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"I’ve been meaning to put this 'EP' out for a while," Matt Shumate told CL, "but we could never get our shit together."
Shumate is talking about his beloved Tampa punk band, Awkward Age, which CL has (sometimes snarkily) followed through its breakup, makeup and everything in between. Today the group, fronted by Vic Alvarez, released what is presumably the band's final recording, Vaarwel.
Put to tape at Dan Byers' Rock Garden Recording, the four-track EP and follow up to 2014's We Could Be Anywhere, arrives ahead of what we also imagine are the band's last live performances — sets at Big Pre-Fest 6 in Ybor City and Fest 17 in Gainesville.
"I don’t see us recording anything again. It’s been a struggle just to get all of us in the room together to write or practice, let alone record," Shumate said while throwing props at Alvarez, who spent the summer releasing a promising batch of demos. "Vic has a growing solo career with more diverse songs, and he deserves to have those tunes heard. I don’t want to hold him back ever."
Vaarwel sees Awkward Age (originally just Shumate, Alvarez and drummer Eric Turner) with a five-person lineup that came to be two years ago when Katrina and Jeff Snyder (currently with Orlando punk band Expert Timing) temporarily joined the ranks to play Fest 15 with Awkward Age after Living Decent (a band they were in with Alvarez) broke up when Alvarez was supposed to move to Los Angeles.
"That was all [Jeff and Katrina] were committed to doing, and we thought we were done after that," Shumate said. "[But] Vic never left town."
That led Awkward Age to pick up a bassist (Joe Paez from Too Many Daves) and end up with one more guitarist, Chris Stellern.
"Decision-making is difficult with five people with different interests and availabilities," Shumate said. He and Alvarez did manage to decide to throw the songs online before the October shows, but they have no plans on pressing any vinyl. "We still have too many We Could Be Anywhere LPs in my closet."
Listen to Vaarwel and get more information on Awkward Age's next shows via thefestfl.com.
This article appears in Oct 4-11, 2018.