There's a reason so many high school kids start pop punk bands. The genre's simplicity offers a low barrier for entry for those just learning how to really play their instruments, while the style's melodic side provides a fun and catchy outlet for teens to communally vent their frustrations, heartbreaks and other coming-of-age experiences.
Perhaps more than anything, joining a pop punk band allows one to connect with peers who share the same interests and musical tastes. Basically, it's a killer reason to continually hang out with some of your closest friends after the school bell rings.
But for most, these musical connections fade pretty quickly once high school graduation has passed. Musical tastes evolve, and responsibilities get in the way of hanging out with pals and making distorted power chord noise.
That's decidedly not the case for The Emergency Exit's singer/bassist Sid Broderius and drummer Jasen Moser.
The duo initially met at Deer Park High School back in the 2000s and were both part of a healthy punk scene in Deer Park at the time. Both were drawn to different flanks of the larger Warped Tour musical ecosystem that was thriving at the time — Broderius loved Rancid, Blink-182, NOFX and their pop punk ilk, while Moser was more of a ska kid who enjoyed Reel Big Fish, Less Than Jake, The Suicide Machines and similar bands. Broderius played in the band The Grocery Boys, and when the timing was right, the duo properly began their long musical journey together.
"We both started in different bands, but we had our own — actually kind of big — scene up north in Deer Park," Moser says. "We were just always playing shows together. And then right after I graduated high school, he was just looking for a drummer, so I decided to join The Grocery Boys."
But as stated, a lot of those high school bands weren't in it for the long haul. The Grocery Boys became a thing of the past, but when Broderius and Moser saw each other a few years later, the musical spark was still there.
"I ran into Jasen, and we decided to go back and re-record one of those Grocery Boys records. And while we were doing that, I was like, 'Hey, man, I've got these other songs lying around, do you want to help me record them?'" Broderius says. "So this project kind of initially started as a semi-solo thing — Sid Broderius and The Emergency Exit — with Jasen being The Emergency Exit."
"Jasen has always had this really amazing knack for taking a vision I have in my head and fleshing it out," Broderius continues. "And he's usually also the guy behind the console recording us, and just does an amazing job doing that. I never have to give him any direction. He's a great guy, and a f---ing amazing drummer."
"I know what Sid is capable of, and I know his sound," Moser adds. "We grew up listening to the same kind of music, so we have, like, that foundation. But Sid's made so much music. Like he's written well over 100 songs that we have played together."
The group released the album Speaking in Absolutes in 2017 (with Broderius also playing most of the guitar parts), but their on-again-off-again partnership once again halted when the frontman moved to Seattle in 2017. While that could've been the end of Moser and Broderius' musical collaboration, things rekindled as soon as he moved back to Spokane in 2021.
"I immediately hooked back up with Jasen. Like the day I moved back, he helped me unload the U-Haul," Broderius recalls.
The pair decided to reboot the band as simply The Emergency Exit, but they really needed a guitar player, so they went the modern digital route — posting about the opening on Facebook. Luckily for them, the post found its way to Stephen Sykora.
"I was writing my own music and in another band, but I was open to a project. So when the post popped up — I don't even know how I saw that post, to be honest with ya — but I saw that and thought, 'Oh, I can probably play punk rock,'" says Sykora, who writes music more in the radio alt-rock post-grunge realm on his own. "Because my music is not necessarily that, but it was close. And when Sid sent over the tracks, I had a lot of fun doing it. I really fell in love with those songs. So I went all in."
"I sent him a couple demos that Jasen and I were working on at the time, and said, 'Hey, man, can you learn these songs?'" Broderius says. "And a couple days later, he came over to my house, and we started playing the first of those songs. And like 20 seconds in, I was like, 'OK, we're good. You've got it. You're in.'"
With the new trio lineup, the band began working on new material. But the setup also allowed Broderius an opportunity to give Speaking in Absolutes a second chance since he wasn't particularly fond of how that album turned out. With four new tunes and Sykora injecting some fresh life into a handful of the old songs, The Emergency Exit went to work crafting its new album, Absolutes.
Recorded over the past couple years in Moser's Deer Park cabin and the basement of Broderius' abode in north Spokane, Absolutes offers up 10 tracks of polished pop punk.
While most tunes stick to that punk rock ethos of not overcomplicating things with a relentless attacking energy — calling to mind bands like Jawbreaker and The Ataris — things never get overly samey on Absolutes. The verses on "Kickflips" sport a bit of a ska guitar bounce, "Living a Lie" features a bit of an acoustic-driven outlaw country feel, and "The Cove" feels way more expansive than its prior version thanks to Sykora's swirling guitar lead. Lyrically the album spans the gamut from warm nostalgia to battling inner demons.
"There's some really dark stuff, but there's also some really happy, bright love songs on there," Broderius says. "It's an album about life. It's an album for every season. You can find every emotion on it."
Broderius is fully aware that most kids who grow up on pop punk aren't still repping the genre if they're still playing in bands in their mid-30s, and some might scoff over how his basement practice space still has a pop punk kid feel, strewn with Star Wars Legos and Marvel movie posters. But before I descend into the basement for our interview, I'm also introduced to his wife and their newborn — he's on paternity leave — so it's not like he's in a state of arrested development. Pop punk is just in his DNA.
"Honestly, this is gonna sound super cheesy, but that's what my soul sounds like," Broderius says. "Whether I'm listening to a shit-ton of Limp Bizkit or Lady Gaga, the pop punk falls out of me."
While the guys in The Emergency Exit tend to feel like Spokane's pop punk scene is low on the local music pecking order — certainly behind the hardcore punk and hip-hop scene — it is hard to tell how much of that is rooted in past memories.
"I feel like 15 years ago when there used to be the Cretin Hop, The Grocery Boys played there every f---ing weekend. And our scene felt huge," Broderius says. "But Jasen and I were talking last night like, 'Maybe it wasn't that big? Maybe it's just that was our world, so it felt huge.' But these days it does feel really small."
At the very least, local pop punkers are clearly excited to celebrate this new chapter for The Emergency Exit, as the band's Nov. 30 album release show for Absolutes is already sold out. Once that party is over, The Emergency Exit hopes to play a few out-of-town shows in the not-too-distant future and already has a good chunk of the next album demoed. No matter what the future holds for The Emergency Exit, expect Broderius to stay true to his pop punk heart.
"They say the music that you're into when you're 13 is what you're gonna listen to for the rest of your life," says Broderius. "Sometimes that feels really true." ♦
The Emergency Exit: Absolutes Album Release Show with T-180, Stubborn Will, Bitter Row • Sat, Nov. 30 at 7:30 pm • Sold out • All ages • The Big Dipper • 171 S. Washington St. • thebigdipperspokane.com