Former Panic! At the Disco bassist Dallon Weekes spreads his wings as a part of his new band. I Don’t Know How But They Found Me, often shortened to IDKHow, adds another duo to the pop-punk revival era of music so many of us tend to flock to.
Weekes teamed up with drummer Ryan Seaman and formed the band back in 2016. Since then, they have released a single, “Modern Day Cain,” and an Extended Play album, titled the “1981 Extended Play,” which contains two previously leaked songs, “Choke” and “Do It All the Time.”
When it comes to IDKHow, IDKHow I found them. As a hardcore Panic fan, I was obviously upset when an iconic member like Weekes left the constantly-changing band lineup. I knew he had joined a new band but came across IDKHow without having a clue that this was the new band Weekes had “joined.”
As I scroll through my explore page on Instagram, I recurrently see posts about artists similar to those I follow (Panic! At the Disco, Fall Out Boy, other 2000s-emo-turned-mainstream bands), and IDKHow came up quite often. I decided to open Apple Music and see what they were about. The first song I listened to was “Choke,” their most popular. The lyrics turned me away at first, but I couldn’t get the song out of my head. The obscurity of the song was so pleasing, the seemingly clashing notes satisfying and the suggestive lyrics intriguing.
“If I could burn this town, I wouldn’t hesitate
To smile while you suffocate and die
And that would be just fine, and what a lovely time
That it would surely be, so bite your tongue
And choke yourself to sleep”– “Choke,” IDKHow
While I admit the lyrics seem, well, psychotic, I continued to listen to the rest of the band’s music. I never knew that Weekes was capable of singing in such a tone. His oddly whiny voice brought a 1980s-like feel to the musical table, suiting the EP title well; he seemed to scream without belting notes or raising the volume of his voice. So far, IDKHow seemed quite mysterious, to say the least.
The first song the duo seems to have released, “Modern Day Cain,” released in 2017, is so shockingly 80s that my parents almost thought it was from their time growing up. The fast-paced beat pickup in the chorus and voice inflections are like an auditory explosion of synthetic lights. It’s all so messy, yet it somehow works. Although here is a fair warning: The beginning of the is song quite phasing, with a robotic voice repeating “Dance” over confusing beeps and boops, but I promise the rest of the song is worth it.
“Do It All the Time” is by far my favorite song the duo has come up with. When Weekes plays those three bass notes at the beginning of the song and sings “We’re taking over the world,” I wish everyone felt as happy as I did as I listen to the song. Weekes has a tendency to accent the word “Do” every time he sings the phrase “Do it all the time,” and, like the rest of IDKHow’s music, it’s clashing, but oddly satisfying.
This is also the only song that has an accompanying music video; you may recognize it from last week’s morning show.
The rest of the EP, released Nov. 9, consists of three songs previously unmentioned: “Social Climb,” “Bleed Magic,” and “Absinthe,” as well as an “Introduction,” which is not actually a song, but a 30-second flashback lead-in to the album.
Consistent with the retro, grainy vibe of the group, each song has its own way of making the listener “stand up, stand up,” as “Bleed Magic” says.
Check out IDKHow’s music on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music or any major music-streaming platform.
