Jason Collie catches a hard-hitting set by New York pop-punks Patent Pending

  • Patent Pending
  • O2 Academy Oxford
  • November 29

PATENT Pending are your archetypal pop punk band: lots of high energy bouncing and songs on the slightly younger spectrum of lyrics.

They closed with a song called Douchebag after all. So it would be tempting enough to write them off as pretty disposable.

The only problem is though, that three-quarters through their set supporting Zebrahead at Oxford's O2 Academy, they prepared to do their early hit One Less Heart To Break.

It's a song about suicide and singer Joe Ragosta explained the work the band does around depression.

Now bands talking about "everyone here has got your back" to their fan base, Ragosta's speech was far more sincere and the song itself, imploring the suicidal to give it one more night, is their best by some distance.

That's not to denigrate their other material, but One Less Heart To Break shows a maturity in lyrics and sentiment that is a glimpse to a lot deeper band than a cursory listen would indicate.

Ragosta wasn't finished there, launching in to a defiant message over the slaughter at the Bataclan that those a***holes were not going to "come in to our house, the house of music" and ruin it.

The rest of the 45-minute set was of a far lighter touch, the bouncing, the jumping and a touch of crowd swimming.

Some may think these kinds of bands are a dime a dozen within pop punk but Patent Pending - who are returning to the UK in the Spring - are doing it the hard way as a support band when they deserve to be higher up in the genre's hierarchy.

One Less Heart to Break

 

Douchebag

 

Hey Mario

Douchebag

Hey Mario