Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties

Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties is the solo project of The Wonder Years frontman Dan "Soupy" Campbell. According to the project's Facebook page, it is defined as "a character study conducted through music". Campbell is taking on the persona of Aaron West. The album, We Don't Have Each Other was released in July 2014 and the EP Bittersweet was released on May 20, 2016. Occasional singles were released by the group in between albums. Routine Maintenance is the second officially released album, on May 10, 2019.

Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties
Also known as	Aaron West
Origin	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Brooklyn, New York (fictional biography)
Genres	Folk rock, indie rock, concept band
Years active	2014–present
Labels	Hopeless Records
Associated acts	The Wonder Years Ace Enders
Website	www.aaronwestandtheroaringtwenties.com
Members	Dan "Soupy" Campbell

History

We Don't Have Each Other (2014–15)

The Wonder Years frontman Dan Campbell began the project on May 22, 2014, via a video released by Hopeless Records titled "Aaron West and The Roaring Twenties - An Introduction To Aaron West".[1] With this project, Campbell pushed himself "to make a piece of fiction feel just as raw and personal as songs about my life".[1] Campbell released the projects debut song, "Divorce and the American South", via The A.V. Club.[2] "You Ain't No Saint" was released as a single on May 27.[3] "Divorce and the American South" was released as a single on June 10.[4] The project's first album, We Don't Have Each Other, was released on July 8 through Hopeless.[5] The album received primarily positive reviews, with Alternative Press giving it a rating of 4.5/5.[6] On November 19, West released a music video for the song "Our Apartment" via Billboard.[7] Campbell performed his project on five of the 2014 Vans Warped Tour dates.[1] On March 4, 2015, it was announced that Campbell would be performing his project on all of the 2015 Warped Tour dates, on the acoustic basement stage.[8]

The album is a concept record detailing the worst year of Aaron's life from start to finish. The album consists of 9 original songs and 1 cover song, "Going to Georgia" by The Mountain Goats. Campbell is said to have added the song to the album not because the song continued the story, but because he liked the song.

Bittersweet and Orchard Park (2016–18)

On March 25, 2016, it was announced that an EP, titled Bittersweet, would be released on May 20.[9] The EP's cover art and track listing was revealed, and one song on the EP, "'67, Cherry Red", was made available for streaming.[9] The release of the EP features vinyl pressings on three different colors, Green, Blue, and Red, attributing to the songs "Green Like the G Train, Green Like Sea Foam", "Goodbye, Carolina Blues", and "'67, Cherry Red" respectively.[10]

"Orchard Park" was released on October 5, 2017 as a non-album single. The song visualizes Aaron driving with his mother to spread his father's ashes at Orchard Park.

Routine Maintenance and live album (2019–present)

The project's second LP, titled Routine Maintenance, was officially announced on March 18, 2019 and was given a projected release date of May 10.[11]

In January 2020, Campbell announced a UK tour that was scheduled to begin in May of that year.[12] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tour was rescheduled for August 2021.[13]

On July 31, 2020, the project released Live From Asbury Park, created from recordings of two December 2019 live performances.[14]

Style and influences

Timothy Monger of AllMusic wrote that the project "blended the passion and aggression of pop punk with more of an Americana and roots aesthetic."[15]

Campbelll said in an interview with Rock Sound that he was inspired by The Mountain Goats' All Hail West Texas and The Weakerthans' Reunion Tour, and the artists' ability to create "such real, whole characters that I found myself invested in their lives and their stories."[16]

Discography

Studio albums

List of studio albums

Title	Album details	Peak chart positions
		US [17]
We Don't Have Each Other	Released: July 8, 2014 Label: Hopeless (HR800) Format: CD, DL, LP	101
Routine Maintenance	Release: May 10, 2019 Label: Hopeless Format: CD, DL, LP	—

Extended plays

List of extended plays

Title	Album details
Bittersweet	Released: May 20, 2016 Label: Hopeless Format: DL, 7" vinyl

Live albums

List of live albums

Title	Album details
Live From Asbury Park	Released: July 31, 2020 Label: Hopeless Format: DL, LP

Singles

List of singles, showing year released and album name

Title	Year	Album
"You Ain't No Saint"[3]	2014	We Don't Have Each Other
"Divorce and the American South"[4]
"'67, Cherry Red"[18]	2016	Bittersweet
"Orchard Park"[19]	2017	Non-album single
"Runnin' Toward the Light"[20]	2019	Routine Maintenance

References

1. Rock Sound (May 23, 2014). "The Wonder Years' Dan Campbell Announces Side-Project". Rock Sound Magazine. Retrieved August 24, 2015.
2. Anthony, David. "Aaron West And The Roaring Twenties take a southern approach to divorce in new video". A.V. Club. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
3. "You Ain't No Saint - Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties - Release Information, Reviews and Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved April 4, 2016.
4. "Divorce and the American South - Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties - Release Information, Reviews and Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved April 4, 2016.
5. "Now Streaming: Aaron West And The Roaring Twenties - We Don't Have Each Other". Rock Sound. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
6. Manley, Brendan. "Aaron West And The Roaring Twenties - We Don't Have Each Other". Alternative Press. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
7. Payne, Chris. "Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties (Wonder Years' Dan Campbell) Premieres 'Our Apartment' Video (Exclusive)". Billboard. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
8. Sharp, Tyler. "Acoustic Basement performers announced for Warped Tour 2015". Alternative Press. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
9. Ralph, Caitlyn (March 25, 2016). "Aaron West And The Roaring Twenties stream new song, announce new EP". Alternative Press. Retrieved March 25, 2016.
10. "Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties "Bittersweet" 7"". Internet Archive. Archived from the original on 10 October 2016. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
11. "Aaron West & the Roaring Twenties announce new album & tour". BrooklynVegan. Retrieved 2019-03-18.
12. Wilson-Taylor, James (29 January 2020). "Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties have announced a UK tour". Rock Sound. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
13. Dan Campbell [@ThisIsAaronWest] (August 26, 2020). "We aren't giving up on bringing the full band AW20 experience to the UK!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
14. Jay, Melannie (22 July 2020). "Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties release bonus cover of Springsteen's "Thunder Road"". The Key. WXPN. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
15. Monger, Timothy. "Aaron West & the Roaring Twenties | Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved April 4, 2016.
16. "The Wonder Years' Dan Campbell Announces Side-Project". Rock Sound. 23 May 2014. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
17. "Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties - Chart history (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved October 17, 2015.
18. "'67, Cherry Red (2016) | Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties". 7digital. Retrieved April 4, 2016.
19. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2017-10-11. Retrieved 2017-10-10.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
20. "Dan Campbell on the next chapter of Aaron West and The Roaring Twenties". Radio 104.5.