With The Punches’ debut album, Seams & Stitches, is officially out via Doghouse Records, and we couldn’t be more excited. Not only is the band heading out in a week or so on the PropertyOfZack Tour with Forever Came Calling and State Champs, but they were also kind enough to write up a great Track-By-Track for us. Check out the meaning behind all the songs on Seams & Stitches below and buy the album here!

Riverside
After we wrote and demoed Harvard and I Told You Already, it was time to sit down and start really getting into the writing for the full length and it started with this song and the descending guitar riff Mike wrote for the intro. We started working with it and actually the song came together fairly quickly. We all decided right away that this was going to be the first track on the record. Lyrically I love this song because it’s about the point when Jesse and I first really started to become close friends, so I know what he is referencing when he talks about that apartment because it was my apartment too. I like the tone this song sets for the record. - Dustin

Bad Pennies 
My favorite song on the record. Since the moment Vin and I figured out the intro for the song, there has just been something about the music for this song that kills me. I really love what everyone plays and how it all blends and builds off everything else, particularly Shane and Mike’s parts stand out for me on this song. Mike has a lot of real awesome and subtle runs in this song and I think that it’s how the two of them play that make the song hit so hard for me. Lyrically it deals with shitty people in your life and how no matter how much you try, sometimes people are unwilling to look at things from any perspective but theirs, and in that situation you can’t always save the relationship. There are some people in this world you are just better off without. – Dustin

Harvard on the Hudson 
Harvard hits home with me because I never went to college. All my friends left for school and I almost felt left out or dumb. This song was written to say that everyone chooses their own path. For me, it meant that even if I didn’t go to college, it doesn’t mean I can’t be successful in what I do. At the time it wasn’t so easy to wrap my mind around. Now, I have seen so many places and done so many things that I could never have imagined doing. I’m still striving to be the best at what I do, and that is playing music. Bottom line is, you don’t need college if it’s not the right thing for you. Do what you love and what makes you happy because that is what life ultimately comes down to. - Shane

Postcards
This was actually based on something that I personally went through on tour. Jesse saw everything progress as it happened and asked if he could write a song about it. Long story short, I really liked this girl and everything seemed to be going great. We left for tour and, so she wouldn’t forget about me, I sent her a postcard from a ton of places that we were at while we were gone. Again, it seemed to be going great and then a few days before the end of tour she told me that she didn’t want anything more than for us to be just friends. I get home to find out that she had been hooking up with someone else while we were gone. It just really sucked. You live… you learn……… and you write a song about it. - Shane

Home In A Lighthouse
This song is one of my favorites and is so much fun to play. Starts off with a kind of fast metal riff then goes into straight fast melodic in your face punk rock. The writing process for this song was great too. It just started out as a thrash metal riff i was messing with in the rehearsal space. We all decided to work on it and structure it together. It’s a heavy fun and fast track. - Vinny

Don’t Panic
This song was so much fun to record in the studio. Just great vibes all around with the instruments. Recording the vocals was my favorite part. Jesse really kills every song in recording, and to do backing vocals with him is a pleasure. We work really well together.  - Vinny

I Told You Already 
One of my favorite songs on the record and it continues to grow on me daily. The song is about being on the road and leaving those you love at home for long periods of time and resonates with me because I have a girlfriend who I love dearly. It’s the love and support of those we care about at home that allow us to do what we do, day after day, however difficult it might be. – Mike

New York Minute
Another one of my favorites, this song is fast, in your face, in and out, done. We wanted to write a quick, hard hitting song that was straight to the point, and I feel like that is exactly what we accomplished with “New York Minute”, the phrase refers to the common belief that everything/everyone in New York moves faster than the rest of the world, hence the reason why the song is less than a minute (51 seconds) long – Mike

Letting Go
So pretty early in the writing process, the five of us went to the Doghouse office to play them some rough demos and talk about the progress and direction of the record. Everything was great, the people at Doghouse all seemed pretty happy and just as the meeting was ending Jesse’s phone rang, the call came from one of our close friends to tell us that another of our friends had passed away. We were crushed. This was the first time in my life I’d lost a friend, and immediately you start thinking about every message you didn’t return, every time you were supposed to hang out but got busy and didn’t make it. I always think about the last conversation he and I had, it was last summer and we were on tour in Maryland, he told me how proud of Jesse and I he was and everything we’d accomplished with the band. He was a huge part of mine and Jesse’s friendship, someone we’d played music with, and one of the most incredible and brilliant people I have ever known. This song is about saying goodbye and thank you to someone who you didn’t get the chance to tell how much they meant to you. - Dustin

Face Value 
My favorite song on the record, hands down. Hard hitting intro, melodic verses and a catchy chorus make this anthem for individuality, in my opinion, the most dynamic song on the album. – Mike

Cags
This song is about one of my best friends in the world and our old guitar player Joe Cags. I brought him into this band after I met Jesse and Dustin and jammed with them a few times. He loved what we were doing, he quit his job, we went on a ton of tours, had awful shit happen to us, wrote Keep It Going and INTEOTW, and had some of the best times of our lives. Eventually, for him, it came time to man up and join the real world and get a good job to better his future, and the band was not a part of that. He will always remain one of mine and the band as a whole’s best friends. I miss him playing with us every time we take the stage. This song was written for him, to show how much we appreciated every second he was with us. - Shane

Seams And Stitches 
One of my favorites on the record, all around catchy, fun, and melodic. We put together this song a week before we recorded it. It was so much fun to work on as a band. Everyone just killed it when we put it together. The recording process was so awesome for this song and the whole record. Recording at Barbershop studios was the best experience ever. Kevin and his staff were incredible and made this recording session so comfortable for us. – Vinny