stay that way for long though. I've always felt like I was born in the wrong generation, I feel more connected to the 90's, specifically the music, than the present day. I've been very inspired by 90's and early 2000's alt rock, indie rock, emo, and power pop, and once I got over the pop punk phase I realized I wanted my music to sound like those genres instead. I was really into Weezer when I first started writing full songs and I think it definitely showed.
3. Did you know each other before the band was formed?
Short answer: no. Long answer: I (Jean) have been writing and releasing music as Too Short Pants since 2020. I'm from West Texas, specifically Midland, and there isn't really a prominent rock scene in that area. I spent 4 years trying over and over to form a band but there just wasn't enough interest. I just moved out to Los Angeles last July (2024) and I started looking for band mates almost immediately. It took a while but we figured out a temporary lineup a couple months ago. I say temporary because our current drummer is a singer and guitarist, we've just been struggling to find a permanent drummer.
4. Where is the band based out of and what is your music scene like there? Are there any local bands you could recommend?
We're based out of Los Angeles, and the scene is very diverse and expansive. By that I mean you could probably find a show to go to within our genre every single day of the week. As far as local bands a few come to mind: Sanglorians, Unicorns at Heart, Sofa City Sweetheart, Quazar & the Bamboozled, Humbug. Honestly there are so many great bands, it's impossible to list them all. Los Angeles has so many hidden gems when it comes to great rock bands.
5. Who or what inspires you to write songs?
I'm going to answer this in two sections, first "who" inspires me. Well, I would say I'm inspired by Rivers Cuomo, Weezer, Green Day, and Ozma when it comes to style and formatting. As far as who inspires my lyrics, I'd say it generally ends up being a love interest of mine, or an ex. I've written a lot of songs about love and heartbreak. That brings me to the "what" part of my answer. I mentioned love and heartbreak, but another common theme in songs that aren't about specific people is just how I deal with my depression or unhealthy habits. Writing music is how I process every emotion that I have, whether it's good or it's bad, and I tend to be pretty straightforward with my lyrics.
6. What are your songs about? (What specific themes do they cover?)
To kind of piggyback off of my previous answer, love and heartbreak are the big two but I do get into pretty serious themes in some other songs. I've covered self harm, eating disorders, sex addiction, suicide, loneliness, self sabotage, and most recently hookup culture (that song is aptly named "Hookup Culture").
7. Do you write your own songs? (Discuss the songwriting process in detail.)
Yes, I like to experiment with different processes but I do have one that I mainly use. Typically when I have a particularly strong feeling about something I pick up my acoustic guitar and I play around with different chords until I find a chord progression that feels like what I'm feeling. Next, I play it over and over and sing different melodies over it until I find one that sounds right. Finally, I start spitting out different phrases to see what fits.
8. What have you released so far and what can someone expect from your works?
Too Short Pants has 2 albums and 3 EP's, as well as several other singles, available on all streaming platforms. I've mentioned them a few times so I'm sure you won't be surprised to hear that you can expect us to sound like Weezer. We've been compared to a lot of other 90's and early 2000's alt rock and emo.
9. Do you have any new music in the works?
Since forming our current lineup we have been working on several new songs, and we hope to record an EP sometime within the next couple months.
10. How about playing shows and touring, have anything planned out?
None currently, but we're always looking for new places to play if any venues want to book us or if any bands would like to play with us.
11. What plans do you have for the future as a band?
Immediate plans are to try to keep playing shows and record that EP, we're in the process of getting some merch made, and we want to eventually tour.
12. Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?
You can find us on all streaming platforms, and you can buy our albums digitally on bandcamp. Like I said before, we're working on getting some merch made (T-shirts, CD's, stickers, and possibly cassettes) and once we have that in stock we'll be selling it on bandcamp. This link has our socials, streaming, and bandcamp: https://linktr.ee/tooshortpants.
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