Meet Me @ the Altar don't really care what you call them.
People talked plenty of trash about the bands that came before them. Green Day were sellouts, blink-182 were a boy band and Paramore were an industry plant. As for Fall Out Boy, Sum 41 and My Chemical Romance? They were about as punk as Britney Spears. In the pop-punk scene, it's a time-honoured tradition that the biggest bands get the biggest hate. So when anyone tries to take down Meet Me @ the Altar, they just keep on doing what makes them happy.
"Everyone thinks they're too cool to have fun," lead singer Edith Johnson tells Exclaim! in a video call. "It's about getting over yourself and doing whatever."
Meet Me @ the Altar are a Gen Z phenomenon drawing on classic millennial pop music. They're a group of three Black and Latinx women proudly taking over a music scene that for decades has been dominated by white dudes. They're a joyful, positive force that's taking a sledgehammer to what pop-punk music should look like, sound like, or feel like.
Now, the trio have arrived as one of the hottest acts in the so-called "pop-punk revival" and are making a confident, empowering statement with their debut album Past // Present // Future (out March 10).
It begins with the lead single "Say It (to My Face)," a fast-paced, punchy and gleefully fun blast that's aimed directly at the band's online haters. "I'm a bitch and my band is an industry plant / Least that's what it says on the internet," Johnson sings. "Think you know who I am, you say you're not a fan / But you got all my songs playing in your head." Hilariously, the song's placement in a Taco Bell commercial served as fresh ammunition for the band's detractors.
"We got comments like, 'Oh, they're selling out now. I hope that Taco Bell bag was nice.' It was! Thanks!" says guitarist and bassist Téa Campbell.
"What band in their right mind would turn down an opportunity like that?" she continues, as Johnson and drummer Ada Juarez nod along. "A lot of bands refuse opportunities that could be good for them just based on how it appears. We're the kind of band that says yes to everything."
So far, saying yes has paid off. Since Meet Me @ the Altar broke out in 2020 with the single "Garden," they've been on a meteoric rise. They've signed to Fueled by Ramen — the record label that broke bands like Fall Out Boy, Paramore and Panic! at the Disco — and gained props from several of their music heroes including All Time Low's Alex Gaskarth, the Wonder Years' Dan Campbell and Paramore's Hayley Williams. (An encouraging letter they got from Williams after a Las Vegas show is now stashed in the glovebox of their tour van as a good-luck charm.)
In their first few years, Meet Me @ the Altar slogged it out playing small-time tours throughout the eastern United States. (The trio met online and started the band despite living separately in Florida, New Jersey and Georgia; they now live together in Orlando.) But it was during their time off the road that they blew up: in the lowest months of lockdowns, TikTokers feasted on the band's infectious energy. MM@TA got one of their biggest boosts when Halsey named them recipients of her Black Creators Fund in the wake of the George Floyd protests — a turning point for the band that they called "bittersweet."
When they returned to the stage in 2021, they were rockstars. They've toured with big names in pop-punk like All Time Low, Coheed and Cambria and the Used — plus three shows in Europe supporting Green Day and Weezer — as well as indie-pop outfit MUNA and emo-rappers jxdn and nothing, nowhere. They've played major festivals including Lollapalooza, Riot Fest and the inaugural When We Were Young Festival. They're now on a headlining U.S. tour (plus one Canadian date at Toronto's Velvet Underground).
"We always knew we were going to get where we wanted to be," says Johnson.
Still, the band has blown up so quickly that there are some who question their credibility or authenticity. One of the most popular criticisms they face is being called an "industry plant," which just so happens to almost always be used to discredit successful women in music.
"We came up playing houses to like 15 people," Johnson claps back.
"Yeah, no way women could ever be successful on their own," Campbell adds.
More so than anything they've done so far, Past // Present // Future shows just how good this band are at writing songs that you can't brush off. It's a rip-roaringly fun and endearingly earnest set of tunes that ought to feed young audiences' appetite for pop-punk revivalism that's been partly led by other young women like Olivia Rodrigo, Willow Smith and Billie Eilish and their collaborations with stalwarts like Hayley Williams, Avril Lavigne and blink-182's Travis Barker.
Given their sound and aesthetic, you'd be forgiven for thinking Meet Me @ the Altar's primary influences come from pop-punk's MTV era. But on their full-length debut, the band has unblushingly embraced something wholly different: Disney Channel.
"One of the insults we get is people call us 'Disney rock.' But we fuckin' love it!" says Campbell.
These young women grew up on Hilary Duff, Demi Lovato, the Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus, and they were schooled by Camp Rock and Lemonade Mouth. As they explain, it was guitar-driven, it was fun, and it rocked. "Hannah Montana was a rockstar!" Campbell exclaims.
"It was really good," Johnson continues. "Disney rock was really musical, fun and catchy. It's everything you should want in a song."
"If a song makes you happy, why pretend like you don't fuck with it?" Campbell adds.
"And there were a lot of women," Juarez chips in.
Past // Present // Future leans into the pop rock of their teenage years, and it gives their sound a booster shot of youthful ebullience that's simply irresistible. "Kool" pairs the chunky, choppy guitars of "Brain Stew" with the self-assured swagger of "Party in the U.S.A." "TMI" is a pitch-perfect pop song that was inspired by Pink's "Don't Let Me Get Me." The country twang of "A Few Tomorrows" takes a page from Kelly Clarkson or Avril Lavigne. "Thx 4 Nothin'" is a total homage to the Jonas Brothers, complete with funky chords and a bouncy beat made for the dance floor. The band even handpicked John Fields to produce the album specifically because of his track record with the Jonas Brothers, Demi Lovato, P!NK and Miley Cyrus.
Meet Me @ the Altar are embracing who they are, just as they've always done. As kids, they didn't see themselves on the stages of Warped Tour or on the cover of Alternative Press magazine, so they figured it was up to them to change that. "There was no one else, so I guess we were going to be it," says Johnson. Now, Meet Me @ the Altar are among a surge of bands featuring people of colour — including Pinkshift, Mint Green and Proper — who are bringing overdue diversity to alternative music.
The group is rejecting the taboo of success and, in turn, becoming hugely successful. They're opening doors for young people like them to follow in their footsteps. And they're doing it by staying true to themselves rather than conforming to what other people think is cool.
So, call them what you want — Meet Me @ the Altar know what they are.
"So many of the negative emotions we experience as humans come from hiding from yourself," says Campbell. "By speaking our truth, we can inspire other people to speak their own truths. It could change their lives."
People talked plenty of trash about the bands that came before them. Green Day were sellouts, blink-182 were a boy band and Paramore were an industry plant. As for Fall Out Boy, Sum 41 and My Chemical Romance? They were about as punk as Britney Spears. In the pop-punk scene, it's a time-honoured tradition that the biggest bands get the biggest hate. So when anyone tries to take down Meet Me @ the Altar, they just keep on doing what makes them happy.
"Everyone thinks they're too cool to have fun," lead singer Edith Johnson tells Exclaim! in a video call. "It's about getting over yourself and doing whatever."
Meet Me @ the Altar are a Gen Z phenomenon drawing on classic millennial pop music. They're a group of three Black and Latinx women proudly taking over a music scene that for decades has been dominated by white dudes. They're a joyful, positive force that's taking a sledgehammer to what pop-punk music should look like, sound like, or feel like.
Now, the trio have arrived as one of the hottest acts in the so-called "pop-punk revival" and are making a confident, empowering statement with their debut album Past // Present // Future (out March 10).
It begins with the lead single "Say It (to My Face)," a fast-paced, punchy and gleefully fun blast that's aimed directly at the band's online haters. "I'm a bitch and my band is an industry plant / Least that's what it says on the internet," Johnson sings. "Think you know who I am, you say you're not a fan / But you got all my songs playing in your head." Hilariously, the song's placement in a Taco Bell commercial served as fresh ammunition for the band's detractors.
"We got comments like, 'Oh, they're selling out now. I hope that Taco Bell bag was nice.' It was! Thanks!" says guitarist and bassist Téa Campbell.
"What band in their right mind would turn down an opportunity like that?" she continues, as Johnson and drummer Ada Juarez nod along. "A lot of bands refuse opportunities that could be good for them just based on how it appears. We're the kind of band that says yes to everything."
So far, saying yes has paid off. Since Meet Me @ the Altar broke out in 2020 with the single "Garden," they've been on a meteoric rise. They've signed to Fueled by Ramen — the record label that broke bands like Fall Out Boy, Paramore and Panic! at the Disco — and gained props from several of their music heroes including All Time Low's Alex Gaskarth, the Wonder Years' Dan Campbell and Paramore's Hayley Williams. (An encouraging letter they got from Williams after a Las Vegas show is now stashed in the glovebox of their tour van as a good-luck charm.)
In their first few years, Meet Me @ the Altar slogged it out playing small-time tours throughout the eastern United States. (The trio met online and started the band despite living separately in Florida, New Jersey and Georgia; they now live together in Orlando.) But it was during their time off the road that they blew up: in the lowest months of lockdowns, TikTokers feasted on the band's infectious energy. MM@TA got one of their biggest boosts when Halsey named them recipients of her Black Creators Fund in the wake of the George Floyd protests — a turning point for the band that they called "bittersweet."
When they returned to the stage in 2021, they were rockstars. They've toured with big names in pop-punk like All Time Low, Coheed and Cambria and the Used — plus three shows in Europe supporting Green Day and Weezer — as well as indie-pop outfit MUNA and emo-rappers jxdn and nothing, nowhere. They've played major festivals including Lollapalooza, Riot Fest and the inaugural When We Were Young Festival. They're now on a headlining U.S. tour (plus one Canadian date at Toronto's Velvet Underground).
"We always knew we were going to get where we wanted to be," says Johnson.
Still, the band has blown up so quickly that there are some who question their credibility or authenticity. One of the most popular criticisms they face is being called an "industry plant," which just so happens to almost always be used to discredit successful women in music.
"We came up playing houses to like 15 people," Johnson claps back.
"Yeah, no way women could ever be successful on their own," Campbell adds.
More so than anything they've done so far, Past // Present // Future shows just how good this band are at writing songs that you can't brush off. It's a rip-roaringly fun and endearingly earnest set of tunes that ought to feed young audiences' appetite for pop-punk revivalism that's been partly led by other young women like Olivia Rodrigo, Willow Smith and Billie Eilish and their collaborations with stalwarts like Hayley Williams, Avril Lavigne and blink-182's Travis Barker.
Given their sound and aesthetic, you'd be forgiven for thinking Meet Me @ the Altar's primary influences come from pop-punk's MTV era. But on their full-length debut, the band has unblushingly embraced something wholly different: Disney Channel.
"One of the insults we get is people call us 'Disney rock.' But we fuckin' love it!" says Campbell.
These young women grew up on Hilary Duff, Demi Lovato, the Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus, and they were schooled by Camp Rock and Lemonade Mouth. As they explain, it was guitar-driven, it was fun, and it rocked. "Hannah Montana was a rockstar!" Campbell exclaims.
"It was really good," Johnson continues. "Disney rock was really musical, fun and catchy. It's everything you should want in a song."
"If a song makes you happy, why pretend like you don't fuck with it?" Campbell adds.
"And there were a lot of women," Juarez chips in.
Past // Present // Future leans into the pop rock of their teenage years, and it gives their sound a booster shot of youthful ebullience that's simply irresistible. "Kool" pairs the chunky, choppy guitars of "Brain Stew" with the self-assured swagger of "Party in the U.S.A." "TMI" is a pitch-perfect pop song that was inspired by Pink's "Don't Let Me Get Me." The country twang of "A Few Tomorrows" takes a page from Kelly Clarkson or Avril Lavigne. "Thx 4 Nothin'" is a total homage to the Jonas Brothers, complete with funky chords and a bouncy beat made for the dance floor. The band even handpicked John Fields to produce the album specifically because of his track record with the Jonas Brothers, Demi Lovato, P!NK and Miley Cyrus.
Meet Me @ the Altar are embracing who they are, just as they've always done. As kids, they didn't see themselves on the stages of Warped Tour or on the cover of Alternative Press magazine, so they figured it was up to them to change that. "There was no one else, so I guess we were going to be it," says Johnson. Now, Meet Me @ the Altar are among a surge of bands featuring people of colour — including Pinkshift, Mint Green and Proper — who are bringing overdue diversity to alternative music.
The group is rejecting the taboo of success and, in turn, becoming hugely successful. They're opening doors for young people like them to follow in their footsteps. And they're doing it by staying true to themselves rather than conforming to what other people think is cool.
So, call them what you want — Meet Me @ the Altar know what they are.
"So many of the negative emotions we experience as humans come from hiding from yourself," says Campbell. "By speaking our truth, we can inspire other people to speak their own truths. It could change their lives."