You’ve got to have the lows to appreciate the highs. If you’re a member or fan of Beach Slang, you know this. The Philadelphia band revel in the beat downs and the subsequent rising back to glory with a signature knack for wordplay and loud instrumentation. “The lowest lives and the desperate ones / You are the light of the damaged and fucked,” front man James Alex sighs on “Too Late To Die Young”—a quieter track on the band’s debut The Things We Do To Find People Who Feel Like Us, released in October on Polyvinyl. The rest of the LP’s 10 tracks are rich with wailing guitars, brightly searing into consciousness like an early summer sunrise, augmented by the brittle musings of James Alex.

It’s pop punk that went to college. Or at least pop punk that went away for the summer and came back to town with an edge.

If Beach Slang’s searching for people who feel like them, these 10 items should bring fans a little closer to achieving that goal.

This Isn’t Their First Rodeo

The members of Beach Slang—James Alex on guitar and vocals, Ed McNulty on bass, JP Flexner on drums and the recent addition of Ruben Gallego on guitar—cut their teeth in other near-Philly bands. Most notably, James Alex spent time in pop punk group Weston, Flexner in Ex Friends and McNulty in Crybaby.

Being From Philly Plays into Their Identity

There’s a reason Philly’s been lauded as one of the greatest rock cities as of late. The city’s unique ecosystem of everymen and women bleeds into the bands that plant roots there. “What Philadelphia does really, really right is it stays honest with itself,” James Alex explains. “Everyone I know who is making art in this city does it because it's all they know how to do, because it's really all they want to do. They aren't trend hopping. They aren't cool hunting. We are blue collar, romantic and gritty. And that goodness bleeds into the things I write.”

It Started with Two EPs

Weston hadn’t been active in a few years but James Alex, meanwhile, had been working on some home-recorded demos, some of which he sent Flexner in 2013. That was the spark. Flexner roped in McNulty and the spark became a flame. Those demos resulted in the band’s first EP, Who Would Want Anything So Broken? , which came out in 2014.

And then James Alex’s day job forced a move to California. But the thing started to pick up steam. He came back to Philly and the then-trio released another EP, Cheap Thrills On A Dead End Street, also in 2014. Lines like “I hope when I die I feel this alive” from “American Girls and French Kisses” struck a chord with fans. There was no looking back.

They’ll Make You Feel Like a Teen Again

It’s your senior year of high school and you’re riding shotgun in your best friend’s shitty Honda Accord. It’s older than you are. The windows are down and the stereo is on. You’re on the precipice of music discovery—the discovery that really impacts you. These are the bands you’ll carry around with you for the rest of your life. Listening to Beach Slang brings back that feeling. “I think there's something to be said for being really alive. Youth, to me, is a concept, a theory,” James Alex divulges. “It doesn't belong exclusively to the young. It belongs to the livers, you know?”

A lot of That Comes From a Stirring Need to Revel in the Human Experience

According to James Alex, to achieve that, there’s a need for an unwavering honesty. Everyone’s an outsider, yet in Beach Slang’s swirls of guitar and earnest vocals, you’re forced inside. “If you strip away all the muck, all the distractions, all the nonsense we get fed, connection is all we've got,” he mentions. “It's all we ever really need. These things I write are reminders that you're not broken and you're not alone. You're alive and you are necessary and it's all coming.”

They’re DIY to the Core

“For me, it's about not allowing less-invested people to peel away at the work you make,” James Alex explains. “It's about getting dirty, digging sweat, appreciating doing the thing yourself. There's something really beautiful about that. Art and ideas were never meant to be disposable. So, yeah, I'm trying to make some things that might last a bit.” That extends to album and EP art, which Alex designed himself, their website and Tumblr, nostalgically weathered, there’s a distinct look and feel to Beach Slang-branded elements.

And Then There Are the Basics

Their Facebook bio proudly reads “Guitar, bass and drums. Played loudly.” It’s that no-frills approach that makes Beach Slang tunes feel like a punch in the gut. James Alex explains more: “I use my guts more than my head. I wear my heart on my sleeve, unapologetically. And my favorite band is The Replacements.”

Which Makes Their Music Perfect for Intimate Spaces

The passion is evident in both band and audience. It’s sweaty; it’s powerful; it’s triumphant.

It will never be lost on me how humbling & perfect this is. Thank you, Ally, Matt & Hogan, so much pic.twitter.com/Y0gImQ1RI4

— BEACH SLANG. (@beachslang) December 27, 2015

Fans Are Getting Beach Slang Lyric Tattoos All the Time

So, yeah, James Alex’s prose is pretty impactful. “I wanted to be a writer before I ever picked up a guitar so words are big, necessary things to me. Every time someone makes them permanent, it means everything,” he says.

But It’s Not All Weirdo Ideas. Or Maybe It Is...

They can make the phrase “porno love” and the description of the druggy haze of California sound romantic. And that’s part of their charm. “That goodness was gone for way too long,” James Alex says matter-of-factly. “I aim to keep it around.”