Strong power pop hooks? Check. Arena-sized sing-along choruses? Check. Passionate, oftentimes seemingly angsty lyrics about life and love? Check. A fiery live show? Double check.
Obviously, international pop-punk sensation State Champs has ticked all the boxes as far as the whole music world is concerned, and they’re bringing both the sound and the standard to Manila this 2025!
PULP Live World is bringing State Champs in a one-night-only show on 11 April at the SM Southmall Events Hall in Las Piñas. Filipino fans of the pop punk genre will be thrilled at this exclusive full performance which features the band’s numerous crowd favorites and anthems.
The band – hailing from Albany, New York, and comprised of vocalist Derek DiScanio, guitarist Tyler Szalkowski, bassist Ryan Scott Graham and drummer Evan Ambrosio – is equally excited, as their last visit and performance in Manila was a festival set at the famed Bazooka Rocks Festival in 2017 (held at the Skydome in SM North Edsa and also produced by PULP Live World) alongside The Maine.
Formed in 2010, the band proved their worth with catchy songs, a strong work ethic when it came to writing more songs for their discography and consistently energy-fueled live performances within immediate circles in — and near - their hometown.
By 2015, State Champs was supporting household names like All Time Low, 5 Seconds of Summer, and Neck Deep on various tours, and secured slots at reputed stages like the famous Vans Warped Tour and Reading and Leeds Festivals in England. Soon after, the band was featured on the cover of Alternative Press magazine, whose writer was quoted saying: “[State Champs is] everything you love about old school pop-punk with a new-school heart.”
Aside from a multitude of diehard fan favorites and fun covers of big hits in and outside the genre, the band has quite a number of big singles and hits, including “Secrets,” “Where I Belong” (featuring fellow punksters We The Kings), “Silver Cloud” and their popular rendition of the Shawn Mendes smash hit “Stitches,” which has garnered close to 45 million streams on Spotify.