Dan Campbell of Philadelphia’s The Wonder Years is no stranger to running themes throughout his bands albums. As frontman for the pop-punk phenoms Campbell has focused his lyrics on storytelling, referencing Beat poets and John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats in the process. On July 8 Campbell will be releasing the first album from his conceptual solo project, Aaron West And The Roaring Twenties, via Hopeless Records. Campbell takes on the persona of Aaron West for We Don’t Have Each Other, making it a concept album, but “an open-ended one.”
The A.V. Club is premiering the video for “Divorce And The American South,” which Campbell says works as a bit of an epilogue to the story of Aaron West. “Mitchell Wojcik (director) and I wanted to use this format to continue that story beyond the record,” says Campbell. “It’s certainly not an ending, but it is where I see [Aaron] at this moment in time.” Pre-orders for We Don’t Have Each Other can be found on iTunes, and Campbell will be playing a few dates on this summer’s Vans Warped Tour under the Aaron West moniker.